European Office Products Awards 2003

Customer Focus

Winner: Masters London



(Taken from European Office Products Awards 2003 Review)

Customer focus. We've all heard the mantra but how many of us actually live it? At Masters London, which supplies business bags and associated lines to offices, the clear dedication to customer focus marked it out as an unrivalled winner of this category.

It's a success story that certainly warms the heart. In 1999, the company was bankrupt and in the hands of the receiver before the current board swooped and, with an immediate cash injection of £700,000 ($829,000), the business was restructured and ready to go again. Perhaps the most critical business move made by Masters in the aftermath was to exit the high street and traditional markets and focus on developing the customer base in Europe. That led to a rationalisation of the product range and raising inventory levels by 150% so that the company could react quickly and flexibly to their customers' demands.

Since then, Masters has flourished. It has spent over €300,000 ($355,000) on putting together a fully integrated pan-European e-commerce capability enabling it to service more than 70% of its orders online and 20% of invoice traffic electronically. For the customer, that has delivered considerable time-saving costs as well as monetary costs. In addition, a sophisticated inventory planning and stock management system gives Masters an average lead time in the UK of 3.6 days and in Europe of 6.1 days. It is, Masters says, "a consistently high and sustained service performance that our customers love and our competitors hate!"

Customers include the likes of Corporate Express (Europe), Lyreco, Office Depot and Office World. Recognition in the industry has been considerable with the likes of Staples and Kingfield Heath singling out Masters for awards.