How To Choose An Appropriate Office Supplies Distributor?

By Author: Shane Emerson
Total Articles: 36
Comment this article

If you are planning to resell office supplies, the first thing that you got to do is select an appropriate office supplies distributor. Reselling office supplies and stationery products is a profitable venture, provided you are connected with the right distributor.

From pencils and rubbers to printer supplies, office supply products are in great demand irrespective of the industry. Day-to-day activities in any industry depend on office supplies.

When you start a business, no matter what you decide to sell, your reputation is of utmost importance. To be successful as a reseller, ensure that your reputation stays strong and positive in the minds of the customer.

Factors to Consider when Selecting an Office Supplies Distributor

1. Dropshipping

Want to earn higher margins while selling office supplies? Then pick a distributor that offers dropshipping services.

Dropshipping enables you to start your business with minimum capital. It is an order fulfillment method in which the distributor takes ...
... care of everything from inventory storage to shipment.

The biggest advantage of dropshipping is that you can sell a wide range of office supplies without the need to store even one product. As a result, you save on warehouse costs and divert your resources on marketing.

2.Product Quality

Is the distributor connected to a manufacturer that specializes in making high-quality office supplies?

Product quality is one aspect of business that should never be compromised. If you sell low-quality office supplies expect your business to flounder.

Although you are not manufacturing products, you are directly answerable to customers if the product is found to be defective or in a damaged condition. Hence, when choosing an Office supplies distributor, check whether the distributor has a good reputation of offering high-quality products.

The distributor you are choosing should be a recognized supplier of office supplies. When the distributor is selling branded products, quality is not a concern.

3. Reliability

Reliability is one of the top priorities when looking for a distributor. Check whether the distributor is in a position to consistently supply stationery products.

Take into account all the factors and if you find the distributor to be less reliable, avoid making any contract.

4.Technology

You want to choose a distributor that makes it easy to conduct business transactions. Right? So check whether the distributor has incorporated the latest technology to run its business.

There are IT hardware distributors that still depend on traditional methods to run their business. For instance, some distributors don't have their own site and sell products from their physical stores. They have long print catalogs to store product information.

Avoid distributors that rely on brick-and-mortar stores and telephones for doing business with resellers.

Choose distributors that have a sophisticated eCommerce store and provide an up-to-date inventory feed for their resellers. Inventory feed eliminates the need for manual tasks to access the distributor catalog.

Manually uploading the distributor catalog into your store can be very time-consuming. This is because firstly you have to use excel sheets to make your product catalog. Once it is created you can then upload it into your eCommerce back office and display it on the store.

An inventory feed is essentially a file that contains product information and transferred electronically from one system to another. This is the fastest way to get product data from your distributors.

When the distributor offers product/inventory feed, you can easily access its product catalog from a remote location. Access to product feed means no dealing with inaccurate data on your product listings. The inventory on your store is always up-to-date.

5. Delivery Time

As a reseller, you aren't handling shipping, yet you will be held responsible for late delivery.

What's the point if the distributor is offering high-quality products but not delivering on time?

Studies have shown that on-delivery time is the key to customer satisfaction. The inability to deliver on time will alienate your customers and damage your brand.

Customers expect on-time delivery every time they place orders on your store. So ensure that the distributor you choose has an excellent track record of delivering on time.