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ACQUISITIONS
28
The acquisition of Claughtons
Stationery & Supplies, which was
completed on November 1, will
enable Frillo, an online retailer of
office supplies, IT and technology, to
expand its customer base in Hull and
East Yorkshire, helped by Claughtons’
existing team and loyal customer base.
Commenting on the rationale behind
the acquisition, Frillo founder and CEO
Gerard Toplass said: “Claughtons is a
well-regarded supplier within the office
products market and its values are aligned
to Frillo’s perfectly. Claughtons offers a very
good product range and its customer base
is strong and loyal.”
Entrepreneur Toplass doesn’t intend to
grow Frillo purely through the acquisition
of complementary businesses. He added
that the success of the Frillo proposition
– offering products and services to
businesses at cost, with no hidden charges
or mark-ups – had inspired him to expand
the range of products and services it
supplies, with the intention of turning
Frillo into a one-stop-shop for business
customers. Or, as he puts it, an ‘Amazon for
Business’.
“Amazon is an online retailer that
offers products and content for the B2C
market, and at Frillo we want to be the go-
to place where the B2B market and public
sector organisations buy their products and
services – Tippex, insurance or advice on
your tax return: you name it, we supply it,”
he said.
“With this acquisition, we now have
one of the best, most established teams
in this sector and this area to help us
expand our unique Amazon for Business
proposition.”
No hidden charges or mark-ups
Expanding on the benefits of this
proposition and the Frillo business model
generally, Toplass said: “Frillo makes its
money by charging a transaction fee,
not on the product itself. And if there’s a
commodity our customers want, we will
supply it.
“When purchasing office supplies from
somewhere like Amazon, businesses and
schools may have to pay several different
carriage costs. With our model, customers
can have everything delivered in one
convenient package, while only paying
the price we pay our suppliers. We do not
charge a mark-up on the goods we sell;
we simply charge a small transaction fee to
save them time and money.
“With over 100,000 products and
services, Frillo offers more than any other
supplier in the area, so this move is a
massive opportunity to give existing and
new customers access to more choice
when they’re buying their products and
choosing their services,” he said.
Exciting opportunity
The established team at Claughtons is now
operating under the Frillo name, headed up
by Sales Account Manager Karen Turner.
She said that operating as part of Frillo
was an opportunity to offer customers a
better, more convenient way to buy all the
products they need in one place.
“We’ve contacted our existing
customers about the changeover to Frillo,
Hull-based online B2B office products retailer
Frillo recently expanded its operations by
purchasing Claughtons Stationery & Supplies.
Founder Gerard Toplass told PITR that Frillo’s
first acquisition would not be its last and that
the company had bold plans to make further
acquisitions in the future.
Frillo grows ‘Amazon for
Business’ marketplace
reassuring them that the team they’ve
been dealing with for over two years will
be exactly the same and we’ll be giving the
same excellent levels of customer service
we’re well known for. The feedback we’ve
had from our customers about the Frillo
changeover has been extremely positive,”
she said.
New developments
Toplass is equally excited by the future
and is looking forward to growing the
Claughtons side of the business and
creating more jobs in the area.
“We’re really looking forward to
expanding the team, growing our business
and building on our customer base in Hull
and East Yorkshire,” he said.
However, Toplass doesn’t plan to stop
there. Next year, Frillo will be introducing
other interesting new initiatives and
targeting new market segments.
“Throughout 2015, we aim to build
on our success to date,” he said. “We
are just about to launch our service to
schools, which some people are calling
‘Amazon for Education’. Our new service
will allow schools to benefit from our cost-
saving model and purchase EU-compliant
products from one single supplier. We also
intend to continue expanding our product
portfolio for SMEs with the introduction of
more services.”
With our
model,
customers
have the
opportunity
to have
everything
delivered
in one
convenient
package...
Above: The Frillo team
