The biggest A4 copy paper brand could be on the market. 

 

Opal Australian Paper may have exited the production of white copy paper in Australia, but it has been left with a few problems, one of them being – what to do with the market leading Reflex brand?

 

 If Opal decides to sell the brand name, it’s hard to go past Officeworks as the most likely buyer, given its large retail footprint, the initial cost involved and the long-term marketing support required to recoup expenses.

 

At the same time, there is no doubt that many other interested parties would love to have the Reflex brand name in their stable.

 

There is scant information on local market share of stationery products, but it’s highly probable that Reflex has dominated sales of top tier copy paper for many years.

 

Officeworks has increased its share in the A4 copy paper segment from 20 per cent to 28 per cent over the past three years, going from the number three player in Australia to number one in the process. 

 

The retailer currently promotes Reflex Ultra White as one of its “best sellers” at $7.90 for a 500-sheet ream.

 

Speaking at a recent parent company (Wesfarmers) strategy day, Officeworks MD Sarah Hunter said this was because Officeworks “backed [itself] on availability” amid the recent sourcing issues when manufacturer Opal ceased local production.

 

Reflex has been made in Australia since its launch in 1984 and is well-known for its ‘’reliability, quality and performance” thanks to a hefty marketing budget.

 

In fact, it was the first office paper in the world to be advertised on television through a succession of commercials based around the message ‘Always Rely on Reflex’.

 

Watch the Paper Guru ad here https://youtu.be/Q5x6SZjYKn4

 

Reflex is also one of the few branded copy papers that has a ‘technical advantage’ in addition to other features, such as ‘Áustralian-made’ and '100% recycled’.

 

Reflex’s trade-marked ‘Ínk Wise’ quality is claimed to deliver a ‘new standard in print and paper performance with no extra ink’.

 

All this adds up to a high ‘brand value’ - possibly in the order of millions of dollars based on how much it costs to build a market-leading brand such as Reflex.

 

Marketing experts say that when customers attach a level of quality or prestige to a brand, they perceive that brand's products as being worth more than products made by competitors, so they are willing to pay more. In effect, the market bears higher prices for brands that have high levels of brand equity.