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TRANSCRIPT
GROUP 5
OFFICE DEPOT INTERNET MARKETING FINAL
GROUP PROJECT
DUE DATE: APRIL 6th, 2009 | GROUP 9
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 2
INTRODUCTION
As Technology exceeded human labour, the change has played an important role in the
society that we will live in. With technology, came the internet. Internet is an interconnected
system of networks that connects computers around the world via the TCP/IP protocol. No
matter, where you are, you are connected with business to stay connected with the consumers,
for their products and services. Using internet with business allows more opportunities for
business to gain monetary and non‐ monetary consumers. Use of marketing, which is the
cmmercial functions involving in transferring goods from producer to consumers and having the
tool of the internet allows a new way of doing business online. Internet marketing is marketing
of products and services over the internet. Use of internet has brought many unique benefits,
where lower costs for distribution of information and media to a global audience. Like many
companies, Office Depot uses internet marketing for providing the company with the instant
and eliciting responses, which is an un‐measurable quality. Office Depot ties with Internet
marketing to make a creative and technical aspect of the internet, including design,
development, advertising and sale. Office Depot will be elaborated, in order to emphasize its
unique characteristics of its online environment. The Idea of our project is to attempt to link
company’s issues to the website and see if there could be an improvement to help turn around
the company. Our attempt is to help the website that will attract consumers and improve the
company’s share that has declined over $40 in the past year. Our improvement in the internet
marketing with Office Depot will help increase Office Depot’s market share.
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BACKGROUND OF THE E‐COMPANY
Office Depot is the company, which is a global supplier of office products and services.
The company was founded in 1986 with opening of the first retail store in Fort Lauderdale
Florida USA, which is the location of the headquarters office. The company has specialty
retail in its industry, which sells products (office supplies i.e. business machines, computers,
computer software and office furniture) and provides services (such as copying, printing,
document reproduction, mailing and shipping). Office Depot is one of the biggest sellers for
its products/services in its industry. One of the many distribution channels is the Internet
and business‐to‐business electronic commerce which the company’s latest innovation where
their products and services are available online. Some of the competitors that the Office
Depot faces are Staples and Grand and Toy, whom they always compete sales and market
share with. Company provides more office products and services to more customers in
more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or
through affiliates in 48 countries. The company employees over 24,500 people within North
America. Some of the key people in the company are Steve Odland who is the Chairman & CEO,
following that is Charles E. Brown, President of International Operations and lastly Carl Rubin,
President of North American Retail Division.
Revenue Generated
In fiscal year of 2007, Office Depot sold $15.5 billion of products and services to consumers
and businesses of all sizes through the three business divisions: North American Retail Division,
North American Business Solutions Division and International Division.
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The company produces sales through the process of the retail stores, contract sales, ,
internet sites, call centers, outbound telephone account management sales force and direct
marketing catalogs all supported by our network of delivery operations, warehouses cross and
docks.
Products/ Services
Canada’s (North America) office depot sells products and services through a number of
distribution channels. Office Deport offers general office supplies, computer supplies, business
machines and related supplies, and office furniture from national brands to their own specific
private brands, such Office Depot ®, Niceday™, Foray ®, Ativa ®, Break Escapes™, Worklife™,
and Christopher Lowell™. (Appendix A)
With regards to services, office depot online or offline (retail stores) offer services such as
management consultation, product selection, and product sourcing and information technology
service. Most stores also contain a design, print and ship center offering graphic design,
printing, reproduction, mailing, shipping, and other services.
International Division
Office Depot is a multi‐national company, where consumers have access on their products
and services within 43 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The company started its international division in 1990 in United Kingdom, where sold products
and services through direct mail catalogs, contract sales forces, internet sites and retail stores,
using a mix of company owned operations, joint ventures, licensing and franchise agreements,
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alliances and other arrangements. But it was 1999, where the company actually started its
international public web site for consumers and business in UK. After the successful start in
1999, the company currently has and operates over 35 web sites in the international division.
The company on a ongoing basis keeps assessing opportunities to expand the geographic steps
around the globe.
Over the years, Office Depot has captured very significant suppliers. For example, in
2006, the company took an interest in “Best Office” which is located in South Korea and a
majority stake in “AsiaEC”, one of the largest suppliers of office products and services in China.
Following that, in the same year the company also took on a majority stake in Office Depot
Israel and acquired Papirius s.r.o., one of the largest business‐to‐business suppliers of office
products and services in Eastern Europe. In the following year 2007, the company began
operating through wholly‐owned or majority‐owned entities and participated under licensing
and merchandise arrangements.
Values and Vision
Office Depot like all e‐companies has visions and values that they follow through with
their consumers and business transactions. With regards to their vision, the company is
comptenable about their Deliver, Winning, Solutions, Inspire and lastly the Work life balance
throughout the company. The company’s values are Integrity, Innovation, Inclusion, Customer
Focus and Accountability. Having strong and passionate values and vision brings company good
future. For further enhancement about the company’s values and visions, please look into the
appendix B.
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Affiliate Program
Like many companies whom offer programs, Office Depot offers an Affiliate Program.
The program is a unique opportunity for individual business owners to earn additional income by
placing links from OfficeDepot.com directly to their Web site. Basically in simple terms, Affiliate
Program helps you earn that extra cash, with the use of your own website. The transactions
made through these links from your site, earns you a percentage of the sale. Joining the
Affiliate Program will improve the reliable image where providing the site a recognizable corporate
brand. Having corporate brand will allow the surrounding environments have a positive impact,
where it will affect the promoting company and the products and services its selling for. In the
appendixes you can see, how Office Depot evaluates Office Depot Affiliate Standard
Commission structure and the additional features that will be received with the Affiliation
program. (Appendix C)
INTERNET MARKETING ANALYSIS
Strategy
Office Depot has chosen a broad strategy to target all consumers requiring office related
products. This includes everything from home offices and small offices to Fortune 100
companies. Office Depot has been able to tackle such a large market by having designated
business divisions to address each of the segments needs. For example, the Retail Division
services the home office market. With approximately 1,200 office supply stores across North
America, the retail division offers a broad assortment of merchandise such as general office and
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computer supplies, business machines, and office furniture. Services at the chains include
graphic design, printing, reproduction, mailing, shipping, PC support and network installation
service. To support small to medium sized businesses, Office Depot has their Business Solutions
Division. This division consists of a direct business approach utilizing a dedicated sales force.
Direct customers can order products via catalog, telephone or through one of Office Depot’s
public websites (see Appendix D). For medium to Fortune 100 business customers, Office Depot
has their contract business, a part of the Business Solutions Divisions. The contract business
also employs a dedicated sales force; however, contract customers are able to make purchases
online via http://bsd.officedepot.com or in retail locations while being charged a contract price
in lieu of retail pricing. The company has also expanded their service offerings geographically
with 30 public websites and 10 contract websites outside North America (see Appendix E).
Positioning
In terms of positioning the brand, the company wants consumers to see Office Depot as the
helpful office supplies retailer. Office Depot emphasizes “Taking care of Business”, the
company’s brand message, and honors their promise by providing a complete business center
filled with information next to their virtual shelves of office supplies. Mindy Kramer, Director of
Public Relations, explains that “Office Depot believes that being a helpful resource is a distinct
platform that will differentiate [the company] from competitors and cement [Office Depot’s]
point of difference in the minds of business customers.” (Roth) Moreover, Chuck Rubin,
Executive Vice President, states that “For Office Depot, Taking Care of Business is more than a
tagline ‐ it's an approach to success both internally and externally.” (Business Wire) Useful
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resources, that support the Office Depot’s positioning, range from free downloadable forms, to
small business advice and an Internet radio show. These resources are value‐added services
that are essential tools for the business owner. Regrettably, Chuck Rubin’s comments seem to
be more of a dream than reality. The “Taking Care of Business” mantra internally seems have
hit a brick wall. Employees are not motivated and unable to deliver the promises displayed on
their website. Worst of all, they have taken a negative and combative attitude with their
customer base.
Opportunities
Since Office Depot has such a large target market, the company has covered the majority of
market opportunities. The only business consumer that Office Depot does not service are large
companies like Fortune 500 companies; which is not a realistic customer for the company as
they would not be able to market themselves better than the competition due to the capacity
required to fill large orders and the necessity of being able to compete on price with volume
orders. In a world of limitless opportunities, Office Depot has capitalized on the markets that
they are best suited to compete in, in terms of their service offerings and budgeted resources.
Branding
Office Depot does have a strong brand in the North American marketplace. The company is
trying to portray a positive brand image comprised of brand attributes like 'a professional
shopping environment,' 'respect for the consumers business,' 'professional image,' and 'high
quality office supplies'. (Business Wire)
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Brand awareness for Office Depot is moderate as the likelihood of the consumers
recognizing the existence of the brand is reasonable. The company is continually trying to
increase their brand awareness through marketing efforts. For example, Office Depot hired
Microsoft Advertising to execute a market research study to examine brand metrics in order to
deliver effective messaging to consumers. By utilizing the results of this study, Office Depot
executed online advertisements using a combination of display and content channels to
increase brand recall. The study which evaluated eye‐tracking tests and post‐session surveys
revealed that by adding both display and content ad offerings to their online search campaigns,
Office Depot would experience a 49.1% increase in incremental brand recall (Microsoft
Advertising).
Furthermore, the Office Depot has utilized joint ventures and partnerships to increase
brand awareness. In 2006, Office Depot announced the company would be the "Official Office
Products Partner of NASCAR" and sponsored the Edwards racing team. Chuck Rubin
commented on the success of the business venture stating, “We've only been in the sport a few
months, but we have already seen our relationships with Carl Edwards, Roush Racing and
NASCAR drive sales for Office Depot and raise our brand awareness in markets where we have
conducted promotional activities and events," (Promo Magazine). A sweepstakes was also
established offering small businesses the chance to be named the Official Small Business of
NASCAR and received over 10,000 entries for the draw. By increasing brand awareness Office
Depot will be able to drive sales by increasing traffic to their website and retail establishments.
The strongest brand association relating to the Office Depot brand is office supplies. Other
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meaningful themes that are connected with the Office Depot brand in consumer’s memory
include business resources and back to school (see Appendix F).
Customer Experience
Overall, customers of Office Depot are not fully satisfied with their online purchase
experience. The web design could use improvement as the web space is cluttered and not
impactful. However, website does offer intuitive navigation with well organized product
categories and accurate search function (see Appendix G). Moreover, OfficeDepot.com has a
good selection of merchandise and detailed product information along with customer reviews.
In terms of fulfillment/reliability, the website offers accurate display and description of
products but is unable to delivery on their customer service promises. The customers
continually complain of the wrong products being shipped, timing issues with shipping and
billing problems. Exchanges and refunds at OfficeDepot.com should be easy to complete with
the company’s 100% satisfaction guarantee; however, this statement seems to be disregarded
by Office Depot employees with customer service representatives hanging up customers and
not returning calls when promised. OfficeDepot.com does offer customers a secure
environment for purchasing merchandise online and protects the user’s privacy. Office Depot
takes protection of consumer’s sensitive information seriously employing a variety of technical
solutions including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption software. In terms of customer
service, OfficeDepot.com say they are ready and willing to respond to customer needs on their
website through a variety of methods including a number of email addresses, a web form,
online chat and phone numbers (see Appendix H); although, these promises are not fulfilled by the
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company creating hostile customers. Websites have been developed by past Office Depot
consumers explaining their dissatisfaction with the customer service they have received (see
Appendix I).
Customer Relationship Management
The nature of customer interaction for Office Depot’s e‐business differs from their retail
outlets. Due to the internet infrastructure of OfficeDepot.com customer interaction is indirect;
however, the interactions are still considered to be high in frequency. In terms of the relational
spectrum, Office Depot is in a relational exchange with its customers because the relationship is
more than a one‐off transaction; consumers of Office Depot have a social and economic bond
with the company. Office Depot develops trust and commitment with its customer through
loyalty programs. For example, Worklife Rewards is a program that allows consumers to
accumulate rewards that offer cash back towards future purchases. Other benefits include
discounts with Worklife partners and access to special offers (see Appendix J). Office Depot
should invest heavily in CRM to establish long‐lasting relationships with customers. The
company has a customer strategy in place to grow loyalty programs and add value to customer
experience making it viable that CRM would be a successful venture for the Office Depot.
Unfortunately, they do not uphold the customer service promises and should also utilize the
program to help resolve issues currently facing the company and help re‐establish the company
as customer based organization that values their consumer opinion and are motivated to solve
issues in a timely manner.
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Product
Office Depot’s internet product type would be classified as a retail service. The company
sells office supplies, technology and furniture via their website OfficeDepot.com and delivers
the products offline. The e‐company has a large product portfolio. Office Depot carries
numerous brands with varying quality, suitable for all budgets and needs. The company also
has their own “Office Depot” brand that would be classified as a middle of the road brand in
terms of quality and brand recognition. The office supply product market covers a large range
of products, everything from pens and pencils to computers and printers. Customizations of
the office products are limited; however, there is a large amount of products in terms of variety
and specification. For example, Office Depot carries paper products that range in size, colour
and use.
Pricing
Office Depot is in a market of weak buyers and weak sellers as there are a large number of
buyers and sellers diffusing power, also resulting in fixed prices. The internet is an optimal
platform for the company as it connects the buyers with the seller, no matter the time or
geography. In relation to the Price Strategy Circumplex, pricing strategies such as auction and
negotiation are not practical for Office Depot’s business model. The company’s current pricing
strategy is best suited for the market their business is in.
Distribution
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Office Depot utilizes numerous distribution channels such as office supply stores, contract
sales force, an outbound telephone account management sales force, internet sites, direct
marketing catalogs and call centers. Office Depot has not been able to create synergy across
their multiple channels, resulting in customer service disasters. Customers orders are almost
lost in the company’s complex system. For example, customer’s that had orders cancelled were
not notified, other customers being transferred from department to department with a
resolution to their problems. Management issues among their many business divisions have
failed to effectively train their employees to offer proper customer service and failed to
establish effective communication between business entities.
Communications
Office Depot uses a variety of marketing communications on their OfficeDepot.com
website. Flash advertisements are used on the homepage with visual and text content to
inform consumers of product sales. These advertisements are updated frequently to stay
update with the special occasions and societal concerns. For example, one of the
advertisements incorporated the holiday of St. Patrick’s Day into the flash ad. Other marketing
communications on the website include their weekly store flyer, an advertisement for the
Office Depot Racing team and link to affiliated website and advertisement for consumers to get
special offers text to their mobile phone. Unfortunately, advertisements are cluttered and hard
to distinguish among the large mass text and menu options. The organization of the website
design is not effective and is hindering the impact a visual advertisements.
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Community
Office Depot does not have an online community. Office Depot does have business
resources such as paper templates and small business forms available on their website and
customers are able to review products; however, there is no social networking among users
and the company. Although, customers have created their own online community complaining
about the poor customer service offered by the company.
PROBLEMS
The online presence of OfficeDepot.ca has proven in the past to be very successful. As
of today the company is facing many difficulties financially and having to close down many of its
stores to avoid bankruptcy. So the idea of our project is attempt to link any overall company
issues to the website and see if there could be improvement to help turn around the company.
There are two main issues with the operation of the online website and one appearance issue
with the website.
The first main issue with the website is the major lack of communication with shipping
information to its customers. On a website dedicated to feedback on the OfficeDepot.com
experience, many customers comment on how disorganized the shipping structure is. There
are many comments mentioning that Office Depot would cancel orders that they had no stock
on, without emailing the customer. In many instances, the shipping information on the website
under the customers user accounts, would state the item had been delivered when the item
ordered had actually been cancelled.
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“Order a 19" monitor via officedepot.com and after 10 days of waiting, the status still
showed 3 day delivery pending. After email the customer service about the order, they
said they don't have it in inventory and canceled my order! “
Also, there were many customers stating that OfficeDepot.com had communicated
incorrect shipping delivery expected dates. One customer said that they had ordered a one day
rush order, and when the transaction was completed, the expected delivery date was
immediately changed to three days instead of one.
“The order was cancelled without sending me an email, even though the status online
said it was shipped by 3rd Party and will be delivery the next.”
A company that has major issues with closing the sales with correct information and
proper communication between themselves and its customer’s needs to repair, change, and/or
increase their communication level, and their outsourced courier services to a more reliable
service even if it means to create their own. Unsatisfied customers are likely to be lost to the
competition.
A second major problem with the online presence of OfficeDepot.com is the level of
customer service applied to this site from Office Depot. Before 2005, Office Depot has its call
centers outsourced to different cultural places like the Philippines which created major
problems with overcoming the language barrier and increased call times due to repetitive
conversations because of the language barriers. After 2005, Office Depot mentioned that they
were switching to call centers that operate home‐based agents within our western culture
region. After some research we found that many consumers who called Office Depot’s
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customer service call centers to deal with their online issues like incorrect shipping or cancelled
orders, found that many times they were on the phone were customer service agents that had
communication issues. The point of this problem is that the customer service level is poor.
Many consumers have stated that they have been hung up on, always transferring to another
department, and rudeness. Here are some of the comments:
“Horrible service. Placed online order for in store pick‐up. Drove 25 miles to pick up the
order only to find out that the coupon I used cannot be used towards technology items.
Had to deal with rude customer service representatives.”
“Very unhappy with Office Depot. Order many of the Pen/Pencil set they had on sale,
and they cancelled all of my order except 3 and said it was out of stock. called to ask
why and the guy deliberately hung up on me.”
“I called customer service and was told someone was going to call me the next day.
Someone from the "resolution department" called the next day and said it would be
delivered that day. Of course it did not happen.
I called again, and was told all they can do is to write an email to the resolution
department. The resolution department called back, basically saying they are clueless
and was researching. Of course that research never yielded any result.
I called again and requested to speak to a supervisor. Of course no supervisor was
available. And all they can do is to write an email to the resolution department.”
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These comments are only a few of the many that indicate that
OfficeDepot.com needs to revamp its online customer service with proper training in
servicing and attitudes because if this type of service continues, customer by customer
will be lost to the competition.
Lastly, a third problem is with the look and feel of the online website. When you first
are brought to the website, there is too much writing and what feels like a crammed space,
with lack of good use of colour, and way too many options to choose from. This confusion can
make it very difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for. Also the website fails to use more
vertical space (ie. Vertical scroll bars) on its web pages especially the main page to show more
specials and other promotions that could lure the potential customer to enter the site further
and possible to a purchase.
SOLUTIONS
As they say, to every problem we face, threes always a solution. With regards to office
Depot, we are faced with three problems that deal with the company’s operations of the online
website and visual appearance. Operations and appearance are both very important to the
company and are both very significant keys in order for the company to be successful in the
market share. As stated above, the decrease in the market share has caused Office Depot to
shutdown at many locations and has called on bankruptcy.
Lack of Communication
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Let’s begin with the first issue, which was geared towards the “Lack of Communication”
with shipping information to its customers. Communication is about delivering a message to its
targeted audience. In this case, the Office Depot is targeting towards individuals who require
office supplies or business that need such supplies to operate or use on daily basis.
The disorganization of the company has affected the company’s customer services that are
disorientated. The company needs to adapt a better internet marketing strategy that will help
the company to be more organized, where they won’t have to cancel orders or view
information that is no longer valid or only one way communication are in response.
In order to improve the disclosure of the company’s records with closing the sales with
correct information, the company's needs to improve internal management operations.
Communication between themselves and its customer’s needs to increase and outsource
courier services to a more reliable service even if it means to create their own. Unsatisfied
customers are likely to be lost due to competition. Use of the Fulfillment/ Reliability Satisfaction
( One of the Four Key Components of Customer Online Purchase Experience Model), where
weekly reviews on how a consumer feels about the accuracy of the display and description of
the product, the accuracy of the delivery of the product, and the accuracy of the billing
information should be reported. Improving the Interactivity is the occurrence of two‐way
communication between the firm and the customer which will help Retail store personnel
handle Internet customer service, retail and Internet communication are coordinated in a
flawless picture perfect manner, chat rooms are set up to discuss product‐related issues, and
lastly customers subscribe to customized versions of firm newsletters .
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The company needs to use the building blocks of marketing strategy more effectively
through the use of segmentation, target‐market selection and lastly positioning. Both pure play
and brick‐and‐mortar firms can rely on segmentation, targeting, and positioning in the online
and offline domains. However, bricks‐and‐mortar firms require further consideration
Customer Service
Secondly, Office Depot have got and known for their poor customer service that consumer
receive with their online environment. Reviews such as “Horrible Service” or “very unhappy”
are not the reviews that the company should be getting. Having such reviews only brings the
company’s image and values down towards their products and services and lastly the market
share down. Major issue in this problem is the poor customer service level, due to poor CRM
(customer relationship management).
In simple terms, CRM is the process a company uses to track and organize it contacts with
its currents and future consumer. CRM helps improve services provided to customers, which it
is not doing at the moment. Office Depot needs to revaluate their CRM, which will exceed their
benefits vs. their expense within their customer service division. Providing better service
through the e‐environment will increase sales with better timing because of the anticipating
needs based of historic trends and cross‐selling of products by highlighting and suggesting
alternatives.
According to the Customers at the Commitment Stage, Office Depot has unsatisfied and
unprofitable customers. When a company has unsatisfied and unprofitable customers side, the
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company is facing a “Dissolution” stage, which leads to loosing value and future customers.
Office Depot needs to change them, where they will need to be at the “Stay Committed” stage.
Having a company at the Stay Committed stage will work vice versa, where the company will
produce more profitable customers.
As mention above, the language barrier, causing high call time volume has caused
consumers to receive the proper service but even after the changes to agents within the
western culture region, the company found these agents found that many times they were on
the phone were customer service agents that had communication issues. Office Depot needs to
use a Customer‐centric approach to Internet marketing by focusing on customer relationships.
Overall, the employees that should be on phones are the only ones whom have the skills and
knowledge about the company and current issues within the company. The employees of the
company need to develop a “relationship” which is a bond or connection between a company
and its customers. Therefore, individuals should be properly trained and provided with the right
tools to make the consumers conservations proper and provide the customer with the assistant
that is required. Use of Technology as a recourse tool has made it possible to customize each
interaction to the individual user.
Secondly, the Office Depot should use the Customer Service Satisfaction key (One of the
Four Key Components of Customer Online Purchase Experience Model), where weekly reports
and reviews of consumer’s satisfaction with the service provided by an e‐retailer in terms of
responding to customer inquires This satisfaction assesses a consumer’s satisfaction with the
service provided by an e‐retailer in terms of responding to customer inquiries. Lastly a very
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important change that Office Depot needs to implement is the improvement with their
customer service with respect to the attitudes towards their customers. Employees need to be
understood to work with proper attitudes with regardless of the work they do. Trust, Norms
and Satisfaction are three important stages of the exploration stage, which will help determine
to keep long term relationships with value customers. Norms provide consumers with a
relationship where expectations and behaviour rules are readily established. Trust which
obviously provide customers with the faith that a firm’s word or promise is reliable and the
satisfaction of the interaction provides fulfillment of the consumer’s desires.
Visual Appearance
Lastly, we are faced with the problem of the visual appearance of the online website. As
stated above, the site is very hard to stand out; there is nothing unique to it. There are many
appearance issues that the web site is facing, where you can not clearly understand, what the
message the site is trying to imply. One of the four key components of customer online
purchase experience is website design attitudes. Website design attitudes assess a consumer’s
satisfaction with all elements of his/her experience at an e‐retailer’s website, including
navigation, information search, order processing, level of personalization, and merchandise
selection.
Use of Customer Experience profiles, will assist the company in improving the company’s image
through the use of Interstitial and Rich media. The use of Interstitial and Rich media, will help in
the company’s appearance, visually and provide a clear message. Interstitial is the term where
an ad that runs between pages on a website. Interstitials are such as the superstitials, pop‐up
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windows, and pop‐under windows are all port of the same family. Following the Interstitial, the
company should potential use the “rich media idea” where it allows catching user’s attention
and linking the buying opportunity. Rich Media is a type of communication method that
incorporates animation, sound, video, or interactivity, and is deployed through Web and
wireless applications such as e‐mail, banners, and interstitials. Having rich media will gain
attention‐getting and also link to buying opportunity. This will cause people to have the
company to gain value customers, through the visual image.
In order to improve the visuals, the company needs to take on such profiles, where it
will assist the company in improving the company’s image. Having less crammed information
and more space added would be the first improvement to start off. Having too much
information is okay to the web site as long the website differentiates its information through
various fonts, colors and images. The context of a site needs to improve by the improving
dimensions of function and aesthetics. Functions would be the layout of the site with respect to
the section breakdown, linking structure and navigation tools. Aesthetics would be the the
visual characteristics of site with respect to the colors, graphics, photographs, font choices and
lastly audio on the site.
As stated above, the web site has not used any vertical space, which is not good. Vertical
space is very important, where it balances out the information, seems organized to the viewers
and readers. Using vertical scroll bars on key pages such as the “home page” or “product
listings” will allow the company to show more specials and promotions that could attract the
potential customer to enter the site further and possible to a purchase. Attraction is one the
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exploration stage (which will help determines whether the relationship is to be long‐term or
end in dissolution). Having an attraction to the site, will allow customers to perceive the firm to
offer benefits that exceed the cost of buying the product or service.
CONCLUSIONS
As mention above, the main objective of the report was to attempt to link company’s
issues to the website and see if there could be a improvement to help turn around the
company. After the time and effort in the research performed, we found the company was
facing online issues that need to improve in order to recover their market share. The decline of
the market share was the causes of their competitors who didn’t face similar problems
internally, that can be improved. Office Depot is facing customer and internal management
operations problems and are stirring up their image due to their weak visual appearance they
provoke on their websites. We learned that the use of the internet efficiently affects the
company’s marketing strategy, where it increases the integration of marketing strategy with
business strategy and operations.
Office Depot will face a positive global affect once the solutions are implemented, where they
will gain potential benefits towards their e‐company. As they say, having excellent customer
experience is the key to success. The improvement of the company's image will bring monetary
and non – monetary values and benefits to the company and the company’s market share.
Focusing on customer experience is the single most profitable thing Office Depot can do to
improve its image and market share. Customers that have a positive experience with sites are
more likely to keep coming back and tell their peers about it.
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 24
Bibilographgy
All Enthusiast. Office Depot . ResellerRatings.com . March 14, 2009 <http://www.officedepot.ca/specialLinks.do?file=/companyinfo/companyfacts/companyhistory.jsp&template=companyinfo>.
Business Wire. Office Depot is 'Taking Care of Business'. 3 January 2005. 10 March 2009 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Jan_3/ai_n8591439>.
Microsoft Advertising. Office Depot Increases Brand Metrics. 8 September 2008. 11 March 2009 <http://advertising.microsoft.com/research/office‐depot‐brand‐metrics>.
Office Depot. Affiliate Program Company facts. Office Depot . March 10, 2009 <http://www.officedepot.ca/specialLinks.do?file=/companyinfo/companyfacts/affiliateprogram.jsp&template=companyinfo>.
Office Depot. Company facts. Office Depot . March 10, 2009 <http://www.officedepot.ca/specialLinks.do?file=/companyinfo/companyfacts/index.jsp&template=companyinfo>.
Office Depot. Company History at Office Depot. Office Depot . March 10, 2009 <http://www.officedepot.ca/specialLinks.do?file=/companyinfo/companyfacts/company history.y.jsp&template=companyinfo>.
Office Depot. Values at Office Depot. Office Depot . March 10, 2009 <http://www.officedepot.ca/specialLinks.do?file=/companyinfo/companyfacts/ourvalues.jsp&template=companyinfo>.
Office Depot. Vision at Office Depot. Office Depot . March 10, 2009 <http://www.officedepot.ca/specialLinks.do?file=/companyinfo/companyfacts/ourvision.jsp&template=companyinfo>.
Office Depot , "WorkLife". Office Depot . March 14, 2009 <http://www.myworkliferewards.com/loyalty/memberBenefit/comparison.do#howItWorks>.
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 25
Promo Magazine. Office Depot, Seeing Success, Ups Stake in NASCAR Sponsorship. 14 July 2005. 9 March 2009 <http://promomagazine.com/news/officedepot0714/>.
Roth, Robert. Making Sense: E‐Digest of Brand Thinking. January 2007. 8 March 2009 <http://makingsensedigest.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html>.
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APPENDIXES
Appendix A
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Appendix B
VISION
"What we are trying to do is create a global Office Depot that we can carry around the world with one vision and one culture." - Steve Odland, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
hat Inspire Worklife™
speak louder than words. We are accountable: doing what we say we're going to do ? efficiently and on time.
h confidence. We're proud to win. We push ourselves to greater heights. And we don't settle for less than being the best.
o our customers and understand their needs. We offer products, services and innovative thinking that enable our customers to achieve success.
iration is contagious and enables us to unleash creativity to help people achieve their goals. Our motivation and enthusiasm inspire others to succeed.
our energy for work with our passion for life. We are creating a fuller, more enriched lifestyle. We share the desire to maximize human potential to achieve personal dreams.
e trust and confidence of associates, customers, suppliers and shareholders by being open, honest and truthful in all that we do.
Delivering Winning Solutions T
Delivering
Our actions
Winning
We act wit
Solutions
We listen t
Inspire
Our insp
Worklife™
We combine
VALUES
Integrity
We earn th
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Innovation
With a culture of creativity and a thirst for intelligent risk-taking, we aspire to do what has never
We approach all opportunities and challenges by respecting the diverse thoughts, beliefs, s, cultures and energies of all associates, customers and suppliers.
We fuel our customers' dreams by anticipating and listening to their needs and passionately romises. Failure is not an option, as we promise to "wow" on recovery.
We are responsible for achieving and sustaining unprecedented results that create extraordinary eholders and stakeholders through personal commitment, sensible thrift,
collaboration and shared leadership.
been done.
Inclusion
background
Customer Focus
delivering on our p
Accountability
value to our shar
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 29
Appendix C
luded in Office Depot Affiliation Membership?
ffice Depot Affiliate Standard Commission Structure†:
, Labels, School Supplies, Writing itorial Supplies = 6% , Imprint/Promo Services, and Books
k/Wireless Access, Computers, Monitors, Mobility, Printing,
ate Program
t links, and graphic banners to link to OfficeDepot.com ffice Depot provides an Affiliate management group to assist you with your program.
questions or suggestions to [email protected]
What is inc
O
• For Binders/Filing, Dated/Stationery, Notes, AdhesivesInstruments, Desk Accessories and Breakroom/Jan
• Office Furniture, Storage & Filing, Business Cases= 5%
• For Ink & Toner = 4% • For Paper, Computer Furniture, Input/Cards, Surges/Cables, and Magnetic Media = 3% • For Seating, Lighting, Extended Warranty, Broadband, and Customer Services = 2% • For Telephones, Networ
Software, Memory, Wireless Services, Drives, Luggage, and Graphing Calculators = 1% • For Office Depot Gift Cards and Office Depot Premiums = 0%
†At Office Depot's sole discretion, other commission rates and/or sales programs may apply, and commission rates and/or sales programs are subject to change or be discontinued at any time. Please contact your Office Depot Affilirepresentative for specific rates and programs that may apply to you.
-PLUS-
• 30 Return Days • A variety of text links, produc• O
Please send your .
• here
Getting Started
Become a member of LinkShare, a leader in affiliate management, by clicking (no e a member).
will issue a user name and password to access their affiliate interface.
rom
charge to becom• LinkShare• Apply to the Office Depot Affiliate Program from your affiliate interface through
LinkShare. We are listed under the office category. • Receive notification of your acc eptance into the Office Depot Affiliate Program. • Add Office Depot banners and links to your site. • LinkShare provides tracking, reporting and commissions based on traffic realized f
your site.
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 30
Appendix D
public Web sites:
officedepot.com for Canadian customers
pot.com m
in Mexico
• W sed in the U.S.:
m
9
www. www.officedepot.ca www.techde www.computers4sure.co www.officedepotracing.com www.officedepot.com.mx for customers based www.worklifereward.com
eb site designed exclusively for Spanish speaking customers ba
http://espanol.officedepot.co
• Corporate customized contract Internet site:
http://bsd.officedepot.com
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Appendix E
30+ public Web sites outside of North America:
Austria:www.officedepot.at and www.vikingdirekt.at Belgium:www.officedepot.be (Dutch); www.office-depot.be
(French);www.vikingdirect.be (Dutch), www.viking-direct.be (French); Costa Rica:www.officedepot.co.cr El Salvador:www.officedepot.com.sv Europe:www.odeurope.com and www.officedepot.eu France:www.officedepot.fr, www.office-depot.fr and www.vikingdirect.fr Germany:www.officedepot.de andwww.viking.de Guatemala:www.officedepot.com.gt Hungary:www.officedepot.hu Ireland:www.officedepot.ie andwww.vikingdirect.ie Israel:www.officedepot.co.il Italy:www.office-depot.it, www.vikingop.it Japan:www.officedepot.co.jp Luxembourg:www.officedepot.lu (French) and www.viking-direct.lu Mexico:www.officedepot.com.mx The Netherlands:www.officedepot.nl , www.techdepot.nl and www.vikingdirect.nl South Koreawww.bestoffice.co.kr Spain:www.officedepot.es and www.vikingdirect.es Switzerland:www.officedepot.ch (German); www.office-depot.ch (French);
www.vikingdirekt.ch (French) and www.viking-direkt.ch (Germany) United Kingdom:www.officedepot.co.uk and www.viking-direct.co.uk
10+ corporate customized contract Internet sites:
Belgium: https://online.officedepot.be Czech Republic: http://polo.papirius.cz France: https://www.europawebonline.com and https://www.odonline.fr Germany: https://online.officedepot.de Ireland: https://online.officedepot.ie Israel: https://bsdnet.officedepot.co.il Italy: https://online.officedepot.it Japan: https://bsdnet.officedepot.co.jp The Netherlands: https://online.officedepot.nl Spain: https://online.officedepot.es Switzerland: https://online.officedepot.ch United Kingdom: https://online.officedepot.co.uk
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 32
Appendix F
Brand Associations
NASCAR Office
Supplies
Office Depot
Business
Resources
Back to
School
Photo
Copies
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Appendix G
http://www.officedepot.com/ accessed March 13, 2009
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 34
Appendix H
Office Depot Contact Information
Phone:
To speak to a customer service representative for order and delivery related issues
1.800.GO.DEPOT
Email:
Orders and Delivery
Shipping to areas outsides the US
To make government APO/FPO orders
Regarding Worklife Rewards
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 35
Appendix I
Internet Marketing Final Group Project_ Office Depot Page 36
Appendix J
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THE END
THANK YOU