'E' is wave of future for office supplies, furniture.(Brief Article)

Office.com competes with local retailers' new Web sites

Office furniture and supply firms are selling more of their wares over the Internet, but the World Wide Web isn't churning out worldwide customers.

The biggest users of the online ordering services offered by most of the major suppliers of office furniture in the Milwaukee area are their major customers from before the e-commerce era. For many office furniture and supply firms, e-commerce Web sites are direct responses to their customers' demands for online order taking.

Most of the major local office supply companies are taking more orders for office supplies and furniture over the Internet. So far, Internet activity accounts for only 5 to 15 percent of overall sales, said executives of office supply firms.

The service, however, is not necessarily …