30 Years of Stewart Superior

Stewart Superior is in its 30th year and Geoff Betts has more stories and a range of perspectives than most of us have had hot dinners! Here, we share some of Geoff’s stories, experiences and challenges he’s faced over the last three decades.

How did it all start?

We started the business in 1994 – and in no small part, Ryanair’s low-price flights around Europe (other low-cost airlines are available) were part of our early success. They tended to fly at 6.05 am with the return at 21.30pm. It meant getting up at 3am and getting home at midnight. We did however time it totally right for starting a business in this industry! The Americans had started to open their businesses over here - Staples, Viking – at the same time that we were opening our door and did we knock on theirs!  Here we are now in our 30th year, having gone through the financial crash;  Brexit; the global pandemic; and the massive decline in the use of stationery; customers deciding that having built a great business with us, they could do it better themselves; our once blue-chip customers disappearing; we now have wars, recession; and somehow through all this we have got to here.  

It’s very encouraging to see GenZ and Alpha loving good pens, staplers, and the importance a clipboard brings to any meeting or event! Let’s hope it continues. 

What’s your overall take?

Being an optimist by nature, it’s great to know that generally human beings love being creative. Whether on paper, on a wall or on a laptop, we love being creative. My youngest daughter from the age of 2 loved crafting and now designs studio sets for Next. I brought home a big old white board from work when she was about three, and it sat on the floor for five years with my daughter creating picture after picture. Working in stationery had its advantages! I still regard this as an untapped market. 

It’s vital to surround yourself with good people. One of the biggest assets in the business has been Eileen, from the Emerald Isle who joined me very early on, in 1995. She’s still with me and she’s been such an influence building the company; that’s been an incredible working relationship, she’s very talented. Tom Petty too is a great asset and between us we run a global business reaching the USA and Canada, most of Western Europe and now, South Africa. 

Our aim has always been to help our customers grow. When we walk through the door, we want to help them make money and sell more. I have never understood why sometimes it seems we are the enemy. Why? I have spent my entire career creating products for customers to sell at healthy margins. We should all be on the same side surely? I fully understand our customers need to make money, and it should be vice versa too, or else it becomes an ever-decreasing circle. 

What product innovations have been the most interesting and productive over the years for Stewart Superior?

Without question, it was the discovery of oxo-biodegradable polypropylene. It was 2008 and I was in a VOW conference, one of our wholesalers, and their CEO said they would give preference to any green products.  So, I asked our partners in China, and they said they could make a compostable plastic with corn starch. They sent me ring binder as a sample, made out of compostable plastic. It smelled a bit like cooking oil I remember – a little bit pungent on a hot day! So I flew to Shanghai to see the guy. After about half an hour he said, it’s such a pity you don’t want biodegradable polypropylene. “Who said I didn’t want it,” I replied, and the rest is history.  We were suddenly on the same catalogue pages as Leitz and Acco.  I was enormously proud. The environmental brand SECO was born and is still growing today with not only filing products, but now clip boards, catering items, and lots more. We have had the environmental accreditation ISO 14001 for the past 15 years. 

What challenges and changes stand out? 

The key thing for Stewart Superior is the constant ability to reinvent ourselves. A few examples…

In 2000, I discovered motivational pictures while I was travelling in the US. They’d be everywhere, produced by a company called Successories in the US. We tried them with Viking, and we made our own - and we sold hundreds and hundreds of those. That lasted for about five years but then we got demotivated and now, we all have memes instead! 

At around the same time I was sat in an OPI conference – Jirka Rysavy, CEO and Founder of Corporate Express (now Gaia Inc) said about his US business: We have 750 vendors today and I’ve told my merchandisers I want to have 250. We weren’t one of the 750 at the time and that was a big moment for me: how am I going to make the 250, they haven’t even heard of us yet! That was the moment I decided “I’m going to become this one stop shop for these guys to buy a lot of their niche products from one supplier, rather than having to see a dozen suppliers in one go, and that should take cost out for them too”. And it worked.

Proudest moments 

Becoming the health and safety sign supplier to the largest players in the industry and growing a new category at the time into a very sizeable business for them and us. 

Introducing Oxo Biodegradable plastic and motivational pictures to the market. Growing niche categories into sizeable business for Viking, Staples, Spicers, Vow, Alkor, and particularly Lyreco when they extended their product ranges. 

Working my butt off to get started in the USA and eventually watching it grow. Having one of our products as the best seller in its category on Amazon. 

Having my colleagues work with me for over 20 years, my industry awards and being Chairman of the BOSS Federation. Helping change the focus towards the Industry Charity and starting during my time as Chairman, Leaders of the Future. 

Contribution to the industry – giving back

One thing I passionately believe in is that an industry needs to have a Trade Federation. If we didn’t have one, we’d have to invent it. I began working with BOSS in 1988, when I was in the rubber stamp industry and finished in 2022 being on the BOSS board for the best part of 20 years. I served with many of the industry greats and thank them all for their voluntary service and commitment. The Federation continues to thrive, and I wish it every success in the years to come. With a great company and staff behind me, it allowed me the time to dedicate to doing my best for the industry in the various roles I found myself in.

What now?

It’s a very tough market right now.  That’s why we are opening in South Africa because Amazon are about to open and will hopefully buy enough product from us there to make it worth our while - and I see other opportunities too. Our product ranges continue to grow, and we will continue to work for ourselves and our customers. The USA and Canada will remain a priority as will growing our existing business with our regular customers and hopefully new ones. 

It’s been an incredible 30 years, I feel blessed to have had the career that I’ve had. The geopolitical situation is… interesting, but after all, we say that the pen is mightier than the sword and I bloody well hope it will continue to be so! Onwards and upwards!