Mobile Phones and Office Supplies Very Much The Same
Cellular phones become truly readily available around 1993. Mobile phones were becoming more accessible and more affordable to individual consumers. Cellular carriers such as Bellsouth and CellularOne had strong outside sales force that aggressively targeted corporate accounts.
With the arrival of PCS, the mobile market opened up to include new carriers and suddenly the choices became much more than two carriers per market. As the market become more and more saturated, consumers while having better price options found it difficult to find what destinguished one company from another. With so many choices it was difficult to distinguish between various companies. Who was better Sprint or T-Mobile? It was almost a trial and error and constant advertising was what carried the most influence. With price wars in full swing, the outside sales force became virtually extinct.
This same scenario happened to the office supply industry in much the same way. Once upon a time, office supplies were purchased locally and these homegrown companies dominated their respective markets. In the late 80′s and early 90′s the arrival of the big box retailers such as Office Depot, OfficeMax, and, Staples, entered the market with a bang. In the process the small “mom and pop” office supplier virtually became extinct and the industry was changed forever.
However, the stronger office supply companies fought back touting their ability to serve and respond as a superior quality to the slow moving corporate giants unwilling to alter their policies to properly accommodate their customers. Unlike the smaller mobile carriers of yesteryear, today the independent office supplier is finding that he still has a fighting chance against these Goliaths. The internet once off limits to the smaller office supplier has found that it is no longer cost prohibitive but instead a necessity. And just as the consumer was the ultimate winner in the mobile price wars, so too does the corporate consumer win when procuring office supplies.
No longer limited to just two unresponsive supply chains, the internet gives the buyer almost an unlimited selectionThe internet has braodened the filed so much that consumers are no longer limited to just two national suppliers. of resellers. The individual office supply company has survived the perception that only an Office Depot or only a Staples can offer the low prices. Today, companies such as OfficeBundle.com offer true discount office supplies along with a unique reward offering that is sure to please any would be buyer. Smart office managers and purchasers know that these renegade online supplies offer the same benefits plus a few more…next day delivery? Of course. Easy to do business with? Much more.
Lacking the advertising budget of these bottomless big box retailers, the new hybrid breed of office supply companies rely on the savvy buyers and creative marketing . The price battles continue and the war has no end in site.
