Essendant

Last updated

Essendant Inc.
Company type Private
Nasdaq: ESND
Industry Wholesale Distribution
Founded1922;102 years ago (1922)
Headquarters Deerfield, Illinois, United States
Key people
ProductsBusiness products, office supplies, electronics, furniture, industrial, janitorial, automotive
RevenueIncrease2.svg $5.369 billion (2016) [1]
Owner Sycamore Partners
Number of employees
6,400 [2]  (2017)
Website www.essendant.com
Footnotes /references
[3]

Essendant Inc., formerly known as United Stationers, is a national wholesale distributor of office supplies, with consolidated net sales of $5.3 billion. Essendant stocks over 160,000 items, including traditional office products, office furniture, janitorial and break room supplies, and technology products. Essendant is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and also has operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Contents

Products

Essendant stocks over 160,000 products in these categories:

Janitorial and breakroom supplies
Essendant holds over 25,000 items in the following areas: Janitorial supplies (cleaners and cleaning accessories), breakroom items (food and beverage products), food service consumables (such as disposable cups, plates and utensils), safety and security items, and paper and packaging supplies.
Technology products
Essendent stocks over 10,000 items including imaging supplies, data storage, digital cameras, computer accessories and computer hardware items including printers and other peripherals.
Traditional office products
Essendant is one of the largest national wholesale distributors of a broad range of office supplies. It carries approximately 23,000 brand name and private label products such as filing and record storage products, business machines, presentation products, writing instruments, paper products, shipping and mailing supplies, calendars and general office accessories.
Industrial supplies
Essendant carries approximately 100,000 industrial items including hand and power tools, safety and security supplies, janitorial equipment and supplies, various industrial MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) items, oil field and welding supplies, and automotive aftermarket tools and equipment.
Office furniture
Essendant is one of the largest office furniture wholesale distributors in the U.S. It stocks approximately 4,000 products including desks, filing and storage solutions, seating and systems furniture, along with a variety of products for niche markets such as education, government, healthcare and professional services.

Customers

Essendant serves approximately 30,000 reseller customers. They include independent office products dealers, contract stationers, office products superstores, computer products resellers, office furniture dealers, mass merchandisers, mail order companies, sanitary supply, paper and food service distributors, drug and grocery store chains, healthcare distributors, e-commerce merchants, oil field, welding supply and industrial/MRO distributors, automotive aftermarket dealers and wholesalers and other independent distributors.[ citation needed ]

Distribution

Essendant's network of 70+ distribution centers allows the company to ship most products overnight to more than 90% of the U.S. [4] and next day delivery to major cities in Canada. [5]

Essendant services and distributes 2,000 brands and 80,000 SKUs across all major channels [6] to their customer base of 30,000 resellers. [5]

Competition

Essendant participates in highly competitive markets. The company competes with other wholesale distributors as well as with the manufacturers of the products the company sells. In addition, the company competes with warehouse clubs, and the business-to-business sales divisions of national business products resellers.

Essendant competes primarily on the basis of breadth of product lines, availability of products, speed of delivery, order fill rates, net pricing to customers, and the quality of marketing and other value-added services.[ citation needed ]

History

Essendant was incorporated in 1922 under the name Utility Supply Company in Chicago by partners Harry Hecktman and Morris Wolf. During the early 1930s, the company published its first office products catalog. The concept was such a success that the business was further expanded with the opening of its first retail store in 1937. In the early 1950s, in addition to its catalog and retail operation, management recognized growing opportunities in the office products wholesale business. In 1970, the company opened its first distribution center. As time passed, the company found it difficult to compete as both a retailer and wholesaler. So, in 1978, the retail operations were sold and the company began to operate exclusively as an office products wholesaler.[ citation needed ]

To provide the capital to further its growth, Essendant incorporated and then went public in 1981 as United Stationers Inc. (USTR) on the NASDAQ. In 1984, the company established MicroUnited to capitalize on the growth in the computer supplies sector. The company's MicroUnited division focused on the distribution of peripherals and supplies to computer products resellers. Essendant recognized that its marketing programs and distribution infrastructure would be attractive to customers within other industries.[ citation needed ]

In June 2002, the company announced that, as part of its succession plan, Richard W. Gochnauer, 52, would become the company's chief operating officer and a member of the board of directors, when he joined the company on July 22. [7] In September 2008, the company pioneered the use of data analytics to illustrate the Value of Wholesale to distribution (aka VOW Program). In December 2010, the company announced that P. Cody Phipps, the company's chief operating officer, would become president and CEO when Richard W. Gochnauer, CEO, retired at the annual shareholders’ meeting in May 2011. [8]

In April 2015, the company announced the departure of P. Cody Phipps, the company's chief executive officer, and Director Robert Blaine Aiken Jr. would take over as interim CEO. In early 2015, the company announced the re-branding of the company to Essendant from United Stationers. The new company name became effective in June 2015. The company's symbol on the NASDAQ Global Select Market changed from USTR to ESND. [9]

July 22, 2015, Essendant announced that its board of directors appointed Robert B. Aiken Jr., president and CEO effective immediately. Mr. Aiken, who had been serving as interim president and CEO since May 2015, would continue as an Essendant board member. [10] On October 25, 2017, the board of directors elected Richard D. Phillips president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Mr. Phillips, who had been serving as interim president and CEO since June 2017, was also elected to Essendant's board of directors and the board's executive committee. [11] January 31, 2019, the board announced that Harry Dochelli had been named president. [12] [13] [14]

Mergers and acquisitions

As competition in the late 1980s intensified within the office products industry, consolidation at all levels of the industry became commonplace. In June 1992, the company acquired Stationers Distributing Company, a $425 million office products wholesaler in Fort Worth, Texas. This transaction made the company a $1.5 billion wholesale distributor.[ citation needed ]

In March 1995, the company acquired Associated Stationers, a $475 million general line wholesaler. Three years later, on April 3, 1998, the company acquired Azerty, a $350 million wholesaler of computer consumables. Azerty was founded in April 1983 by Marvin Frackt as the US subsidiary of Inter City Papers Limited of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Bill Dueger was the first manager of Azerty, reporting to Marvin Frackt. Subsequently, the company's MicroUnited division was merged into Azerty. In July 2000, Essendant increased its geographic penetration in Canada by purchasing Azerty Canada, a $115 million computer consumables business.[ citation needed ]

To expand their line of business, on October 31, 1996, the company acquired Lagasse Bros., Inc., a wholesaler of janitorial and sanitation supplies. In January 2001, the company completed the acquisition of Peerless Pape to broaden the Lagasse division's reach. [15]

In May 2005, Lagasse completed the purchase of Sweet Paper, which expanded Lagasse's product line and enhanced its scale and infrastructure in key markets. [16] The company decided to sell its Canadian division in March 2006, and completed the sale of certain assets associated with its Canadian division three months later. [17] [18]

The company acquired ORS Nasco, on December 21, 2007. [19] On March 1, 2010, the company acquired their first technology company, privately owned MBS Dev, a Colorado-based software provider. [20] In November 2012, the company signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of O.K.I. Supply Co. (O.K.I.) for an all-cash purchase price of $90 million. [21] On May 29, 2014, the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, United Stationers Supply Co., signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding shares of CPO Commerce, Inc., for an all-cash purchase price of $30 million, with up to an additional $10 million to be paid in three years based on performance. [22]

On October 31, 2014, the company completed the acquisition of Liberty Bell Equipment Corporation, a United States wholesaler of auto aftermarket tools and supplies, and its affiliates (collectively, "MEDCO") including G2S Equipment de Fabrication et d'Entretien ULC ("G2S"), a Canadian wholesaler. [23] On December 17, 2014, the company announced the sale of MBSDev to ProjectAX. [24] On August 3, 2015, The company completed the acquisition of Nestor Sales LLC., a wholesaler and distributor of tools, equipment and supplies to the transportation industry. [25] On January 31, 2019, Staples, Inc., [26] announced that an affiliate of Sycamore Partners (which owns Staples) has acquired Essendant, [27] a national wholesale distributor, [28] in an example of vertical integration.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save A Lot</span> American retail and grocery company

Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount supermarket chain store headquartered in St. Ann, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It has about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staples Inc.</span> American multinational office supply retailing corporation

Staples Inc. is an American office supply retail company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterloo Maple</span> Software company in Canada

Waterloo Maple Inc. is a Canadian software company, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario. It operates under the trade name Maplesoft. It is best known as the manufacturer of the Maple computer algebra system, and MapleSim physical modeling and simulation software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardinal Health</span> American multinational health care services company

Cardinal Health, Inc. is an American multinational health care services company, and the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, the company specializes in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical products, serving more than 100,000 locations. The company also manufactures medical and surgical product, including gloves, surgical apparel, and fluid management products. In addition, it operates one of the largest networks of radiopharmacies in the U.S. Cardinal Health provides medical products to over 75 percent of hospitals in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia</span> American media and merchandising company

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSLO) is an American diversified media and merchandising company founded by Martha Stewart in 1997 and owned by Marquee Brands LLC since April 2019. It is organized into four business segments: publishing, Internet, broadcasting media platforms, and merchandising product lines. MSLO's business holdings include a variety of print publications, television and radio programming, and e-commerce websites.

Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the United States's largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets and grocery stores. It serves more than 4,000 locations in 36 states and from 8 full-line wholesale divisions. The consolidated run-rate sales for AWG is close to $10 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies which provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, digital marketing services, and is a wholesale supply provider of health and beauty care, general merchandise, specialty/international foods and pharmaceutical supplies. It was founded in 1924 as Associated Grocers of Kansas City and was based in Kansas City, Missouri before moving to Kansas City, Kansas. Associated Wholesale Grocers distributes four private-label brands of grocery products, Best Choice, Clearly Organic, Always Save, and Superior Selections along with IGA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W.B. Mason</span> American office supplier

W.B. Mason is an American business products company headquartered in Brockton, Massachusetts. The company is known for its colorful delivery vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tech Data</span> U.S.-based technology company

Tech Data Corporation was an American multinational distribution company specializing in IT products and services headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. It merged with competitor Synnex to form TD Synnex. Synnex is to be the primary owner. Tech Data provided a broad range of product lines, logistics capabilities and value-added services that enable technology manufacturers and resellers, such as Google, Apple, Cisco, Dell, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., IBM, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Sony, Trend Micro, Viewsonic, TP-Link and VMware, to deploy IT solutions.

Avnet, Inc. is a distributor of electronic components headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, named after Charles Avnet, who founded the company in 1921. After its start on Manhattan's Radio Row, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961. On May 8, 2018, Avnet changed stock markets to Nasdaq, trading under the same ticker AVT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genuine Parts Company</span> Auto/industrial/electronic parts

Genuine Parts Company (GPC) is an American service organization engaged in the distribution of automotive replacement parts, industrial replacement parts, office products and electrical/electronic materials. GPC serves numerous customers from more than 2,600 operations around the world, and has approximately 48,000 employees. It owns the NAPA Auto Parts brand.

Henry Schein, Inc. is an American distributor of health care products and services with a presence in 33 countries. Ethisphere named Henry Schein as one of the 2024 World's Most Ethical Companies for the 13th consecutive year. For eight consecutive years, the company has received the Equality 100 Award: Leader in LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLane Company</span> American wholesale supply chain services company

McLane is an American wholesale supply chain services company that distributes products to convenience stores, discount retailers, wholesale clubs, drug stores, military bases, fast-food restaurants, and casual dining restaurants throughout the United States. It is also a wholesale distributor of distilled beverages in some parts of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Home Depot Pro</span> U.S. wholesale distributor

The Home Depot Pro, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, is a wholesale distributor and direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products for non-industrial businesses in the United States. The Home Depot Pro distributes products such as HVAC, janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, and security supplies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quill Corporation</span> Office supply retailer based in Lincolnshire, Illinois

Quill Corporation is an American office supply retailer, founded in 1956, and headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois. A wholly owned subsidiary of Staples, Quill serves more than one million small and mid-sized U.S. business customers, with access to over one million assorted products.

S.E. Rykoff & Co., also known as SERCO, was a broad line national wholesale grocer that serviced the restaurant, hotel and institutional trade from regional warehouses, sale forces and truck fleets located primarily on the west coast of the United States. S.E. Rykoff & Co. eventually became US Foods in 1997 by merging with JP Foodservice. The company traces its roots to a small family grocery store opened by Harry and Ida Rykoff in Los Angeles, California in 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Activant</span> American technology company

Activant Solutions Inc. was a privately held American technology company specializing in business management, software serving retail and wholesale distribution businesses headquartered in Livermore, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisbets</span> Multinational food-service company

Nisbets is multinational distributor to the food-service sector. The company develops, retails and distributes commercial kitchen equipment, catering supplies and other hospitality products and services to hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes, schools and colleges. Nisbets is majority owned by Bunzl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking Direct</span>

Viking is an omni-channel office supplies company selling a broad range of office supplies varying from stationery to furniture, breakroom and catering essentials. It has its European headquarters in Venlo, Netherlands, along with offices in Leicester, United Kingdom, and a service center in Cluj, Romania serving all regions where Viking operates. Additionally, Viking has two distribution centers in Großostheim, Germany serving DACH and Benelux regions, and Leicester, United Kingdom, serving United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1960 in Los Angeles, California, US, Viking currently has operations in eight countries, and employs over 1,500 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JanPak</span>

JanPak was a regional supplier of cleaning, janitorial and packaging products. It operates 17 distribution centers in the Central and Southeastern United States with over 100 delivery trucks. The headquarters of JanPak is in Davidson, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office supply retailing</span>

Office supply retailing is the commercial trade of stationery and other office supplies.

References

  1. ↑ "Requested symbol wasn't found".
  2. ↑ "Essendant". Fortune. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ "About Us". Essendant. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  4. ↑ Howland, Daphne (September 18, 2018). "Staples buys workplace vendor Essendant for $996M". Retail Dive. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  5. 1 2 "United Stationers / Essendant". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  6. ↑ Brohan, Mark (July 15, 2024). "B2B distributor Essendant reinvents itself through Connected Commerce, digital transformation". Digital Commerce 360. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  7. ↑ "United Stationers Names Gochnauer as Chief Operating Officer".
  8. ↑ "Adobe Executive Guide_2".
  9. ↑ "United Stationers Changes Name to Essendant, Repositions for the Future".
  10. ↑ "Sycamore Partners Affiliate Acquires National Wholesale Distributor" (Press release). January 31, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Essendant Names Richard D. Phillips President And Chief Executive Officer" (Press release).
  12. ↑ "When Harry met Sandy". February 27, 2019.
  13. ↑ "2019 Top 100". September 30, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Sycamore Completes Essendant Acquisition".
  15. ↑ "Peerless Paper is acquired by Lagasse Bros., Inc., a subsidiary of United Stationers, Inc". April 10, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Lagasse, Inc. to Purchase Sweet Paper Sales".
  17. ↑ "United Stationers has sold Azerty to Synnex Corporation". Lincoln International. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  18. ↑ www.sec.gov. p. 29 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/355999/000104746908002036/a2182993z10-k.htm . Retrieved August 17, 2020.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ "United Stationers to Buy ORS Nasco for $180M".
  20. ↑ "United Stationers Acquires MBS Dev".
  21. ↑ "United Stationers to Acquire O.K.I. Supply".
  22. ↑ "United Stationers Completes Acquisition Of CPO Commerce". Archived from the original on March 1, 2016.
  23. ↑ "United Stationers Acquires MEDCO".
  24. ↑ "United Stationers Sells MBS Dev".
  25. ↑ "Essendant Closes on Acquisition of Nestor Sales LLC". August 3, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Essendant tapping into Staples' resources". October 15, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Essendant Unveils Email And Personalization Tools For Resellers".
  28. ↑ "Staples Acquires Essendant in $996 Million Deal".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.