OFFICE
SUPPLY
The office supply
industry was estimated to be worth US$ 225 billion in 1999 and is still growing.As
of 2006, the largest office supply chains in the United States (in terms of
revenue) are Staples (US$16B), Office Depot (US$15B), and OfficeMax (US$8.9B).Office
supplies is the generic term that refers to all supplies regularly used in offices
by businesses and other organizations, from private citizens to governments,
who works with the collection, refinement, and output of information (colloquially
referred to as "paper work").The term includes small, expendable,
daily use items such as paper clips, staples, hole punches, binders and laminators,
writing utensils and paper, but also encompasses higher-cost equipment like
computers, printers, fax machines, photocopiers and cash registers, as well
as office furniture such as cubicles or armoire desks. Two very common medium-to-high-cost
office equipment items before the advent of suitably priced word processing
machines and PCs in the 1970s and 1980s were typewriters and adding machines.
Many businesses
in the office supply industry have recently expanded into related markets for
businesses like copy centers, which facilitate the creation and printing of
business collateral such as business cards and stationery, plus printing and
binding of high quality, high volume business and engineering documents. Some
businesses also provide services for shipping, including packaging and bulk
mailing. In addition, many retail chains sell related supplies beyond businesses
and regularly market their stores as a center for school supplies with August
and early September being a major retail period for "Back to School"
sales. (1)
Source (1) Wkipedia