Office supplies superstores

Three companies dominate this niche -- Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax -- and since the 1980s, they have grabbed about 20 percent of the office supplies market.

On high turnover items, such as copier paper, these chains can offer tremendously low prices and buying in bulk can save money. For instance, under Staples' new "Buy More, Save More" program, you get a 10 percent discount for buying more than one of a product: One roll of correction tape is $1.98 in many stores, but buying three reduces the price of each roll to $1.78.

The three big chains have all started direct marketing units that offer free next-day delivery on phone or fax orders, and they also distribute catalogs. More than 80 percent of their sales are to small businesses with less than 20 workers each, but the overwhelming majority of those sales come from people walking into their stores. Still, all three also offer access through Web sites.

Their advantage is that they have a large selection of widely used products at competitive prices. But small business owners may want to look at other options if they want a lot of advice on what to buy or are seeking hard-to-find items.

Giant office supplies companies

A few huge companies, such as Boise Cascade Office Products, Corporate Express and U.S. Office Products, have annual sales volumes that run into the billions of dollars. While they offer good prices, they focus their business on large corporate customers with more than 100 employees.

Independent dealers

Thanks to buying cooperatives, their prices are more competitive. For more information about what they offer, call the Business Products Industry Association at 1-800-542-6672, or call a local dealer to find out if the store belongs to a sales cooperative.

Warehouse clubs

Sam's Club and Price/Costco, the dominant chains in this industry, offer various office supplies in their stores, but neither has made a big push to target small business owners. Sam's is planning to offer a new office catalog this fall, though, spokeswoman Elda Jurado-Scott says. "It will join other Sam's catalogs that offer business owners everything from institutional linens to vending machine equipment."

Even though the clubs haven't made a serious push in this market -- they account for just 4 percent of all office supply sales -- the low prices on their products have already had an effect on the industry. Lower prices industry-wide have cut into dealers' margins and have pushed independent dealers to band together.

Mail order

This is also a small piece of the industry -- 3.6 percent of sales. The three biggest companies have been acquired by giants, says David Guernsey, who helped organize Business Products Group International. Viking Office Products is owned by Office Depot, Quill Corp. is affiliated with Staples and Reliable Corp. is owned by Boise Cascade.

Such firms usually offer a narrower range of products than dealers, but they can be a good option for small business owners in rural areas that don't have dealers, superstores or warehouse clubs in their towns. Thanks to competition from superstores, mail-order companies have become more competitive with pricing.

Mass-market chains

Stores such as K-Mart, Target and Wal-Mart account for about 13 percent of all office supplies sold, but like the warehouse clubs, small business owners must go into the store to see what's available.

Internet sites

Going into a search cold can be intimidating. A Yahoo search under "office supplies" yields more than 1,300 sites for different products, although many of the sites offering products are run by independent dealers.

But, there are at least three general-shopping sites worth considering: www.compare.net, which focuses on home office equipment; www.bottomdollar.com, which is fairly easy to use, and www.shopfind.com, a site praised by publications, from Newsweek to Investor's Business Daily, for its wide choices and quality of products.

Like office superstores or warehouse clubs, Internet sites are most valuable if you know the specific item you need, and if you want to compare prices. While Internet sales of office products are growing, they still don't compare to the sales done through catalogs, over the phone or by walking into a store.