The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted every facet of modern life, including the workplace. Suddenly employees found themselves stuck at home with a personal computer instead of working from a desk in their office. As more and more people opted to stay home, the office supply industry took a big hit. They saw sales dropping and orders disappearing with no promise of recouping that money. At first, they started to panic. They weren’t sure how to sell to offices with no employees. But once they realized they were the best place to buy office furniture, the tune changed.
Direct Sales
Although businesses had been their clients before, office supply companies realized it wasn’t the business using their products, but the employees. And these employees were still working, just not in the same place they’d always been. How many people who work out of the home have a fully established home office? Not many. So they started making their products available directly to the consumers. After all, many large companies, such as Google, were offering a stipend to their employees to purchase this equipment anyway, which created an obvious market. Once supply companies opened their websites to sell directly to individuals at individual quantities, their margins starting skyrocketing again.
What You Need
If you’re still transitioning or just now making the switch to remote work, it can be overwhelming to try to think of the essentials to build a functioning home office. There are three basics everyone needs: a desk, a chair, and a computer. There are tons of options within these three basic categories, so think about your needs and preferences before buying the first one you see. After all, you’ll spending a lot of time with these items.
You can add office supply chains to your list of industries that found new ways to thrive in the pandemic world.