Synaxon gets closer to office products dealers through membership of the BOSS Federation

October 7, 2015

Warrington, 07 October 2015 – Leading dealer services group, Synaxon, has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the office products businesses that are operating and expanding into the IT sector by signing-up as a fully-fledged member of the BOSS Federation, the authoritative body for the UK office products industry.

The BOSS (British Office Supplies and Services) Federation is a non-profit making organisation that acts as a representative body for the office products industry, providing support and protection for its members. BOSS represents all businesses throughout the distribution chain, including manufacturers, distributors and retailers of stationery, office machines and supplies, office furniture, office systems and related product areas. Its current membership includes over 60 manufacturing companies and more than 1000 UK dealers and resellers.

Derek Jones, Managing Director of Synaxon UK, says that becoming part of the BOSS community underlines the group’s firm commitment to supporting office products dealers.

“Being a member of such a long-standing and illustrious body in the office products industry will help us get closer to our office products dealer members and get a deeper understanding of the specific issues and challenges they face. We intend to play a full and active role as a member of the BOSS community. Most office products dealers and retailers are looking to broaden and diversify their range by  offering IT products, supplies and services. Synaxon can help to smooth the way by providing them with a whole range of benefits that will help them to buy better, sell more and keep their costs down.

Michael Gardner, Chief Executive of the BOSS Federation, welcomed Synaxon to the community, stating: “We are delighted to welcome Synaxon as a Silver Member of the BOSS Federation and I have no doubt that the organisation and its members will benefit in many ways as a result of becoming part of the BOSS community. I believe that technology is a major growth area for our industry and we will be promoting this to all our members over the next few years.”

Jones believes that Synaxon has a key role to play in helping office products dealers maximise their opportunities with IT products. “Ever since the 1990s, the office products industry has been talking about the ‘paperclips to Pentiums’ approach, and the majority of the dealer channel understands that many technology products and accessories are now everyday commodity items in the modern office that their customers expect them to offer.

“This is a massive opportunity of course, but many stationery resellers and businesses simply find it too difficult to operate within the faster-moving, lower-margin, IT channel. Synaxon can make it much easier to move into these new areas by providing them with simple, consolidated and consistent access to information from leading IT products distributors and with focused marketing and ecommerce support.”

Jones believes that dealers from both the IT and office products sectors need to optimise both supplier channels simultaneously. They can use Synaxon’s resources to do this very effectively.

“There are established distributors, such as Spicers and Vow for example, that have long experience and offer excellent services on facilities management, stationery and supplies. But technology products distribution is a completely separate and very different sector in which global organisations like Ingram Micro, Tech Data and others have specific expertise. Through Synaxon, IT resellers and office products dealers can call on the depth of knowledge and capabilities of suppliers in both channels.”

Through its EGIS information and procurement platform, which is available exclusively to members, Synaxon UK offers online access to the full portfolios of 23 specialist technology distributors. This is the ideal way for office products dealers to take advantage of the best these focused organisations have to offer, says Jones. “By becoming a Synaxon member, they can quickly establish trading accounts and source commodity IT products and accessories at competitive prices and often on advantageous terms, through a single, consistent interface. It is a simple, efficient and cost-effective way for them to maximise their potential sales of IT products.”

Synaxon also offers a comprehensive marketing solution using both traditional catalogues and automated on-line e-marketing. The Synaxon e-commerce package is an ‘out of the box’ solution that delivers a comprehensive trading site within hours rather than weeks.

Through its partnership with Integra, Synaxon also provides IT resellers with a straightforward way to establish trading relationships with leading stationery and office products wholesalers.

Synaxon welcomes resellers and dealers from all backgrounds and all groups, says Jones. “Dealer groups or other communities are not our competition and we encourage dealers to operate in both the office products and IT channels. We fully appreciate that office products dealer groups are better than us at supporting the specific needs of their channel, but with our specialist knowledge and experience, Synaxon can add extra value for dealers looking to sell more technology products. We will support all independent dealers, regardless of their background and any existing associations or loyalties they might have established.”

Membership of Synaxon UK starts at just £25 per month or £250 per year and the group offers a money-back guarantee to new members who have not achieved a return on their investment after their initial year.

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About Synaxon
Synaxon is Europe’s largest grouping of independent IT resellers and system houses. It provides a range of services that enable resellers to enhance their marketing and build a strong presence in their chosen market and take full advantage of the extensive stock-holding and supply-chain capabilities of distributor and vendor partners. Synaxon partners have exclusive access to the unique EGIS (Enterprise Global Information System) on-line purchasing and information platform, through which they are able to locate, check availability and order products from Synaxon supplier partners. In addition, Synaxon provides a range of pro-active marketing services which reseller members can use to drive sales activity.

Synaxon is already well-established in Germany, where it has nearly 3000 partners that generate around €3 billion of gross external sales annually, representing 15 per cent of the German market. Through EGIS, these member partners have access to more than 200,000 products from over 200 distributors. Synaxon UK was established in September 2008 (fully launched in January 2009) and now has a UK reseller membership of 630 independent resellers with combined revenues of around £700 million of gross external sales.

For more information about Synaxon contact:
Derek Jones, Managing Director, Synaxon UK
Tel: 0844 481 5844
Mobile: 07589 582 1548