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ASKUL sells office supplies, computers, furniture, food and cosmetics to businesses online, mostly in Japan.
ASKUL is a Japanese company that runs what is essentially an online superstore for workplaces. If a company needs printer paper, pens, a new desk chair, a laptop, coffee for the break room, or even hand soap for the bathroom, ASKUL will box it up and deliver it, usually the next day. Its main business is e-commerce for businesses, selling office supplies and OA/PC equipment alongside furniture, food, and cosmetics.
The customers are companies, not individual shoppers, and that changes how the business works. A business buyer doesn't want to browse for fun; they want to reorder the same toner cartridge every month without thinking about it. ASKUL built its reputation on fast delivery and a catalog broad enough that one supplier can cover most of what an office consumes. That convenience is the reason customers stay — switching means rebuilding all those standing orders somewhere else. The economics are those of a distributor: buy in bulk, hold inventory in warehouses, and earn a thin margin on each item while making it up on volume and repeat purchases. It's a logistics business wearing a shopping-website costume. The hard part isn't the website — it's the warehouses, the delivery network, and the discipline to keep thousands of small, boring orders moving efficiently.
ASKUL's roots are in mail-order catalogs, which is why it moved into online ordering earlier and more naturally than many traditional office-supply rivals. Today it operates in a crowded market, competing with large office-supply retailers and general e-commerce players who would happily sell the same paper and pens. Its defense is specialization: deep product range, reliable next-day service, and relationships with business accounts that make it the default place to reorder.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Nov 2026