Business Info - issue 138

04 | P2P Magazine 01732 759725 BULLETIN The Stationers’ Company announces 2019Warrants The Stationers’ Company, the City of London Livery Company for the Communications and Content industries, has granted Stationers’Warrants for 2019 to a number of stationery manufacturers in recognition of the excellence of specific products that will now be able to carry the CompanyWarrant on their packaging. These include the DURABLE RFID credit card wallet, which prevents contactless fraud and protects against the unauthorised reading of personal data; the Manuscript Pen Company ML1856 fountain pen, which is crafted from a choice of coloured Italian resins and offers a choice of nibs laser- etched with an intricate design; and the Collins Debden Savile Row diary, featuring a hand-woven Harris Tweed and Italian leather cover. www.stationers.org Do good with your office supplies Business services specialist Commercial is raising funds for the Commercial Foundation social enterprise with the launch of its own Products with Purpose brand of office paper and printer supplies. Through its No Limits training programme Commercial Foundation helps disadvantaged young people develop practical and personal skills to improve their employment prospects. Once they have completed the No Limits programme, 86% of participants go on to secure permanent work or further training. Simone Hindmarch, co-founder of Commercial, said: “Many customers have followed our journey since setting up Commercial Foundation in 2015. They have kept up with the progress of the young people involved and say they want to do more to support the social enterprise. This is what inspired us to create our own Products with Purpose range, and we’re confident that it will have wide appeal.” Commercial plans to channel 4% of income from Products with Purpose toner and ink cartridge sales and 5% of profits from paper sales to Commercial Foundation. www.commercial.co.uk New look for Lyreco Workplace solutions company Lyreco has revamped its corporate branding to highlight its commitment to sustainability. The new logo and ‘Working Together for Tomorrow’ strapline were revealed to 500 employees at a special event at Lyreco’s UK HQ in Telford. Peter Hradisky, Managing Director of Lyreco UK and Ireland, said: “We say we are ‘working together for tomorrow’ because we want to create an environment that our employees are proud of so that they are also proud to work for this business.” The new visual identity will be displayed on Lyreco product packaging and its vehicle livery. www.lyreco.com Reinforcing its commitment to sustainable business practices, Commercial has been awarded Planet Mark certification. Certification holders must reduce their carbon footprint by a minimum of 2.5% every year in order to retain the Planet Mark. In practice, they exceed this target; between 2015 and 2016, Planet Mark holders achieved an average carbon reduction per employee of 10%. Over the last 12 years, Commercial has moved from 73 tonnes of CO2 per million pounds of turnover in 2006 to 20 tonnes of CO2/£million turnover in 2017. www.theplanetmark.com/ World Chess collection In partnership with S.T. Dupont,World Chess has created a collection of 1,500 limited edition pens celebrating November’s FIDEWorld Chess Championship Match 2018 between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. The collection includes fountain pens, rollerballs and ballpoints, each with a chessboard pattern design and its own number engraved on the side of the clip. The pens can be bought from www.st-dupont.com/uk/be- exceptional-1/types/world- chess.html Businesses choose Amazon over independent stores Almost two thirds (62%) of business owners are more inclined to buy products for their company from a multinational retailer, such as Amazon, than an independent online store. In a survey of 1,000 business decision- makers by e-commerce agency PushON, 55% cited greater choice as a reason to buy software, furniture and office supplies from a big online retailer; 50% cited convenience. When asked what would persuade them to choose a smaller retailer over a retail giant, 40% of business owners said expertise and the offer of solid advice and customer support. One third cited improved online security to provide reassurance that monetary transactions were safe (37%) and more in- depth product information (35%). An online chat service for instant customer service would persuade 29% of business shoppers to choose a smaller supplier. www.pushon.co.uk Half a million for Prostate Cancer UK Pentel has passed the key milestone of £500,000 raised for Prostate Cancer UK from the sale of more than two million special edition pens since 2009. These include the original special edition blue-barrelled LineStyle ballpoint and, more recently, the EnerGel Xm Retractable rollerball, which has a white barrel and light blue accents to complement the charity’s key brand colour. Every time Pentel sells a prostate cancer pen, it donates £0.25p to the men’s health charity. pentel.co.uk • www.prostatecanceruk.org