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Distributor

Talking Points

PRODUCT

RESPONSIBILITY

SEPTEMBER 2015 •

PPB

• 71

An A-peel-ing

App

PROMOTIONS

75

HAT IF

YOU

COULD

press a button and magically

transform artwork into a per-

fect logo for virtually any type

of promotional product?

Martin Varley believes his

company’s latest creation,

Artworktool.com

, provides

that magic button. The CEO

of business services provider

Customer Focus, formerly

Trade Only, spoke with

PPB

about his latest development

and the reason behind the

company’s name change.

PPB

Why did you shift from

being known as Trade Only

to Customer Focus?

Varley

Trade Only is a

generic term in Europe for a

type of supplier. It’s a great

domain but it didn’t reflect

what we actually do. We are

a technology and informa-

tion company, and our tech-

nology isn’t just used in the

promotional products and

related markets; we thought

it was appropriate to have a

name that reflected that.

PPB

Your company operates

in the business services

sphere. As the supply chain’s

approach to sales evolves,

how do you see companies

like yours adapting or being

affected by the change?

Varley

We’re probably driv-

ing some of that change. My

passion has always been to

know how to drive efficiency.

If you gather all

of the informa-

tion you need

for an order

once, you never

have to do it

again. Currently the challenge

in the industry is that we have

all these platforms for gather-

ing information, and they are

a little inefficient.

PPB

What are the origins of

Artworktool, and what is its

basic function?

Varley

We knew a few years

ago that what

was needed was

an ecommerce

platform, so we

put together a

solution called

The Perfect Store.

It holds the per-

fect amount of

products from

QCA-certified

suppliers, and

every product has

a price for every

option possible.

The store also

offers virtual sam-

ples and allows

the user to send

customer-

approved art to the supplier.

Artworktool can be part of

a Perfect Store website ... it

allows you to have a button

on the site, and it knows what

to look for. The ‘canvas’ for a

product is set to the correct

printable dimensions. No

other solution can deliver fac-

tory-ready artwork in any for-

mat. It’s a cross between

Adobe Illustrator, Instagram

and Dropbox.

PPB

How does Artworktool

empower users?

Varley

Artworktool is an

enabler to businesses and

citizen artists. If you create a

logo, you can share it or

keep it private, or sell it. The

analogy in promotional

products is that you want to

see what a product looks

like before you pay for it. A

virtual sample increases the

likelihood of a purchase.

Five Minutes With

Martin Varley

CEO, Customer Focus

Is It Time

To Hire?

MANAGEMENT

79

83

Martin Varley

W

86

Legacy Of

A Lifetime

FEATURE STORY