Over the past year, sales of office supplies around the world have been growing rapidly. How exaggerated is that?Even in the face of a weakening global economy, in countries such as the US and Europe, sales of office supplies have grown tens of times higher than local GDP. Needless to say, office supplies are definitely a new hot selling category. Whether you don't know it yet, are on the sidelines, or have already taken advantage of it, you need to read this post carefully and discover a “new continent.”

The office supplies category has maintained double-digit growth for three consecutive years on Amazon Business's seven major sites (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, West, and Japan), and is a category with an astonishing growth rate.

As one of the important business-related categories, the number of corporate and institutional customers of office supplies has steadily ranked first in Amazon's 36 categories. At the same time, the four major corporate and institutional buyers of office supplies (commercial users, government agencies, medical industry, and educational institutions) of Amazon Business's key services all rank in the top 2 categories of purchases. The amount of money is huge, and the market opportunities are impressive.

In order to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers, all major Amazon Business sites (including the US, Europe, and Japan) have set up dedicated procurement pages for the office supplies category. This is one of the few categories with a dedicated page.
Looking for these exclusive pages?So easy! First, business buyers log in to the website at www.amazon.com/ B2b, then go to the “Department” drop-down menu to find Office Products, and click to enter the exclusive page.

Click to learn more popular segment selection guidelines
1. commercial furniture 2. school supplies

There are many products in the office supplies category. Overall, they can be divided into 9 subcategories, namely printing products and consumables, paper products, teaching aids and stationery, office electronics, writing tools, logistics-related, daily necessities, office storage, and office furniture. Here, we'll focus on the segments that have high sales potential and are already popular in Amazon's 7 countries.

Recommendation Index: ★★★★★
Office culture and education products mainly include blackboard stickers, transparent book covers, thank-you cards, keyboard and mouse pads, etc. They are sold on four Amazon sites in the US, Germany, the UK, and France. Every year, the construction season from January to the end of February and the back-to-school season from July to August are popular seasons for these products, and they are often favored by K-12 basic education* institutions and non-profit organizations.

Recommendation Index: ★★★★
Document management and desktop organization products mainly include transparent paging paper covers, folders with card slots, stationery storage boxes, and document storage racks, etc., and are sold on five Amazon sites in the US, Germany, the UK, Italy, and Japan. The first, third, and fourth quarters of each year are peak seasons for these products, and K-12 basic education institutions and commercial service companies love to pay for them.

Recommendation Index: ★★★★
Office furniture products mainly include adjustable desks, whiteboard sets, office chairs, etc., which are sold on five Amazon sites in the US, Germany, the UK, France and Japan. The sales situation is stable throughout the year. The buyers are mainly K-12 basic education institutions and commercial service companies. Office furniture products have high customer unit prices and sales volume at various sites.

If you choose to sell composite wood (plywood or chipboard, MDF) products on Amazon in the US, you must meet EPA formaldehyde emission standards and labeling requirements. Relevant information can be found in the Seller Central search for “composite wood products”. If this type of product is sold on European sites, a “CE” mark is required.

Due to differences in market trends, consumer usage habits, etc., the seven major sites have their own exclusive popular categories. What exactly are Chinese sellers selling to achieve a sharp increase in sales?Below, we will list the most promising choices in the office supplies category for the seven major sites in the US, Europe (English, French, German, Italian, and Western), and Japan.

►Office electronics
Office electronics mainly include printers, shredders, scanners, projectors, conference phones, document tablet scanners, business card scanners, conference headphones, etc., all of which are common products that business buyers consider purchasing in the office.
In comparison, third-party sellers of these products are less competitive. In such products, such as printers, shredders, projectors, etc., buyers and sellers need to innovate the product in terms of functionality in order to win the world (for example, projectors can also be developed in terms of portability in addition to office use).
If the product contains lithium batteries, you will need to download an Exemption Sheet in Seller Central and indicate the battery information included in the product.

►Writing instruments
The main categories of writing tools include: color marker sets, highlighter sets, sketching tool sets, whiteboard pens, etc. In this category, since Americans like creative products, they have a big advantage in selling creative writing tools such as color pen sets, water pens, and markers. Also, considering that the average customer unit price of pen products is low, it is recommended that sellers selling this type of product can sell it as a complete set with other office supplies (such as pen with book, POS sticker, calculator, marker with small hanging board, etc.). A complete set of products can win more opportunities for Chinese sellers.
It is important to note that whiteboard pens/permanent markers are dangerous goods reviewed. Sellers are required to provide an MSDS sheet and indicate the main ingredients of the product before they can be reviewed by Amazon.

► Teaching aids stationery
In addition to the categories of teaching aids, stationery, and office supplies that are popular on all the sites mentioned above, plastic packaging machines, soft boards, classroom storage bags, etc. are also highly sold in the US. For example, laminators are popular products for many teachers. Teachers in the US will display some paper pictures in their teaching. In order to protect images and be reused, teachers usually use a plastic packaging machine to mold paper teaching display products. Also, in addition to school use, individuals also buy laminators to store important documents.

►Office furniture
In addition to the office furniture and office supplies categories mentioned above, categories such as office chairs, desks, filing cabinets, lockers, and audiovisual equipment vehicles are also very popular in the US. These are all must-have products for the office.
For example, there is a medical technology company in the US, and the annual budget spent on office furniture amounts to millions of dollars. For these large products, sellers need to pay special attention to packaging and warehousing logistics. It is recommended to do a box drop test on the package to greatly reduce damage to the package during transportation, leading to bad customer reviews. In addition, since large items are not as flexible and cheap as small items in terms of replenishment, in addition to being shipped through an FBA warehouse, it is also necessary to combine first-stage logistics with third-party overseas warehousing services to optimize cost and delivery.

► Logistics-related
Logistics and transportation products are in high demand from corporate buyers due to their high frequency of use and wide application range, and are currently growing rapidly. Logistics-related office supplies mainly include: logistics label printing paper, bubble shipping bags, sealing tape, label printers, bar code scanners, etc. It is recommended that sellers enrich their product line as much as possible and create a one-stop solution for logistics-related products, so that corporate buyers can easily solve their logistics product needs through the diverse product selection solutions you provide.

Among the top five European sites, the sum of the transaction volume of the two major sites in the UK and Germany exceeds half of the total transaction volume. In addition to the generic hot products mentioned above, let's take a look at some excellent products from these two major sites.

According to statistics, in the past 2018, the two major categories of compatible cartridges and compatible labels had an overwhelming advantage in B2B sales. Some high-potential B2B segments are also growing rapidly, such as framing, forms, shredders, etc. Chinese sellers can dig deeper into opportunities in these segments.

High-temperature framing machines, and visitor records perform well on the UK site; while corporate buyers in Germany prefer to buy products such as access control card holders and shredders. There are currently few Chinese sellers involved in these products, and there are unmissable opportunities for corporate sellers.

If the product contains lithium batteries, you will need to download an Exemption Sheet in Seller Central and indicate the battery information included in the product.

Since Japanese corporate buyers have high brand stickiness for office furniture and writing offices, Chinese sellers mainly focus on many small pieces of office supplies.

In addition to the popular products in the US and European stations mentioned above, popular office supplies in Japan include business card holders, sticky notes, labels (suitable for printers), stamps, desktop panels, display holders, scannable mice, electronic notebooks, etc.

It is important to note that some categories of office supplies are restricted by local laws and regulations on the Amazon site, and must meet the requirements of local laws and regulations before they can be sold. We've created a special compliance form for you here to help sellers understand category compliance requirements.