Andy Thompson has had a 40-year career in the paper industry, including senior roles at Robert Horne, Premier Paper and Howard Smith, and has been working with Taylor Bloxham for the past 18-months, in a consultative capacity, on paper procurement.
Now Thompson will also head up the DM division as the £28m-turnover group looks to grow its mailing business, which trades under its FastAnt brand, from 10% to 20% of Taylor Bloxham’s turnover within three years.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure moving from paper merchanting to printing,” Thompson said.
“We’re looking at a rapid growth programme so we'll be identifying and developing new opportunities and making sure we have the right kit, people and services in place to make sure we continue as a best in class direct mail house.”
Thompson’s appointment is part of a senior management restructure at the circa-200 staff business, following the departure last month of former chief executive Chris Bowen, within its four divisions: print; direct mail; fulfillment and POS services.
Thompson said the 20-person division, which carries out a lot of work for the car, jewellery, paint and flooring trades, will be looking at new growth sectors including the leisure industry.
“We want a more targeted approach to the market going forward. We want to focus on added value,” he said.
Thompson is confident on the growth targets because of an ongoing upward trend in the DM market, he explained.
“In 2008 direct mail in the UK took a significant fall, around 25-30%. After that I think people started getting fed up with email campaigns and now in my opinion there is a slow return to direct mail as a preferred means of communication for the recipient and as a route to market for businesses because they are getting better responses than by other means.
Following on from a new Xerox 495 continuous feed duplex printer that was installed around 12 months ago, adding to its existing equipment, Thompson said the division would be investing in “specific pieces of kit that fit with our targeted growth” in the near future, but he wouldn’t be drawn on what those were.
Taylor Bloxham chief executive Robert Lockwood said Thompson’s appointment would provide “the customer led focus required to consolidate the growth of this operation”.
