How to Choose Office Supplies Wholesale Distributors for Your VAR Business
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Choosing the right office supplies wholesale distributor is an important decision for any VAR business. The distributor you work with can affect your product selection, wholesale pricing, inventory availability, order fulfillment, and customer service. With different distributors offering different products, pricing structures, ordering options, and services, knowing what to evaluate can help you make the right choice.
We at VARStreet Inc. have years of experience in the office supplies VAR industry and have worked with over 5000 VARs. We know how confusing and time-consuming it can be to choose an office supplies wholesale distributor whose business values and goals align with yours. That’s why we’ve compiled this guide on how to choose office supplies wholesale distributors, covering the factors that matter to your VAR business, including product range, pricing, ordering, delivery, onboarding, customer support, and reputation.
Key Takeaways:
- Choosing an office supplies wholesale distributor starts with evaluating product range, pricing, inventory availability, and fulfillment capabilities.
- A distributor’s catalog, product data, and ordering capabilities can affect how efficiently VARs source and sell products.
- Pricing structures, discounts, rebates, delivery charges, and return policies can affect the overall cost of sourcing.
- Delivery options, dropshipping, and customer support can influence how effectively a VAR manages customer orders.
- Distributor reputation, onboarding requirements, and account support are also important factors when choosing a long-term distribution partner.
8 Questions to Ask a New Office Supplies Wholesale Distributor
1. How vast is their product catalog?
When you’re evaluating potential office supplies distributors to source products for your VAR business, the distributor must have a variety of products to offer. Some office supplies distributors specialize in one or two product categories like office furniture or ink and toner cartridges, but lack a wide product range.
While partnering with more than one distributor should be your ultimate goal, as prices for the same products do differ depending on the distribution channels, and you have a lot of play while sourcing your products.
But in the initial phase of your business, this may not be possible as many established distributors need assurance of sales volume before they partner with you. So if you are new to the VAR business, having one dependable distributor for as many office supply products as possible should be your goal.
Some products that should be included in the distributor catalog are:
- Office supplies
- Copy paper
- Ink and toner
- Breakroom supplies
- Facility and janitorial products
- Office furniture
- Technology products and IT services
- Managed print services
- Safety and PPE products
You’ll also need to ensure that your chosen distributor has all the popular office supply brands that are in demand, as well as products from OEMs, to help you reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
2. What differentiates them from other distributors?
When you look for an office supply wholesale distributor, you may want to consider someone that offers supplementary services and benefits like:
- Catalog integrations with real-time price and inventory updates
- Country-wide delivery options
- Next day delivery options
- A dedicated account manager and customer service team
- Free product content
- Office furniture assembly on customer site
- Technology services
- Toner recycling
- No minimum order requirement
- Dropshipping service
3. What is their pricing structure?
Profits are made by sourcing right. This old adage may sound like a cliche, but it is true!
Ask your potential wholesale distributor the following questions:
- How frequent are price changes?
- Do they offer a live product catalog with real-time price updates?
- Do they offer additional discounts, promotions or rebates if the order value is above a certain limit?
- Are there any cost-saving solutions like OEMs, private label brands, etc.?
- What are their delivery charges?
- How do they handle returns and refunds?
4. How user-friendly is their online ordering system?
In today’s age, online ordering is the norm even for B2B businesses. When evaluating a distributor, look for user-friendly interfaces and online order processing features.
Ensure that your office supply distributor provides you with the ability to:
- Send in electronic orders
- Automatically route customer orders for fulfilment
- Approve, adjust or reject orders in an approval workflow chain
- Change users
- Ship parts of the order to multiple addresses
Pro Tip:
- Prioritize distributors with strong data feeds to reduce manual catalog management work.
5. How is their onboarding process?
The paperwork required for partnering with a new office supplies distributor may be stressful and overwhelming. Established and reputable distributors want to vet you to ensure that you are a legitimate business. They may require state registration numbers, trade references, utility bills, banking references and flooring information, Federal Tax ID, etc.
Understand the onboarding process and enquire if they can provide you with a support system or a knowledgeable and helpful customer support team that can support you, every step of the way.
6. How does delivery work? Do they dropship orders?
Your office supplies wholesale distributor should make it easy for you to manage your customers’ delivery requirements.
If you serve country-wide or global locations, check whether your distributor can meet the delivery timelines your customers require.
People often forget about ordering office supplies, and many standard office supply orders can be urgent. Ask your distributor about their delivery options and whether next-day delivery is available for the products and locations you typically serve.
Also, ask if they can dropship orders directly to the customers without routing them through you.
Here’s everything you need to know about dropshipping.
Pro Tip:
- Build performance scorecards for each distributor to optimize sourcing decisions based on actual delivery and pricing metrics.
7. How is their customer support?
Stellar customer support differentiates successful businesses from mediocre ones. While mistakes in payments, pricing, deliveries, etc., are bound to happen, how they are handled, is the hallmark of a genuine distributor.
Aim to find an office supplies wholesale distributor with a knowledgeable customer support team with years of industry experience.
After all, no one wants to waste time on the phone tracking lost or missing packages.
8. How reputable and established are they?
The best way to learn about a potential distributor is by Googling them to find online reviews and seeing what others have to say about them.
You can even reach out to local VAR businesses that work with them to get a clearer picture of how convenient or difficult it is to do business with them.
Online research can give you useful information about a distributor, including its reputation and how long it has been in business.
We hope you have a fair idea on how to get started in your search for the best office supplies wholesale distributors.
As a bonus, here are the top 5 office supplies wholesale distributors and IT hardware distributors in the United States.
The Top 5 Office Supplies Distributors
When evaluating office supplies wholesale distributors, it can help to look at established distributors across office products, technology, printing, and related categories. Here are five distributors that VARs can consider when building their supplier shortlist.
1. Ingram Micro
Ingram Micro is a global technology distributor offering a broad range of technology products and solutions. Its product portfolio includes storage servers, notebooks, routers and gateways, video products, and other IT products.
VARStreet integrates with Ingram Micro’s catalog, giving VARs access to its product data and inventory through the platform.
2. Essendant
Essendant is a wholesale distributor serving the office products and technology markets. Its product portfolio includes traditional office supplies, office furniture, janitorial and breakroom supplies, technology products, industrial supplies, and automotive aftermarket products.
VARStreet’s business management platform for office supplies VARs enables them to sell products from the Essendant catalog.
3. International Toner Corp.
International Toner Corp. (ITC) specializes in compatible copier, fax, and laser printing supplies in the United States.
Its products are compatible with equipment from brands including Brother, Canon, Dell, HP, IBM, Konica Minolta, Panasonic, Ricoh, Samsung, Toshiba, and Xerox.
VARs can also sell ITC products through VARStreet.
4. S.P. Richards Company
S.P. Richards Company is a business products wholesaler and distributor offering a broad range of office supplies, furniture, and technology products. Its portfolio includes products such as binders, file folders, sticky notes, ink and toner supplies, and other office technology products.
S.P. Richards also carries products from brands including HP, Sharp, Brother, Lexmark, and Canon.
VARs can leverage VARStreet to sell products from the S.P. Richards catalog.
5. Royal Imaging
Royal Imaging specializes in document imaging and document management products. Its portfolio includes OEM, compatible, and remanufactured supplies for copiers, fax machines, laser and inkjet printers, duplicating equipment, and other printing applications.
Its product range covers toner and other imaging supplies for a variety of equipment types.
VARStreet also supports Royal Imaging product catalog integration, allowing VARs to access and sell its products through the platform.
Conclusion
Choosing the right office supplies wholesale distributor is about more than finding the lowest price. Product range, pricing, inventory availability, ordering capabilities, delivery options, customer support, and distributor reputation all play a role in deciding whether a distributor is a good fit for your VAR business.
VARStreet can make this process easier by bringing distributor catalogs, product information, pricing, and inventory into one platform. With access to multiple distributor catalogs and tools for sourcing and selling products, VARs can spend less time managing product information and more time serving their customers.
Ready to simplify how you source and sell office supplies?
Explore VARStreet to see how it can support your VAR business.
FAQs
What should I look for in an office supplies wholesale distributor?
Look at product range, pricing, inventory availability, delivery capabilities, ordering features, customer support, and the distributor’s reputation. The right mix depends on your customers’ requirements and your VAR business needs.
How should VARs compare office supplies wholesale distributors?
Compare distributors across the factors that affect your sourcing and customer fulfillment, rather than choosing based on price alone. Product availability, delivery, ordering capabilities, and support can all affect your ability to serve customers.
Why is inventory availability important when choosing a distributor?
Inventory availability affects whether you can fulfill customer orders when products are needed. Ask how the distributor communicates product availability and handles products that are unavailable or delayed.
What should I ask a wholesale distributor about pricing?
Ask how often prices change, whether pricing is updated in real time, whether discounts or rebates are available, what delivery charges apply, and how returns and refunds are handled.
How important is customer support when choosing a distributor?
Customer support matters when issues arise with payments, pricing, deliveries, or orders. Look for a distributor with knowledgeable support that can help resolve problems when they occur.
Should a VAR consider more than one office supplies distributor?
Working with more than one distributor can give a VAR additional sourcing options and flexibility. However, the right approach depends on the VAR’s product requirements, business stage, and distributor relationships.
