Will the Staples-Office Depot Merger put you Out Of Business? â™›By Steven Giannetta "The King of Toner" At National Copy Cartridge â™›
Many companies are fearful of BIG BOX Office suppliers putting them Out of Business. Sure they get favorable prices and contracts because of their size.
Most End User companies Do Not like dealing with Big Box Office Suppliers. What is it that makes they shy away? Bad Customer Service? No Personal attention? Is it possible that some Larger Business customers were once small and want to help small Business succeed?
What ever the Real Reasons the Merger is Good for Small Business everywhere.
Offer your Customer a Choice -so they are not Stuck with just a Mega Office Supplier. Let's take Papa John's for example, I thought "Who needs another Pizza company?" ! They offer "Better Ingredients" and they are Successful with that.
Smaller companies can Outperform Big Box Office Suppliers. A few ideas would be providing "Better Customer Service", "Personalized Service", " A Dedicated Sales team". Now with popular e-commerce you can compete with the Big Box Office Suppliers Nationwide. The e-commerce Business for Staples/Depot is a very large portion of their Business now. Many times they use the exact same Wholesale Sources that the smaller companies choose. They even Drop Ship just like everyone else.
There are many organisations like Buying Groups & Independent Stationers that help Smaller companies Compete in the Industry.