Pallet wrap business targets year of substantial growth

Gloucester-based pallet wrapping film supplier Golden Valley Pallet Wrap Specialists Ltd has announced that, despite the difficult trading conditions, it is on course to increase sales of its range of film products by 40 per cent.

Colin Griffiths, GVPS’s chairman, who – along with his wife Suzanne – launched the company in June 2009, cites a focused sales approach as one of the key drivers of the business’s growth.

"Because pallet wrapping is a product that is used across so many industry sectors, defining your key target market is sometimes less than straightforward" he says.

"Our sales team has performed brilliantly since we started our business but we have worked closely as a unit to assess the most likely customers and this approach has proved extremely successful.

"We are winning new business and ensuring that our existing customers are retained – the latter is something that all too many business overlook."

As part of a five year business plan drawn up when GVPS began trading, Colin Griffiths set a turnover target of £5million for the fifth year. The company will achieve double that figure one year ahead of schedule and, looking further ahead, Colin and his team believe an annual turnover of £25 million is realistic.

"We set out to develop an industry-wide reputation as a company that provides a quality product and we aim to provide a better service than users of pallet wrap film have traditionally been used to," he says.

Having been in the industry for several years before establishing GVPS, Colin Griffiths believes that many companies operating in the polythene film industry had earned a reputation for a ‘take it or leave it’ approach to customer relationship management.

"In an industry where long lead times had become the accepted norm, our policy of offering next day delivery to customers has proved an extremely popular approach," he says.

"Our clients can minimize the amount of money they have tied up in stock because they know that we can get a fresh supply of film to them as and when they want it."

Colin Griffiths adds: "I believe our fourth of year in business will be a critical one for our company. I am very proud of the fact that we have grown year on year – despite launching in the middle of one of the deepest and longest recessions the world has experienced. But we now have everything in place – including an experienced and highly motivated sales force, a highly efficient supply chain and, of course, the right products, to ensure that we take the company forward to a new level."