The State of the Printer Supply Industry in 2025

What’s Changing, What’s Still Working, and How Dealers Can Stay Competitive

Let’s be honest—the print and supply industry isn’t the same as it used to be.

Margins are tighter. Print volumes are down. And yet, expectations from customers have never been higher. You’re juggling manual processes, customer retention, and growing competition from big-box players and sleek online platforms. If it feels like the rules keep changing while you’re still playing catch-up, you’re not alone.

But here’s the good news: the industry isn’t dying. It’s just evolving. And there’s still plenty of room to grow—especially for the resellers who are willing to make smart, simple moves to keep up.

So what’s really going on? What’s working? And what needs to change if you want to stay relevant in 2025?

Let’s break it down.

What’s Changing

1. Buyers Expect a Consumer-Grade Experience—Even in B2B

People don’t want clunky anymore. If your ordering process still involves a phone call, a web form, or a fax machine, you’re not just behind—you’re losing people. Even in B2B, customers expect an Amazon-like experience: fast, intuitive, and personalized.

2. Multi-Channel Fatigue is Real

Email, phone, website forms, ERPs, third-party systems—it’s a lot. And for many resellers, none of it is integrated. Managing orders and customer interactions across platforms becomes a logistical nightmare that eats up your time and adds room for mistakes.

3. There’s More Data Than Ever, But It’s Going Unused

Today’s systems track everything—searches, order frequency, compatibility data. But if you’re not actively using that data to serve your customers better (think: intelligent reorder prompts or predictive upselling), it’s just noise.

4. Manual Processes Are Draining Everyone

You don’t have to be a large operation to feel the pain of inefficiency. Dealers are still quoting by hand, following up manually, and tracking customer orders in spreadsheets. Not only does it slow you down, it increases the chance of errors and missed opportunities.

5. Industry Consolidation is Creeping In

Large OEMs and national retailers are getting more aggressive. They’re expanding into new channels, buying up market share, and building out their digital presence. If you don’t offer something unique and sticky, it’s getting easier for your customers to leave.

What’s Still Working

1. Relationships Still Drive Loyalty

If you’ve been in this business for decades, you know it: customers come back for service, not flash. Personal relationships matter, especially in smaller towns or legacy accounts. But in today’s market, those relationships need to be backed by tools that help you deliver on that loyalty without burning yourself out.

2. Specialty Knowledge is Still an Edge

Knowing which cartridge works in which printer, or when a drum needs to be replaced, is still powerful. Amazon can’t do that. But this only matters if your customers can easily access your knowledge when they need it.

3. Personalized Service Beats Generic Convenience

You’re never going to beat the big-box stores on volume. But you can beat them on experience. Offering customized service, tailored ordering, and a direct line to a real person? That’s how you stay in the game.

What Dealers Should Be Thinking About

🟡 Is your ordering experience a chore, or a relief? If customers are still fumbling with clunky web forms or calling in every time, you're making it too hard. Every bit of friction is a chance they’ll go somewhere else.

🟡 Are you collecting data, but not using it? Search history, order frequency, even shipping destinations—these are all clues that can help you make smarter offers and prevent churn. But only if your system makes that data usable.

🟡 Is your website pulling its weight? Your website doesn’t need to win design awards. But it should do something. If it's not helping you retain customers or simplify reorders, it's dead weight.

🟡 Are you burning out your team, or yourself? The grind of quoting, order entry, and follow-ups can crush growth. If you're spending all day putting out fires, you're not building the business.

🟡 Are you protecting your pricing and margins? Public-facing e-commerce platforms expose you to price competition and reduce your leverage. Private pricing is more secure and helps you build long-term customer relationships.

What Comes Next

The resellers who will still be around in 2030 won’t necessarily be the biggest. They’ll be the smartest.

The ones who figure out how to:

• Strip the friction out of reordering

• Provide personal service without drowning in busywork

• Use their data to make better decisions

• Give customers a reason to keep coming back

You don’t need to scrap everything and start over. But you do need a better way to deliver what your customers expect, before someone else does.

How Dealers Can Stay Competitive in 2025

You don’t have to become Amazon to win. You just need to be easier to order from than whoever your customer is comparing you to.

That’s where dealers are starting to shift their focus:

✅ Simplifying how customers reorder If ordering takes more than a few clicks, that’s a problem.

✅ Protecting their pricing and margins Generic pricing puts your value at risk. Private portals keep things secure.

✅ Making repeat business automatic It shouldn’t take five steps to place the same order a customer placed last month.

✅ Giving the customer a reason to stay Sometimes, that reason is as simple as: “It’s just easier with them.”

Good news. There are tools that can help.

This is exactly the space EasyOrder was designed for.

We’ve spent the last 20 years listening to dealers, building tools based on real feedback, and simplifying the way reordering works - without asking you to change everything about how you do business.

Here’s what EasyOrder gives you:

• Custom order forms tailored to each client’s exact printer setup

• A downloadable desktop icon that lets them reorder with one click, no logins or passwords

• Private pricing, only visible to each customer

• Near 90% reorder rate once someone uses it for the first time

It’s not just another e-commerce tool. It’s a better way to keep the customers you’ve worked so hard to earn.

If you’re ready to stop patching together workarounds, and start delivering the kind of ordering experience customers actually want, we’d love to show you how EasyOrder works.