Are Your Office Supplies Costing You an Arm and a Leg?
By: Stephen Machin, CMA

The marketplace

There are a large number of vendors which provide stationery and office supplies. Purchasers of these items pride themselves on the size of the discount they have negotiated with their supplier but, without a set of benchmarks to work to, they are unaware that even lower prices are often available.

The problem

In many organizations, the responsibility for purchasing office supplies is often delegated to the junior staff members in various departments, and it is incidental to their main function. This fragmentation of purchasing means that organizations often perceive these costs not to be significant. As a result, optimum value is often not achieved.

ERA can help

Even when this area of cost is properly coordinated and an organization has already negotiated a significant discount from their supplier, the aggregated purchasing influence of ERA can still effect substantial price reductions. We begin by tracking down individual items to establish purchasing patterns, volumes and prices paid.

Our analysts often find that clients are being substantially overcharged for everyday items such as: printer and copy paper, envelopes, ink cartridges, fax and laser toners, labels, files, writing implements, business cards and binders.

In many cases our analysts are able to negotiate with incumbent suppliers, using the purchasing power we hold in the marketplace to achieve reductions without effecting long-term relationships between an organization and its suppliers.

With our knowledge of industry best practices we will also identify opportunities to reduce organizations' administrative costs. This will increase efficiency, which will enable employees more time to focus on their core functions.

Average savings

ERA Canada has achieved client savings of up to 25%.