Working with the members that form the group’s marketing committee and the board of directors, Advantia says it has reviewed the purpose, aims and objectives of its catalogue in the context of the expectations of the business buyer in 2017.

The result of this review is that Advantia has taken total control of its 2017 catalogue, meaning that the product content will be decided by Advantia “in the best interests of members’ profitability.”

Marketing messages in the catalogue will direct buyers to the many thousands of additional products that are available online through dealers’ current e-commerce websites or Advantia’s new Merlin e-commerce platform.

“Bringing the production of our catalogue back in-house is just one aspect of our wider strategy which incorporates us managing our own data and the launch of our Merlin Marketplace e-commerce platform,” said Advantia Operations Director Rebecca Miller.

“We will be using the data we collect, collate, review and refine to not only drive Merlin Marketplace, but the same data will create our catalogue—we will be able to ensure the highest standard of data and information consistency in the business supplies industry.”

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The Advantia catalogue will contain Banner-branded products that are only available to Banner and Advantia, and will also feature brands and products that are exclusive to EVO. In every section a series of graphic pages demonstrates the breadth and depth of non-wholesaler-stocked products available online. EVO Group, which includes Banner, is a U.K.-based distributor of business supplies and services.

“Because we now manage our own data, we are spending a lot of time and effort to enhance the data supplied by EVO and suppliers,” added Miller. “For example, we are making sure that where a product indicates it is environmentally friendly, we are putting in the description why this is. The transition from traditional catalogues to e-commerce as a dealer’s main selling tool is starting to happen, and we intend for Advantia members to stay ahead of this curve.”

OPI recently spoke to Advantia Managing Director Bob Geens about the group’s new Merlin platform and its investment in its software partner. Watch out for that soon on opi.net.

Andy Braithwaite is editor-at-large of Office Products International, where this article first appeared before it was slightly edited to appear in B2BecNews. The original version can be viewed at OPI.net.

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