In today’s digital workplace, the demand for traditional office supplies is

at a standstill. Last year, the U.S. office supplies market grew by only 1%

and, according to Research and Markets, is predicted to grow by only

0.25% YoY over the next 4 years. But this doesn’t mean that the office

supplies industry is static; not even close. Office products is an exciting,

highly innovative retail sector, especially when it comes to e-commerce,

where Amazon is the market leader.

Amazon Effect: Office ProductsBy Nathan Rigby, VP Sales & Marketing at One Click Retail

The Numbers

• $12.1 billion: The total value of the U.S. office supplies sales 2016.

• $2.25 billion: Amazon.com’s total office supplies sales.

• 1%: The YoY growth of the U.S. office supplies market.

• 25%: The YoY growth of Amazon.com’s office supplies sales.

As you can see, Amazon’s growth in this sector is

significant, and this growth has continued well into 2017.

The first 24 months of the year show an additional 25%

growth, earning $1.25 billion USD in Amazon.com office

supplies sales so far, more than 50% of the 2016 total.

The decrease in brick-and-mortar office supplies sales isn’t entirely due to eCommerce,

however. Physical stores are still responsible for the majority of sales, with people in the

habit of picking up more paper, toner, writing instruments, etc., from their local office

supplies store. The problem facing brick-and-mortar stores is that the items people buy

from them are being used less and less in the modern workplace. Printers, staplers, pens

and paperclips are all gathering dust as every professional task, however menial,

gradually becomes digitized. Environmental concerns culminating in the “green

workplace” movement are also driving offices to go paperless. That’s not to mention the

growing proportion of the workforce that now works from home.

Office products are more than just everyday consumables, however,

and the strongest companies are those that invest in innovation, in

everything from office furniture and workplace organization to

presentation aids and digital appliances. Naturally, the most innovative

brands gravitate towards eCommerce, and the smartest brands are

reaching their audiences through the sector’s largest digital retail

channel, Amazon.

In both 2015 and 2016, Toner and Office Organization tied for the

two top-selling categories on Amazon.com, growing 35% to reach

$270 million. The adage that printer manufacturers are not in the

business of selling printers, but in the business of selling ink, holds

true. In fact, the only top 5 category not to survive from 2015 to

2016 was Inkjet Printers, which has been dethroned by Classroom

Supplies.

All top 5 categories in 2016 represent low-cost,

consumable items that are purchased repeatedly

throughout the year. While this doesn’t come as a surprise,

it also doesn’t paint the whole picture; for that, we need

to look at the top selling individual items.

2016 Top-selling ASINs

When broken down this way, we can see office appliances

outperforming many other individual items, with Fujitsu scanners not

only the bestselling item of 2016, but three of the top five bestsellers.

Also in the top 10: two laser printers, a graphics calculator and a label

printer. Most of these appliances still appear in the top 10 items year-

to-date in 2017, even though all the top categories are consumables:

2017 YTD: Top-selling Categories vs. Fastest-growing Categories

The picture is very similar overseas. In both the UK and in Germany, the top two

categories are Printing Consumables and Office Organization respectively, with

both Office Supplies and Writing Instruments and Accessories appearing in the

top 5. One outlier in the UK is the YTD fastest-growing ASIN, the AmazonBasics

Cross Cut Paper Shredder, an Amazon private brand workplace appliance that

has more than tripled its sales in the first 24 weeks of 2017, revealing that

loyalty to the Amazon marketplace itself is just as influential in purchasing

decisions as loyalty to specific brands.

UK – Top Selling Categories 2017 YTD vs. Germany -- Top Selling Categories 2017 YTD

In Q3 2016, Amazon drove 82% of the total U.S. e-commerce growth, according to

Internet Retailer. For office products, eCommerce is the industry’s sole growth

area. As brick-and-mortar sales shrink, Amazon has emerged as the market leader

in online sales. With their Amazon Business service, launched in 2015 in the US and

2016 in the UK, they’ve recognized the need for a marketplace for B2B sales,

creating a streamlined environment for office managers to skip the office supplies

store and go online instead. In 2017, there’s no better time for brands to follow

suit.

“The Amazon Effect” series breaks down specific

product groups, compares Amazon’s performance in that

category to total retail sales (online and offline) and

considers the effect Amazon has on that specific industry

as a whole.

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