SWOT ANALYSIS – STAPLES

SWOT Analysis – Staples
Staples, Inc. became incorporated in 1985 by founders Thomas G. Stemberg and Leo Kahn. 25 years later, Staples, Inc. is the world's largest office products company. The company primarily operates in the United States but also has locations in 26 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia serving businesses of all sizes and consumers. Their mission statement is, “We're committed to making it easy for our customers around the globe to buy a wide range of office products, supplies, technology, furniture, and business services, including computer repair and copying and printing, to help our customers run their offices efficiently” (Staples Inc., 2010).
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The company has reported that their average order size has fallen in the United States due to tough economic times. Staples is successfully getting the average order size up in the Corporate Express delivery business, despite the economic backdrop and it is now around $180, up from $160 at the time of the acquisition (Market Watch, 2010). The average order size of Staples business, barring Corporate Express, is closer to $220 leaving Corporate Express with opportunity to improve average order size and hence profitability from current levels. Integrating a huge wholesaler into a huge, established business can be challenging in and of itself, which makes the opportunity even bigger. This opportunity affects both the economic and international dimensions.
Staples, Inc. is ranked the second largest internet retailer, after Amazon.com, in Internet Retailer Magazine's top 500 retail web sites. This shows an opportunity for growth and to strive to become the top position as the largest internet retailer. In addition to direct selling and retail stores, Staples generates revenues through the internet on its web portal. Online Sales are $9,800,000,000, which was a 27.3% growth in 2009 (Internet Retailer, 2010). The company’s presence in e-commerce presents an advantage where internet shopping has become very popular over traditional in-store shopping