Some of you may know ACCO Brands as a big, American, multi-million-dollar company operating in over 100 countries around the globe. Of course, that is true, but there is much more to us than that. We also operate locally here in the UK and are responsible for many of the heritage-rich brands you know and love.
Here are five facts about ACCO UK that will hopefully give a better idea of who we are:
There are nine brands and over 4,500 products in the ACCO UK portfolio, and many such as Rexel, Nobo, and Derwent were born right here in the UK. The truth is that these brands would not be what they are today without the passion of our team. All of the ACCO UK team are experts in our product range and the wider office products industry, and some have even been with us for over 30 years and have helped to build the strong heritage our brands possess. But beyond our own portfolio, we are a very social organisation and love connecting with our industry colleagues at events and trade shows. We look forward to seeing you all in the flesh again, hopefully soon.
We have 11 factories across Europe and produce 50% of what we sell, from boards to binding machines, folders, files, and desktop accessories. To ensure our resellers have access to what they need when they need it, we also have a very close relationship with our suppliers based in the Far East. To help ensure reliability at home, we operate from our distribution centre in the Midlands, which has remained open, fully stocked, and receiving deliveries daily throughout the pandemic and Brexit transitions.
The pandemic has been a real pivot for the UK worker, which caused a shift in demand for resellers to provide more work-from-home-friendly products. We took our customers' needs to heart and adapted our go-to market strategy accordingly. For example, we accelerated the launch of smaller, consumer-friendly packs and have enhanced our service proposition with direct shipping. We launched our Leitz Cosy range with the remote workforce in mind, combining form and function by offering organisational solutions that are beautifully designed to complement any home workspace. We also adapted all of our marketing campaigns to be work from home-focused to provide our resellers with all the necessary tools for driving sales and serving their customers and will continue to pivot as needed.
'Sustainability' isn't just a buzzword for us. Our UK sites and our Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) production facilities carry many ISO certifications, and we have drastically reduced our emissions, resource use, and waste year-on-year since 2015. As of 2020, our Leitz 1080 paper lever arch files are certified climate neutral by ClimatePartner.Additionally, we proudly carry 2,300 products with third-party certified eco-labels such as FSC, UL, Nordic Swan, or Blue Angel, and have gathered further green credentials indicating that 1,400 of our products are made of recycled materials and are easily recyclable. This includes our new Leitz Recycle range, which is made of 100% recycled material and is at least 90% recyclable.
We are eager to return to work, to hospitality, and to in-person education, but we understand that this return to normality needs to take place as safely as possible. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have provided a host of innovative products to support healthier environments in the new normal, ranging from social distancing screens under our Nobo brand, to air purifiers from Leitz Trusens to a washable keyboard from Kensington. We plan to continue supporting our resellers by helping to drive sales with new, innovative products relevant to their customers' needs.
To learn more about us and our products, please visit: https://www.accobrands.com/