Staples, Inc.

Staples, Inc. is the world's largest office supply retail store chains, with over 1,600 stores worldwide, including stores in the United States, Belgium, Canada (as Staples Business Depot or Bureau en Gros in Quebec), France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. 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 its Web site.

The L in the logo is a stylized staple.

Staples Advertising

Throughout most of the company's history, Staples employed, in its American commercials and advertising promotions, the slogan "Yeah, we've got that.", signifying their wide selection of products. This slogan was retired in 2003, to be replaced with "That was easy." Expanding on that theme, 2005 ads featured a large red push button marked "easy". Plastic replicas of the "Easy Button" were distributed at Staples stores. In the UK, Staples uses the slogan ''"You want it. We've got it."'

The Easy Button is currently being manufactured as an attempt to profit from the popularity it has incited by television advertising. It was programmed to repeat the company slogan, "That Was Easy". These easy buttons were shipped to stores in the fall of 2005. All proceeds from the easy buttons will benefit the national Boys and Girls clubs of the United States. The Staples Snowbot was an advertising character that appeared in the United States, in television and print advertising during the 2000 and 2001 Christmas seasons.

The Snowbot was a robot shaped like a snowman who refuses to let go of the inkjet printer he has fallen in love with. After the printer is wrestled from his grasp, the robot utters a monotone "Weeping. Weeping." He is consoled by a Staples employee who offers him a surge protector or a computer mouse (depending on the ad) instead.

The robot's "Weeping. Weeping." catchphrase briefly became a popular meme on the internet, and the ad itself was parodied in an American 2002 Christmas ad for Dell Computers, in which a robot hassles a shopper (including striking him with a candy cane) when he attempts to purchase a PC at an unnamed office supplies retailer.

Staples goal is to open at least 100 new stores in the United States yearly. This should put Staples in areas of the country that are currently dominated by competition.

Business Ventures

In March 2005, Staples, Inc., Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., and Giant Food LLC announced a joint collaboration in which all Stop & Shop Supermarkets and Giant Food stores throughout the Northeast will have a Staples branded store-within-store section that will sell traditional school and home office products in addition to copy and photo paper, ink cartridges, and technology products. The Staples store-within-store section was set to debut in July 2005.

In 1996, Staples Inc. proposed to merge with its rival Office Depot. Although both companies were ready for the merger, the Federal Trade Commission) decided that the superpower would unfairly increase office supply prices despite competition from the third-in-line OfficeMax, which did not have stores in many of the local markets that the merger would affect. A U.S. Court agreed. (Dalkir and Warren-Boulton, 2003.) It is not known if the merger will be attempted again, but the company is growing boundlessly without Office Depot's help.

In 2004 Staples purchased British rival Office World from the Globus group. Rebranding of these stores to the Staples brand took place in 2005. This lead to Staples branching out into a new country - Scotland. Its first store was in Finnieston, Glasgow in April 2005

Copy & Print Center

Besides office supplies and business machines, Staples also offers a Copy and Print Center for faxing, custom business cards, custom stamps and engraved products as well as photocopying services and a UPS shipping center, which is open during store hours. Every copy & print center has trained associates that know how to maintain simple copy issues and other copy-related issues. Recently, Staples has spent over $92 million in upgrades on all Staples Copy & Print Centers.

Easy Mobile Tech

Select stores also feature Easy Mobile Tech, an in-store and on-site solution for PC repair, PC upgrades, home and office networking setup, and PC tutorials.

Starting in November 2005, Staples began "Heavy Up" primarily using stores in New York state to experiment with the expansion of the offerings by the Staples Tech Center. A subesquent test known as "Double Up" is planned for an unspecified test market and is scheduled to begin the first half of 2006. The tests are being run to promote competition with Best Buy's Geek Squad.

Beginning in early 2006, Staples also launched the "Easy Resident Tech" program, installing 1 to 2 resident computer repair technicians to do in-store repair during normal business hours. On-site work is still available through the Easy Mobile Tech program.

Community

The company started their foundation, Staples Foundation for Learning in 2002, which supports youth groups and education. It also is a partner of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

In August 2005, Staples introduced the "Easy Button", a popular novelty item for offices which will offer a fun way of relieving stress... all profits from the "easy button" will be donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. It is currently for sale in all US and Canadian stores (profits from the latter set of stores go to Special Olympics Canada) and on the company's website.

Staples was featured during Season 3 of Home Edition, where they furnished the office of Sadie Holmes' charity (see episode details in the Home Edition episodes).

STAPLES Center

Staples, Inc. is one of the corporate sponsors of STAPLES Center, a multi-purpose indoor sports and entertainment arena located in Los Angeles, California, that serves as the home to several professional sports teams. It was built in 1999.

Reference

Dalkir, S. and F. Warren-Boulton. 2003. “Market Definition and the Price Effects of Mergers: Staples-Office Depot (1997),” in The Antitrust Revolution: Economics, Competition and Policy. (John E. Kwoka and Lawrence J. White, eds.) Oxford University Press, 4th edition

External links

Staples

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