(Business Model: B2C, with brick-and-mortar storefront)
Staples, Inc. is the world’s largest office product retail chain, Staples sells supplies, office machines, promotional products, furniture, technology and business services. The company's first store was opened in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986. The company is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It also does business via the Internet, through Staples.com, its website.
With $27 billion in sales and more than 500 retail stores worldwide, Staples serves businesses of all sizes and consumers in 27 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
(For the assignment, we would focus on its main website, http://www.staples.com/)
The story for the beginning of the biggest office supply store can be trace back to 1985. It was USA Independence day and founder, Thomas G. Stemberg, was working on a proposal. When it came to time for printing, Thomas realized that the ribbon had ran out and he was not able to get any replacement due to the holiday. His frustration with the reliance of small stores for office supplies lead to him teaming up with Kahn, he came up with the idea for Staples, Inc. From a cost price of just 30cents, a pen could be mark up to $2-$3. With determination and previous experience working at Star Markets (a chain of supermarkets based in New England, USA), he knew that Staples Inc would be profitable and successful.
Characteristics
Staples.com is really an all rounded website providing services to all consumers and business. It provides a large variety from office supplies to furniture to medical supplies. It also provides important up-to-date information for investors.
For a customer (individual/company):-
Staples Price-Match Guarantee
For a consumer, it is all about the cost. Staples ‘Price-Match Guarantee’ challenge you to find a cheaper cost of a product and they will match it. Simple as that. Thus, if you find a lower price anywhere else on a new identical item, just show them the lower price when you buy the item at Staples and they will match the price, or within 14 days of your Staples purchase and they will give you the difference.
Product review
There is a section on product reviews. Of course it does not review on each and every type/brand of pen and that is being sold but there are quite a significant number of items in the review section. The section is clearly categorized into different 10 categories which are sub-categorized into many categories. For almost every item in the review list, there is a picture of the item with model no. and a short description. Users are allowed to comment on the pros and cons of the items which allow potential users to have a concrete idea on the item they are purchasing.
Rewards, coupons and rebates system
Usually these offers are limited to retail stores. However, at staples.com, membership is free for all consumers. No minimum purchase is required. Also there are links and steps for users to submit their rebates online. No clipping, no mailing, no hassles.
Payment
There is no need to sign up for an account to purchase any items. Customers can just ‘check out’ as a guest if they only want to make a one-time purchase. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Network, Staples credit cards are accepted.
20-or-More employee
This is for companies. All companies have an amount allocated for office furniture, stationeries and other office supplies like printers and shredder etc. Staples Inc came up with 2 general schemes based on company’s size and budget constraint.
FAQ and “Contact Us”
To some of us, the frequently-asked-questions (aka FAQ) section is considered as the most important section. It clears our doubts on online purchases and solves our queries on delivery. For staples.com, this is definitely not a section that was usually loosely compound. With 11 categories, the FAQ provided answers that customers have on every step of the order system, return policies, membership/newsletter and other miscellaneous questions.
After reading through the FAQ, if you still have any other questions, you can choose to contact them. You can direct your queries by locating and visiting the stores, logging on to the “Live Chat”, calling the 1800 hotline (different hotline no. is allocated for different type of queries) or email them. To ensure that your emails reach the correct department within Staples, Inc, you can pick from the topics provided (eg. Your Order, Payment/Credit, Website Assistance, Staples Rewards etc including ‘Something else…’) and email directly from the website.
For Investors:-
There is a section on “Corporate Information”. This section is generally dedicated to investors. There is the company history, the company ethics, goals and missions, the corporate responsibilities, committee members and boards of directors, annual finance reports, analyst coverage, news release, code of conduct and code of ethics within and in relations to the suppliers, media coverage, investor package etc. It even provides an updated stock exchange for Staples with a minimum of 20mins delay.
Weakness of Staples.com
All websites has their strength and weakness. Staples.com is no exclusion.
Staples’s slogan, ‘That was Easy’ might have can has slightly different meanings for different users. With so many categories for everything, users might get confused and/or frustrated with the number of steps required to file a simple query/complaint.
With a minimum 20min delay for the updated stock price, investors would hardly bother to utilize this facility should there be a need to have fast and accurate update.
Payment is only via credit card. Paypal services are not available.
Having retail stores in 27 countries, one would think that the websites would be catered to its mass market. However, there are only websites for the continents of North America and Europe. South America, Asia and Australia were completely left out.
Conclusion
Navigating through Staples.com, one would certainly notice the strong dedication to customers’ needs. It is almost as though they themselves are the customers! With increasing highlights on the convenience of e-commerce, the future of e-commence would only saw elevation in online purchases. Similar, if not better, websites would be sprouting over the internet in the years to come. Should Staples.com continue to strive and focus on “making it easy” for the end-users, it would not only be the biggest office supply retail stores, it would also emerge as one of the top leaders in e-commerce.
Staples, Inc. is the world’s largest office product retail chain, Staples sells supplies, office machines, promotional products, furniture, technology and business services. The company's first store was opened in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986. The company is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It also does business via the Internet, through Staples.com, its website.With $27 billion in sales and more than 500 retail stores worldwide, Staples serves businesses of all sizes and consumers in 27 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
(For the assignment, we would focus on its main website, http://www.staples.com/)
About Staples’ History
The story for the beginning of the biggest office supply store can be trace back to 1985. It was USA Independence day and founder, Thomas G. Stemberg, was working on a proposal. When it came to time for printing, Thomas realized that the ribbon had ran out and he was not able to get any replacement due to the holiday. His frustration with the reliance of small stores for office supplies lead to him teaming up with Kahn, he came up with the idea for Staples, Inc. From a cost price of just 30cents, a pen could be mark up to $2-$3. With determination and previous experience working at Star Markets (a chain of supermarkets based in New England, USA), he knew that Staples Inc would be profitable and successful.
Characteristics
Staples.com is really an all rounded website providing services to all consumers and business. It provides a large variety from office supplies to furniture to medical supplies. It also provides important up-to-date information for investors.
For a customer (individual/company):-
Staples Price-Match Guarantee
For a consumer, it is all about the cost. Staples ‘Price-Match Guarantee’ challenge you to find a cheaper cost of a product and they will match it. Simple as that. Thus, if you find a lower price anywhere else on a new identical item, just show them the lower price when you buy the item at Staples and they will match the price, or within 14 days of your Staples purchase and they will give you the difference.
Product review
There is a section on product reviews. Of course it does not review on each and every type/brand of pen and that is being sold but there are quite a significant number of items in the review section. The section is clearly categorized into different 10 categories which are sub-categorized into many categories. For almost every item in the review list, there is a picture of the item with model no. and a short description. Users are allowed to comment on the pros and cons of the items which allow potential users to have a concrete idea on the item they are purchasing.
Rewards, coupons and rebates system
Usually these offers are limited to retail stores. However, at staples.com, membership is free for all consumers. No minimum purchase is required. Also there are links and steps for users to submit their rebates online. No clipping, no mailing, no hassles.
Payment
There is no need to sign up for an account to purchase any items. Customers can just ‘check out’ as a guest if they only want to make a one-time purchase. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Network, Staples credit cards are accepted.
20-or-More employee
This is for companies. All companies have an amount allocated for office furniture, stationeries and other office supplies like printers and shredder etc. Staples Inc came up with 2 general schemes based on company’s size and budget constraint.
FAQ and “Contact Us”
To some of us, the frequently-asked-questions (aka FAQ) section is considered as the most important section. It clears our doubts on online purchases and solves our queries on delivery. For staples.com, this is definitely not a section that was usually loosely compound. With 11 categories, the FAQ provided answers that customers have on every step of the order system, return policies, membership/newsletter and other miscellaneous questions.
After reading through the FAQ, if you still have any other questions, you can choose to contact them. You can direct your queries by locating and visiting the stores, logging on to the “Live Chat”, calling the 1800 hotline (different hotline no. is allocated for different type of queries) or email them. To ensure that your emails reach the correct department within Staples, Inc, you can pick from the topics provided (eg. Your Order, Payment/Credit, Website Assistance, Staples Rewards etc including ‘Something else…’) and email directly from the website.
For Investors:-
There is a section on “Corporate Information”. This section is generally dedicated to investors. There is the company history, the company ethics, goals and missions, the corporate responsibilities, committee members and boards of directors, annual finance reports, analyst coverage, news release, code of conduct and code of ethics within and in relations to the suppliers, media coverage, investor package etc. It even provides an updated stock exchange for Staples with a minimum of 20mins delay.
Weakness of Staples.com
All websites has their strength and weakness. Staples.com is no exclusion.
Staples’s slogan, ‘That was Easy’ might have can has slightly different meanings for different users. With so many categories for everything, users might get confused and/or frustrated with the number of steps required to file a simple query/complaint.
With a minimum 20min delay for the updated stock price, investors would hardly bother to utilize this facility should there be a need to have fast and accurate update.
Payment is only via credit card. Paypal services are not available.
Having retail stores in 27 countries, one would think that the websites would be catered to its mass market. However, there are only websites for the continents of North America and Europe. South America, Asia and Australia were completely left out.
Conclusion
Navigating through Staples.com, one would certainly notice the strong dedication to customers’ needs. It is almost as though they themselves are the customers! With increasing highlights on the convenience of e-commerce, the future of e-commence would only saw elevation in online purchases. Similar, if not better, websites would be sprouting over the internet in the years to come. Should Staples.com continue to strive and focus on “making it easy” for the end-users, it would not only be the biggest office supply retail stores, it would also emerge as one of the top leaders in e-commerce.
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