Office supplies


Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals engaged in written communications, recordkeeping or bookkeeping, janitorial and cleaning, and for storage of supplies or data. The range of items classified as office supplies varies, and typically includes small, expendable, daily use items, consumable products, small machines, higher cost equipment such as computers, as well as office furniture and art.

Typical products

Office supplies are typically divided by type of product and general use. Some of the many different office supply products include
Common supplies and office equipment items before the advent of suitably priced word processing machines and PCs in the 1970s and 1980s were: typewriters, slide rules, calculators, adding machines, carbon- and carbonless paper.
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 and even offer diverse services like screen printing, office coffee, office fruit and office grocery delivery. 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.

Market size

The office supply industry was estimated to be worth US$225 billion in 1999 and is still growing.