In a world that’s increasingly digital, Staples.com remains a physical and virtual cornerstone for businesses, schools, and home offices. Since its founding in the mid-1980s, Staples has grown far beyond merely selling pens and paper, adapting to new trends, shifting work cultures, and sustainability demands. In this article, we’ll explore what makes Staples.com more than just an office supply retailer: its history, its offerings, its strengths, its challenges, and where it seems headed next.
Early Foundations & Growth
Staples, Inc. was founded in 1986 by Leo Kahn and Thomas G. Stemberg in Brighton, Massachusetts. Frustration with obtaining basic office supplies at odd times, especially over holidays, inspired the vision: a one-stop shop that carries everything a business might need. This simple idea turned into an enormous retail and e-commerce chain, with both physical stores and a strong online presence via staples.com.
Over time, the company expanded its product range, moving beyond standard office staples to include furniture, hardware, technology, printing services, and business solutions. It positioned itself not just as a retailer, but as a workspace partner—helping companies, schools, and individuals equip their work environments effectively.
What Staples.com Offers
Staples.com today is more than just a catalog. Its offerings can be grouped into several categories, each addressing different customer needs:
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Office Supplies & Stationery
The bread and butter: paper, notebooks, writing instruments, binders, and everything associated with desk-work. Staples ensures wide availability, often offering name brands and its own private label items. -
Furniture & Workspace Design
From ergonomic chairs and desks to shelving units and modular furniture, Staples provides products that help shape professional and comfortable environments. They cater to both home offices and large corporate setups. -
Technology & Electronics
Computers, printers, monitors, networking equipment, and accessories. Staples often bundles technology with software and service plans. For many customers, Staples.com is a destination for both basic tech needs and peripherals. -
Printing & Customization Services
Orders for business cards, banners, posters, copying, binding, photo printing, and promotional products are part of Staples’ value-added services. Many customers use the in-store or online print centers for custom designs or bulk print jobs. -
Facilities & Breakroom Products
Items for maintaining workplaces, from cleaning supplies to breakroom solutions (coffee makers, disposable dinnerware, etc.). The idea is to cover all aspects so that businesses don’t need to source separately. -
Business Solutions (B2B)
Staples has grown its business customers’ division to offer tailored accounts, bulk pricing, corporate purchasing tools, delivery logistics, and procurement integration. This helps mid-size and large enterprises streamline supply chain and purchasing. -
Sustainability & Eco Products
Responding to consumer demand, Staples.com carries “greener” alternatives—recycled paper, remanufactured ink and toner, eco-friendly office products. Also, they run recycling programs and seek to reduce packaging waste, aligning with environmental goals.
What Staples Does Well
Staples.com has built several strengths over its decades in business. Here are some of the areas where it shines:
Broad Selection & One-Stop Shopping
For many buyers, the convenience that comes with Staples is unmatched: you can order dozens of disparate items (from desk lamps to toner cartridges) from one site, rather than piecing together suppliers. This reduces shipping hassles, coordination burden, and often cost.
Physical & Online Hybrid Model
Having many stores across the U.S. and Canada gives Staples an advantage. Customers can shop online and pick up in-store, or return items at stores instead of dealing with shipping. This hybrid model helps it remain competitive with pure e-commerce operations.
Strong B2B Capabilities
With dedicated services for business customers (bulk orders, contract pricing, enterprise delivery) Staples tends to win large clients who need consistency, reliability, and integrated solutions. Their business advantage division is a key revenue stream.
Customer Service & Experience
Staples has invested in user-friendly site design, clear product search, robust filters (by brand, specifications, type), and often a next-day or fast delivery experience. Their stores often provide additional help—like print centers, tech support, custom orders—which add value beyond mere product sales.
Commitment to Sustainability
In recent years, Staples has responded to growing environmental concerns. By offering more eco-certified products, enabling recycling programs (for ink cartridges, electronics), and improving packaging practices, Staples appeals to customers who are conscious of sustainability.
Challenges & Criticisms
However, as with large, legacy retailers, Staples faces its share of challenges:
Competition from E-commerce Giants
Online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon) offer massive inventories, aggressive pricing, and very fast shipping. Staples has to compete not only on product variety but also on speed, cost, and convenience. Maintaining competitive pricing while keeping stores running and stock managed is a constant balancing act.
Retail Footprint Costs
Physical stores bring advantages, but also fixed costs: rent, staffing, utilities, inventory. In periods of weak sales, these costs weigh heavily. Store maintenance, renovations, modernizing retail experience all require capital investment.
Supply Chain & Inventory Pressures
Ensuring availability of products across both physical stores and online orders is complex. Especially during supply constraints (global chip shortages, shipping delays) or fluctuating demand (for example school season), managing stock and logistics remains a challenge.
Price Sensitivity & Thin Margins
Office supplies are often low-margin goods. Many customers are highly price sensitive. Promotions, discounts, coupons, and loyalty programs are necessary to attract buyers. But these cut into profit margins. Staples needs to keep overhead, logistics, operations efficient.
Keeping Up with Digital Transformation
As customers expect better online UX, faster delivery, mobile ordering, personalized experiences, it’s essential for Staples to keep its digital infrastructure, website, mobile app, fulfillment centers up to date. Lagging here risks losing market share to more nimble companies.
Adaptations & Strategic Moves
Staples has not stood still. The company has made strategic changes to address challenges and adapt to changing markets:
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Enhancing E-Commerce: Investing in their online site, improving search, better filtering, cross-channel customer experience (web, app, in-store).
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Services Expansion: Printing, tech repair, and services beyond product sales. Creating value-added services helps differentiate from commodity sellers.
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Tailoring for Remote Work: With more people working from home, demand for home office furniture, ergonomic accessories, and telecommuting tech has risen. Staples has expanded offerings to meet that.
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Emphasis on Sustainability: Eco-product lines, recycling, reducing carbon footprint, packaging innovations—all helping to appeal to newer generations.
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Efficiency in B2B Operations: Streamlining supply chain, better vendor relationships, smarter inventory management, and improving delivery logistics.
What Customers Should Know
If you’re a consumer considering Staples.com for your needs, here are some tips to get the best value and experience:
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Use “pick up in store” options when available—saves shipping fees and can be faster for urgent items.
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Watch for deals & clearance—office supplies often go on seasonal discount. Back-to-school seasons, end-of-year sales, etc., are good times.
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Join loyalty or business accounts if you order often; they may offer discounts, free delivery thresholds, and other perks.
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Review return policies—especially for tech, furniture, or custom items, as returns may be more complex.
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Check eco features if sustainability matters to you—recycled paper, remanufactured supplies, etc.
Looking Ahead: What Staples.com Might Do Next
Given current trends, some likely directions for Staples.com in coming years include:
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Greater Personalization: Using data to customize product recommendations, bundling, subscription models (office supplies delivered periodically).
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More Digital & AR Tools: Virtual room planners to see furniture layout, apps that help with product matching (e.g., “what toner fits my printer?”), augmented reality previews.
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Faster Fulfillment: More fulfillment centers, same-day or one-day delivery options, partnering with local stores for micro-fulfillment.
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Sustainability Leadership: Possibly even more rigorous eco-certifications, take-back programs for devices, better packaging, carbon-neutral delivery options.
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Omni-Channel Experience: Seamless integration between online, mobile, and physical stores. For example, buying online, picking up in store, or ordering in store and delivering to home.
Final Thoughts
Staples.com has earned its place as a fixture of office supply retail by constantly evolving: from the early days of purely brick-and-mortar stores to a full online presence complementing them. Its strengths lie in selection, service, convenience, and adaptability.
Yet, the pressures are real: competition from online pure-plays, cost of physical stores, supply chain disruptions, and changing customer expectations all demand constant innovation. Staples.com appears committed to rising to those challenges.
For anyone who runs an office, works from home, operates a small business, or manages procurement at a company, Staples.com remains a go-to resource. With ongoing improvements in experience, sustainability, and speed, it’s likely to remain a major player in office solutions for years to come.
