Gomez 1

Executive Summary: Staples Inc.

The world’s largest office superstore, Staples, has paved the way in marketing for the

office supply chain industry. With the current largest market share and over $20 billion in sales,

Staples continues to grow as a strong financial investment and great marketing leader. After the

implementation of the “easy” campaign, where Staples emphasized the convenience that only

Staples Incorporated could offer, the earnings per share sky-rocketed to more than double.

The current campaign (2003), detailed as “That was easy,” refers to an “easy” button-

implying that Staples has the capabilities of taking a convoluted customer situation and

simplifying it with their product differentiation, global locations, and customer-oriented services.

Major competitors include Office Max, Office Depot, and Wal-Mart. Although the three

main competitors also hold a large market share, they do not have the product differentiation,

convenience and/or everyday customer-focus currently necessary to be as solid and strong as

Staples.

The marketing strategy used by Staples focuses on the target market of everyday

consumers and businesses. By allocating reasonable prices and directly mailing promotions to

homes, Staples targets everyone from day-to-day users to large corporations. Staples can offer

office supplies in bulk or in single units. They have established the foundation for office supply

superstores.

In 2003, Staples began their dedicated campaign to making their company customer-

focused. They restructured their website and stores to accommodate market automation. Through

market automation, historical information relevant to current purchases are used to turn potential

customers into actual consumers. This, with a series of other market strategies (convenience,

advertisements, promotions, etc.), advanced Staples to become the number one in the office

supply industry.

Gomez 2

Works Cited

"'Easy' Does It: Staples Enjoys Success of Recent Strategies | DSN Retailing Today | Find

Articles at BNET." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues &

Reference Articles on All Topics. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FNP/is_18_43/ai_n6214906/>.

Industry, By. "Staples Succeeds with SAS Marketing Automation | SAS." SAS | Business

Analytics and Business Intelligence Software. Web. 02 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.sas.com/success/staplesma.html>.

Levine, Brian. "OFFICE DEPOT IS “TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS”." (2005). Web.

<http://mediarelations.officedepot.cc/tcob/docs/tcob-umbrella-release.pdf>.

"OfficeMax - Investor Relations - News Release." OfficeMax - Investor Relations. Web. 01 Nov.

2010. <http://investor.officemax.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=85171&p=irol-

newsArticle&ID=1386003&highlight=>.

"SPLS: STAPLES INC Earnings Analysis." Business News, Stock Quotes, Investment Advice -

DailyFinance. Web. 1 Nov. 2010. <http://www.dailyfinance.com/earnings/staples-

inc/spls/nas>.

"Staples Launches New Ad Campaign - Adrants." Marketing and Advertising News With

Attitude by Steve Hall and Angela Natividad - Adrants. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.adrants.com/2003/02/staples-launches-new-ad-campaign.php>.