How To Make Money Selling Office Supplies

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How To Make Money With Office Supplies

Oct 14th, 2007 by RichFinish

Chuck Taylor, a young Arkansas native who teamed up with some fellow IBM Corp. alumni to form a word processor company, found himself at an interesting crossroads in 1992.

The owners of the 4-year-old company wanted to separate the business of selling the hardware from the secondary business of selling supplies for the equipment.

Taylor chose the supply side, buying the division from the partners and renaming it American Business Supplies.

“I could see the potential in supplies,” Taylor says. “It’s long-term relationships in which you could sell them something every week.”

In contrast, a customer who buys new computers isn’t likely to buy anything else for a long time.

The decision has paid off handsomely for Taylor, whose company now has about 3,000 customers and employs 17 people.

ABS sells all brands and all kinds of computer supplies, including toner, forms, tapes and paper as well as accessories like surge protectors and glare screens.

“If it plugs in the office, we have the supplies for it,” Taylor says.

The company’s prompt service wins kudos from its customers, including Buckman Laboratories.

“They are very timely, and their orders are always right,” says Lisa Taylor, systems administrator for Buckman Laboratories (no relation to Chuck Taylor).

Lisa Taylor procures back-up tapes and other supplies from ABS for the computer room there, and is planning to use the company’s new service, American Business Security, for off-site storage of those tapes as well.

ABS has expanded its services over the years. About five years ago the company started selling peripheral devices for computers as well, including monitors, CD-ROMs, keyboards, printers and backup drives.

“Most peripheral supplies are plug and play,” he says. “Anyone can do it.”