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