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DURABLE TARGETS 40% GROWTH

Channel Info Magazine, June 2007

Durable UK, subsidiary of the international Durable group, is getting set for its second Computer Cleaning Week®. Channel Info talks to Senior Vice President of International Operations, John Dale, about the award-winning company's performance.

In May, office products manufacturer Durable won the Langstane Supplier Monitor award for the second year running. Suppliers are assessed throughout the year against criteria in four main categories that include catalogue and marketing, the purchasing cycle, accounting and warehouse and distribution skills. The award meant that Durable had demonstrated an 'exceptionally high standard of performance in all of the set criteria measured' throughout 2006. Coming from one of the country's largest and most progressive dealers, the award was even more of an accolade.2006 was a winning year for Durable. There was a Marketing & Communication Excellence Award from the annual Dorset Business Awards Ceremony for the first ever Computer Cleaning Week® promotion, the Boss Manufacturers' Marketing Excellence Award and at the start of the year it received the Kingfield Heath Supplier of the Year award, also for the second consecutive year. Senior Vice President of International Operations John Dale says these awards and recognition bear testimony to the commitment to quality service that lies at the heart of the business.

Computer Cleaning Week® will take place again in September, with increased resource behind it for 2007. Since 2004, when the company bought Sapona, computer cleaning products have been identified as a key growth area for subsidiaries in the UK, Germany and elsewhere. All products are now Durable branded and it claims to be the leading brand for cleaning products in the UK. Dale says the market is still 'hugely under-penetrated' because of the focus on own brand that existed for a number of years. That, he says, killed off the brand manufacturers' incentive to do the necessary consumer development work. With35 per cent growth in 2006 and a targeted 40 percent in 2007 it is expected to become one of Durable's top three categories over the next two years. With the growth in home PC use, the retail market is also seen as a huge opportunity." Computer Cleaning Week® was such a success because it got out there and spread the message. That and because it was just so different. It was a new idea to the industry and that got a lot of people talking. Then when they saw what we had done with it, they were even more impressed. The campaign was targeted at trade and end users and Dale says: "We had dealers saying 'This is the best promotion that we've been involved in for years. It has been given to us on a plate. We just have to plug it in and run with it."

Last year'sComputer Cleaning Week® startedin 18 September. A month before it had evenkicked off, the company was already reporting an'extraordinary' response from both the trade andconsumers. There were requests from resellerpartners for over 170,000 sample cards and over 3,000 Trade campaign packs; there was aconsumer advertising programme targeted at the Secretary/PA and IT markets, national radio inter-views and press tours during the actual week and a dedicated Computer Cleaning Week® website which received over 50,000 unique visitors.25,000 people registered for a Free Computer Cleaning Goody Bag. The company was delighted! Dale says that drive to educate end users, whilst offering extensive levels of support at trade level, is one of the cornerstone's of Durable's marketing philosophy. "If you go completely direct, you may get someone wanting to buy the product but they may not know how to follow it through. If you are working in conjunction with the reseller then you have a much better chance of converting that into a sale. It helps both parties. "And the proof is definitely in the pudding. Durable saw a 55 per cent increase in sales over the three months of the promotion, compared to the same period for the previous year. "Clearly, if we increased our sales by that amount, our resellers did exactly the same," he adds. For this year the idea will remain the same but all of the supporting literature has been freshened up to keep it newsworthy. It is expected, once again, to have maximum impact.

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