History

Impro Group began life as a local office supplies retailer in Chicago, Illinois in 1979. During the 1990s as competition intensified in favor of “big box” stores, the business migrated to focus on surplus trading of imaging supplies, which at that time was an unknown niche and a novel concept in the marketplace.

During the 2000s, the surplus business expanded globally, forming a network of wholly owned branches, joint ventures, and local distribution relationships with resellers around the world. By 2006, Impro had surplus trading operations or employee facilities in Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, India, Mexico, USA and UK.

In 2007, with a leadership position in surplus trading established, the company moved into the fresh new product (non-surplus) market in the USA with the creation of TonerMAX.com.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, non-core operations were divested in order to preserve capital and allow greater focus on the areas with the greatest growth potential and competitive advantage.

Today, as of mid-2013, in the USA Impro supplies fresh new product to end users and resellers under the trade names TonerMAX.com and Panda Wholesale as well as maintaining a strong presence in the original surplus market. In EMEA, the product range currently only includes surplus, with entrance into the new product marketspace on the horizon.