How To Buy Office Furniture
Whether your business is just you as a sole proprietor, a medium-size company with a growing number of employees, or full-fledged corporate enterprise with hundreds of employees — everyone needs to buy office furniture at some point. The question becomes how to buy office furniture that fits your budget, increases productivity, and is attractive.
How To Buy Office Furniture For Small Business
While everyone’s definition of what constitutes a “small business” is different, for this example let’s say your business is 1-5 employees. Typically at this level there are three common answers to how to buy office furniture:
- Buy new from a “big box” retailer like Office Depot, Best Buy, etc.
- Buy used from sites like Ebay, Craigslist, etc.
- Buy new or used from a office furniture supplier
All three of the above options are valid, and which route you choose to go will depend on a variety of factors. Buying new from a large retailer is common for sole proprietors that either have a home office or a small office and just need something basic.
Buying office furniture from sites like Ebay and/or Craigslist is always a bit of a gamble. Trying to sort the treasure from the trash can be difficult, and finding a cohesive set of furniture may not be possible.
Buying from a dedicated office furniture supplier is a great way to get both value and insight into what will work for your business both now and in the future. A dedicated office furniture supplier will help change the question of, “how to buy office furniture” to “how to solve your particular problem or challenge”.
How To Buy Office Furniture For Mid-Size Businesses
Medium size businesses, for this example let’s say anywhere from 5-50 employees, often have a very different set of challenges in mind when they think about how to buy office furniture. Many are in growth mode, and common roadblocks include:
- Moving to a new location
- Designing an efficient office space
- Increasing productivity
- Improving safety
All of the concerns above are related to the question of how to buy office furniture. Businesses at this level will almost always be working with a dedicated office furniture supplier, and that supplier should be able to offer products and services to your business that will solve each challenge effectively.
How To Buy Office Furniture For Enterprises
Large businesses and enterprises encounter many of the same challenges as mid-size businesses do, just at a much bigger scale.
In addition, having a much larger space, or multiple locations, adds several new wrinkles into the mix that need to be considered, like:
- Creating both private and collaborative workspaces
- Integrating IT products into the workspace and furniture
- Maximizing productivity and employee morale
Businesses at this level are almost certainly working with dedicated team of office space design and supply professionals, and creative problem solving is as much art as it is science.
Building a large, safe, friendly, productive, and cohesive office environment doesn’t happen overnight. Working with professionals to achieve your company’s vision is crucial to ensure it gets done right.
Planning Ahead
No matter what size business you have, one of the best answers to “how to buy office furniture” is simply: plan ahead.
No one goes into business planning to fail, and while that doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind and buy the most expensive furniture you can afford right away, it does mean that knowing what you want to achieve in advance is helpful.
The other half of the equation is to find someone that can help you realize your vision and provide the right products and services to make everyone successful.