I am always amazed at how complicated business can be. There are so many variables that come into play and so much competition that goes on. It all varies from industry to the actual type of store you have. In 2020 brick and mortar stores took a huge hit due to all of the regulations put in place by states and cities. eCommerce companies simply took off and are skyrocketing and yet they all have some things in common. They all need packaging supplies and some for different reasons. But where these companies get their boxes, and bags from can be the difference between being an industry leader or struggling to survive. That is how costly this small area is and I want to go over some places to shop and some places that may not work well for you and your company at all.
Many companies rely on the basic needs for an office. We all need tape, labels, and sometimes boxes. That means that if you are not doing any shipping at all it can be ok to simply buy these locally or hop on Amazon and have them delivered. But if you are doing a lot of shipping and really ramping up on the packaging supplies then you need to be careful. If you simply go to your local big-box store and pick these up you may end up losing your company by losing out on every single sale you make. This is because the margins are super high in almost all local stores. The cost is really high and the quantity they have is usually low. There are also huge option losses in these stores as well. They have a storefront and can only carry so much of each product and only so many to make it feasible to show them and sell them. This is why they cost more. Brick and mortar stores simply have extra costs involved. So be knowledgeable that you may be spending 40% more in these types of stores than you could be. Your competitors may also be saving 40% more than you on every single sell and they could be putting that money to advertising or marketing. This means you could be doing the same thing.
The next area to look at is the easy one and that is Amazon. You can order things in a few minutes from your phone and have them shipped in two days. It may even cost 10 to 20% less than the big box store. Yet again if you are only doing this for your office supplies, that may be ok, but if you are shipping with them it probably is not. You may be losing thousands of dollars a month for convenience when 30 minutes could save you a whole lot more.
I like to shop at shipping supply stores online. They usually offer big discounts for bulk purchasing and don't have the costs of the brick and mortar or fees of Amazon. This allows them to sell for the lowest price possible due to the nature of the company. So if you are shipping for a living and going to be needing those boxes and bags on a constant basis. This is the route to take to save 10 to 20% over Amazon pricing.
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