Devolution of spending power to more localised bodies such as NHS Trusts, new Academy schools and local councils is helping an award-winning online retailer win more business. Schools were among the first big customers for Yorkshire-based PlasticBoxShop, which specialises in selling all manner of plastic storage boxes for business, industry, the public sector and the home.”It was word of mouth between schools local to us around North Yorkshire which brought in some of our first key orders,” said Gary Lyons, who founded the online business with his wife Lisa just over a decade ago.
“Now the education sector is a major part of our business and we supply schools, colleges, even universities across the UK. It’s been a similar story with the health sector and local government, where we started out supplying local GP surgeries, hospitals and councils and now send out products to NHS Trusts and Local Authorities across the country. These sectors have become a key part of our business and we’ve seen them grow as more powers to manage their own budgets have been handed down from Central Government. These smaller organisations seem more focussed on getting the best deals and making their budgets go further.”
Local NHS Trusts have the power to manage their own budgets, together with all tiers of local government, from county councils right down to parish and town councils. Similarly, more and more state schools have converted to Academy status, giving them increased freedoms including more say on how to spend their budget.” All these organisations use plastic storage boxes for a wide range of uses, and we’ve worked hard to become their ‘go-to’ supplier,” added Gary Lyons.
“They appreciate the fact that whatever type of container they need ─ from business card holders right up to large heavy duty storage boxes ─ they can get them all from the same supplier in a single deal, saving time and money. We also offer bulk wholesale prices for larger consignments and accept purchase orders, making the ordering process as straightforward as possible. On top of that we have the capacity to meet orders direct from our huge warehouse and distribution facility, so we don’t have to get stock in, even for large orders. It means we can deliver fast and free, which is something else our business customers really appreciate.”
After starting small, PlasticBoxShop is now the UK’s leading supplier of plastic box storage solutions and targeting a £10M. turnover within the next three years.”Business-to-business accounts for around half our total sales, with education, health and local government all making significant contributions,” added Gary. “The days of winning a single massive Government contract may be gone, but you know what they say about eggs and baskets. For us there’s a stronger future in securing more and more of these key sector customers and keeping them coming back to us by providing a great service.”
Share