01732 759725
COMPANY PROFILE
44
Trade Copiers, founded by Managing
Director Stephen Armistead, who
works alongside his two sons and
daughter, buys used multifunctional
printers from dealers and OEMs and
then resells them around the world.
With overseas demand for second-hand
devices in full working order continuing to
increase, the family-run business is actively
looking to expand its customer base and
work with more dealers, for whom it offers
a pain-free way to generate additional
revenue by selling devices removed from
customers’ premises when upgrading their
fleet with new technology.
In 2002, Armistead, who has a
channel background in sales, spotted an
opportunity to make money buying and
reselling machines that had reached end-
of-life in the field. He started the business
initially trading within the UK, but steadily
built up a network of contacts overseas.
Today, Trade Copiers conducts about
95% of its business abroad, shipping used
machines by the container-load all over
the world to destinations including UAE,
China, Singapore, Malaysia and, to a lesser
degree, within the EU. “We do still trade
in the UK, but volumes are very small now;
the big opportunity is most definitely in
export,” said Armistead.
He added that the firm deals mostly
with trading posts and only ships by the
container-load. “A lot of the countries we
sell into buy in bulk and then ship on to
final destinations; the only criteria is that
machines must be in full working order,”
he said.
Dramatic growth
With the export side of the business
growing rapidly, and orders coming in
thick and fast from customers around the
world, Trade Copiers has had to expand to
support its fast growth trajectory. It started
out operating from 100 sq. ft. of rented
space within a warehouse and 12 months
ago moved into new premises that include
a 25,000 sq. ft. warehouse housing around
3,000 machines at any one time.
“We invested £1 million and secured a
much bigger site which, most importantly,
provides us with space to build additional
warehousing and office accommodation
to support future growth,” explained
Armistead.
Likewise, having started with a single
Penrith-based Trade Copiers is offering office equipment
resellers hard cash for their customers’ used MFPs.
Money for old tin
van to do pick-ups across the country, Trade
Copiers now has a fleet of lorries that are
on the road five days a week, collecting
used MFPs and wide format printers and
taking them back to HQ to have all data
cleansed prior to resale. Headcount has
also grown in line with the company’s
expansion, and Trade Copiers now has 20
staff, all of whom work in the Penrith office.
Fair prices
Turnover has increased steadily year on
year, which Armistead attributes to the
company’s success in winning a much
bigger slice of the used device market.
“We deliver a professional service to
our customers and we pay fair prices,”
he said. “We’re offering dealers an
opportunity to earn more from each
contract win. In almost every case, they
have to take out and dispose of the second
hand kit they’re replacing – we’ll pay them
for it and collect it, too.”
Trade Copiers deals in most makes and
models but focuses in particular on Ricoh,
Canon, Konica Minolta, Sharp and Xerox.
“There are certain models that are hot
sellers, ones which we can sell as many
as we can get, anywhere in the world, so
naturally we’re keen to get these in,” said
Armistead.
He added that wide format presents a
massive new opportunity: “This area is fast
developing and we’re continuing to win
new customers for these types of device.”
Further growth is firmly on the agenda.
In an average month, Trade Copiers already
exports in excess of 1,000 machines and
Armistead hopes to double this over the
next three years. “We want to purchase
more machines and make more new
contacts,” he said. “We have massive
capacity here and can process significantly
more devices than we are currently
handling.”
Another branch of the company
involves selling consumables. “This is an
additional service we offer to customers
and is complementary to our main
business,” explained Armistead. “We only
deal in original supplies, keep large up
to date stocks and offer fast delivery and
competitive pricing.”
A lot of the
countries we
sell into buy
in bulk and
then ship
on to final
destinations;
the only
criteria
is that
machines
must be in
full working
order.
