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DISTRIBUTION
42
DSales admin
team
Jonathan
Whitworth,
managing director,
DSales (UK)
Continued...
Prior to setting up DSales (UK),
Managing Director Jonathan
Whitworth had already racked up
over 20 years’ experience in the
office products sector, working
for brands including Panasonic
and Muratec. In his former role, he
initiated talks around securing a
distribution agreement for Develop
products in the UK, but in the end the
decision was made not to proceed.
However, Whitworth had spotted an
opportunity to go out on his own and
approached Develop about taking on
the distributorship personally.
“Develop was established in Germany as
a reprographics manufacturer in 1948, but
subsequently became part of Minolta. When
Minolta merged with Konica, the Develop
name in the UK wasn’t quite so prominent,
but I had lots of confidence in the brand
and viewed the opportunity to become the
UK distributor as one too good to miss,”
explained Whitworth.
“Ten years ago, Konica machines were
specialist and expensive, but Develop was
about to launch a range of mass market
devices. I could see massive potential here –
colour was definitely a future growth area.
And I was proved right: 97% of our sales in
the first five years were colour devices and
colour is still our mainstay today, equating
to around 90% of unit sales.”
Fast growth
The company was self-financed by
Whitworth and his former business partner,
whom he bought out after a couple of years.
In the beginning, Whitworth worked out
of a shed in his back garden. “I didn’t have
access to external borrowing and we grew
very quickly,” he said. “I did everything from
sales, to invoicing, to deliveries. I closed over
£2 million of business from that shed! The
hardest thing to deal with was cashflow. I
can remember waiting for the postman to
deliver the cheques so I could quickly cash
them in order to buy more stock.”
2016 is the tenth anniversary of DSales (UK), the UK distributor for the
Develop range of multifunctional document imaging systems, making it a
landmark year for the Ripponden-based firm.
A landmark year
for DSales (UK)
Whitworth’s industry experience meant
he knew a lot of dealers personally and he
grew his partner network through personal
contact and trust.
“We were competitive. We were offering
devices at sub £3k at a time when most
OEMs started at £3.5k, and I made an early
decision that we would always hold stock
of the most popular models and not risk
‘just-in-time’ shipments, which are never on
time,” he said.
“Our ability to offer competitive pricing,
fast decision-making and excellent service
is what won us our reseller partners initially.
Consistently delivering on our promise
over the years has ensured we both retain
customers and continue to sign up new
accounts.”
In its first year of trading, DSales
achieved a six-figure profit. Since then,
turnover has risen consistently year-on-year,
reaching £13.2 million in the last financial
year. “It was tough at the beginning. We
had to run a tight ship so that we could
continue to trade,”Whitworth explained.
“We couldn’t give credit, but luckily all of
our customers were really supportive; they
knew when we said we needed paying
within seven days, we meant it.”
When eventually DSales was able to
extend credit terms, it was hit with bad
debt from a handful of companies that
went bust. “We had one account where
we lost a six-figure sum, and I had to make
up that shortfall. Going back to Germany
to say I couldn’t pay wasn’t an option,”
explained Whitworth.
Riding the storm
In 2008, the worst financial recession in 80
years ushered in a period of hardship for all
businesses, but particularly for a relatively
young operation. “But we still managed
to grow every year through the economic
storm, thanks to the dedication of the
DSales UK team and the hard work of our
dealer partners,” said Whitworth.
“The most difficult element of the
downturn was the credit crunch, which
made it very difficult for our dealer partners
to secure financing for customers. Making
a sale and then having to tell the customer
