Consolidating Purchases of Office Supplies

by: Jamie Lyons

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Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 Time: 1:01 PM - 0 comments

At the current time in what can hopefully be described as the tail-end of the recession; many businesses will look into cost saving to discover which areas of the business can implement money saving in order to help the business survive.

Office supplies are items we need daily, with purchases such as stationery, data storage, ink cartridges being examples of the smaller purchases and larger and longer lasting purchases including desks, chairs, file storage etc Larger items are usually easier to negotiate discounts on, however buying from a supplier you have not used before can make it difficult. Office furniture and interiors can be bought at the same supplier as the smaller items like stationery, so it makes it very worthwhile to seek out a supplier that is able to offer a wider variety of products and consolidate purchases from just that supplier where possible.

Many companies tend to buy smaller stationery products every few days; however they may just be missing out on the extra discounts available to them as well as increasing the amount of administration needed just to cover those small purchases.

Consolidating purchases of office suppliers and buying from just one main supplier can save both money and time. Simple time saving on admin (constructing purchase orders and paying bills) and money saving can be instantaneous by negotiating costs with just one supplier. It takes little effort or time to make changes to buying processes and the well being of the business may just depend on these small changes.

Saving a business money on necessary equipment and office supplies, where using many suppliers for alternative products, often means paying higher prices. A business with a number of branches may each have their own preferred stationery supplier therefore each branch is buying its office supplies from a variety of sources. It makes good business sense to avoid this and arrange for head office to oversee a new ordering process where the same supplier is used, consolidating purchases is made easier and simpler this way.

Times are hard and increasing the buying power that a business has can save a considerable sum - a supplier will see more orders and negotiating discounts is made much easier and more worthwhile, a little like a homeowner having their utilities such as gas, electricity and telephone services provided by just one main supplier, it makes sense to cut costs and make just one payment, and its much easier to track purchase of office supplies when we follow this advice.

Little time is needed to implement such a change, though the returns are positive and sizeable. Small changes at this stage may make a big difference to a company, even when we're talking office supplies.