It goes without saying how essential it is for every office to be fully stocked with all of the office supplies, office equipment, stationery and consumables that they are likely to need to go about their day to day business. What isn’t however a given is that this procedure is necessarily expensive. It is true in many industries that you don’t have to buy products from widely recognised manufacturers in order to be sure of quality and in the office supplies world, that rule holds true: provided you shop carefully and intelligently.

Although at first glance the one off special offers displayed in high street office supplies stores may hold appeal, for the most part, physical office supplies stores charge a premium for the majority of their stock. This is no surprise when you consider the costs they incur in terms of overheads, rent and staff. By all means take advantage of special offers if they represent great value and you genuinely need the item, but avoid paying over the odds for other items purely because you’re already in the store. It is almost universally better value to purchase the lion’s share of your office supplies and other associated equipment from an online retailer given their significantly lower overheads and consequently: lower prices.

Having sourced an office supplies retailer who offers a wide range of products at highly competitive prices the next step towards stocking up the office supplies cupboard on a shoestring is to look for items which fulfil the necessary criteria but aren’t priced at a premium. Although you may feel more confident opting for items from high visibility, widely recognised brands: a specific label is by no means a guarantee of higher quality. It can save you a great deal of money if you look at lower priced items from manufacturers you’re less familiar with. To secure peace of mind simply type the name of the manufacturer and item into a search engine in order to read reviews of the product.

The final major means of making a saving is to buy everything in one go. For a start, many online office supplies retailers offer free delivery on orders over a certain value: so by buying enough to qualify for the free delivery you are already making a saving. In addition to the free delivery, for the most part buying items in bulk results in a lower price per unit due to the phenomena known as economies of scale. Don’t go overboard, or buy more than you’re likely to need: but aim to buy all that you’re likely to need for the foreseeable future and you’ll notice the savings immediately and the benefits for months to come.

Written by Jamie Rock Lyons for DGOS Office Supplies and their Office Supplies Blog