Our June magazine has landed!

The June edition of Dealer Support’s magazine is now live and ready to read!

Back to school is always a time of optimism. For children, it’s a new school year, with fresh opportunities and new things to learn. Then there is the prospect of having pristine books to write in, with new equipment, which is always a good feeling. Well, it was for this stationery geek back when he was at school (many years ago).

For dealers, the back to school season – which starts way before September – as school leaders look to renew and upgrade their equipment. As our feature shows, there are evolving trends in this market, which dealers need to be alert to, as well as still selling traditional products, where there remains strong demand.

But schools provide more opportunities that just classroom equipment. Printing is still a big cost for schools, and managed print services have an important role to play for them. Likewise, signage is still important in schools, even if it isn’t needed to mark out social distancing guides anymore. Our features on both topics show the opportunities available for dealers.

Back to school can provide a seasonal boost to sales for dealers, which, as there remain big challenges in the market, is welcomed. One of the bigger problems in the sector currently is the paper shortage, which we explore in this month’s Big Ask feature. It highlights the complex reasons for it, how it isn’t going to resolve in the short-term – and why customers must expect to pay more for their paper in the future.

Aidan McDonough from Integra also talks about the myriad challenges in the market currently, describing trading conditions as some of the toughest he’s seen in the 25 years of the group’s existence. But he’s also confident that the resilience and agility of dealers to find new products to sell will see them through.

With rocky economic conditions expected for some time to come, thanks to factors including the soaring cost of fuel and energy and inflation hitting levels not seen in 30 years, it is going to continue to be tough – but dealers have weathered whatever the previous two years has thrown at them, so I see no reason why they cannot continue to not just survive but thrive in the next 18 months and beyond.

As always, don’t forget to check our website regularly for all the latest news from the sector, and you can chat to us on our Twitter feed and let us know your opinions at @dealersupport