Ready to Thrive in 2025: Opportunities and Challenges

A new year, a new mindset! The workplace supplies industry shares their predictions on upcoming challenges and opportunities in our web series, designed to help you thrive in 2025

CREDIT: This is a continuation of an article that originally appeared in the Festive Issue of Dealer Support

In December, we reached out to the workplace supplies industry to gather insights on their standout moments of 2024 and their predictions for 2025. The response was incredible, so we decided to create a digital series showcasing some of the best answers to the key questions we asked. In this first installment, we explore what industry experts see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for dealers to thrive in 2025.

Melissa Doran, JGBM, said:

“Sustainability will continue to be a driving force in workplace supplies, with an increasing focus on products made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. Businesses are recognising the importance of reducing their environmental impact, and at JGBM, we are proud to be part of this movement. We’re particularly excited about our upcoming Sustainability Project, set to launch in early 2025, which will showcase our commitment to making a positive impact.”

James Morton, MBM Omega, said:

“Green procurement will continue to evolve remaining an important part of the decision-making process especially in larger, profitable organisations, and public sector bodies. In terms of challenges over the next twelve months and how can we prepare for this? Providing competitive, stable and robust supply chains and IT infrastructure to keep disturbance to a minimum. That’s the recipe to help enable dealer success.”

Janet Bowden, Woodbank Office Solutions, said:

“We are seeing two emerging trends: Larger businesses who want to bring staff back into the office, and smaller SMEs and multi-location businesses who want to support employees working from home on splitting their time between home and the office. This year, we’ve seen a big increase in customers coming to us for digital solutions to support hybrid working, so it’ll be interesting to see how this evolves. I think one of the biggest challenges will be logistics and deliveries. It feels like things have slowed down across the industry. We’ve seen an impact on the supply chain and lead times are definitely longer. What will continue to be key for our business is better preparation, forecasting, and planning ahead to stay on top of things.”

Sian Haskill, Integra, said:

“The WFH/hybrid trends aren’t showing any signs of changing in the immediate future which will continue to impact demand for business supplies. On the flip side there are greater opportunities in the home office & technology categories. Dealers will continue to diversify and thrive! As GOP continue to decline new categories remain imperative. Embracing diversification categories with new and existing vendors, better marketing and training will be key.”

Steve Carter, Advantia, said:

“At the time of writing, we are awaiting the first budget under the new labour government. We also have the US Presidential election as well as the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and I would be highly surprised if we don’t get some curve balls as a result.”

To read more expert insights from our Big Ask, be sure to check out the festive issue of Dealer Support. Stay tuned for the next installment of our digital series, where industry leaders will reflect on the key lessons learned in 2024 and how they’re using those experiences to prepare for a successful 2025!