VOW Ireland has defied the challenging Irish economy and Business Supplies market with continued year on year growth evidenced by a 19% increase in sales in the two years to the end of 2014.

The Irish wholesale business has made a concerted effort to refocus on the particular needs of the Irish market. It has increased its capacity to stock customer specific products; increased pallet capacity in its Dublin warehousing facility; increased its stocked range of products and brands that are particular to the market and has worked closely with suppliers to dramatically increase the amount of stock that is shipped directly to Ireland thus avoiding the unnecessary handling and inefficiencies of transporting products through the VOW’s UK network. This has resulted in a significant number of new customers choosing VOW Ireland as its primary wholesale partner in both 2013 and 2014.

This strong performance by VOW’s Dublin based operation comes as the Irish wholesaler aims to build further on its current 97% fill rates, reliable service and hence high customer satisfaction levels by shortening its stocked range to 13,000 of its most in-demand SKUs. Simply put, this range rationalisation removes product that doesn’t sell as well in Ireland as it does in the UK and allows the Irish business to stock more of what dealers sell on a day to day basis in Ireland. At the same time this has allowed additional FS and technology products to be considered to support growth in these important categories.

Ashley Burke, managing director of VOW Ireland commented: “We’re delighted to be bucking the trend for the business products sector in Ireland. Recent years have been strong because we’ve recognised the changes in the market, identified what the Irish end user most needs and been fleet footed about responding to those changes. That has led to a large number of resellers choosing to switch to VOW Ireland in the last 12 months.

“Our fill rates are all credit to our teams and the way they have handled fluctuating demand as well as working consistently well with vendors to make sure stock is where we need it and in the right quantities.

“We see now as the time to do even better and are aiming for this through our new shortened range. We’re not seeking to reduce our stockholding but to ensure fulfilment rates are as high as they can be and to guarantee that the most commonly sold items will be with customers the next day, in the right condition.

“It’s clear that the improvements we’ve made over the last few years and those that we’re currently implementing are delivering results, not just in terms of our growth but in the development of our reseller base and its ability to diversify and meet the needs of a changing market. We have every confidence that this is creating a strong platform for us and our reseller partners to build on over the next few years.”