Decision Analysis for Staples Inc.

Decision Analysis for Staples Inc.

Staples Inc. is the number one office supplies store all over the world. It offers office supplies of computers, stationary, office furniture and many other school and college stationary. Since the Internet explosion in 2000s, the sales for Staples have skyrocketed. They stepped into online retail business and their decision paid off. They are now the leading global office and stationary suppliers.Staples owns2280 stores worldwide in 26 countries. Quill Corporation, the most profitable division of Staples does almost 70% of their sales online. Staples took the decision of making their e commerce website one of their main tools to generate maximum revenues. Their decision of making the site customer-driven brought them outstanding financial returns.

This decision of reaching to maximum number of customers through their online business was promoted by Human Factors International (HFI). People from both organizations worked hundreds of hours in strategizing their sales and studying the market environment. Tools for market research and strategy included heuristic evaluations, data gathering and usability testing. The results of their hard work in website modification paid well as it got them 67% more repeat customers. An independent research from Media Metrix revealed that the site had only 180,000 repeat customers in the second quarter(before their big e commerce step) and after they made improvements in coordination with HFI, the website got 300,000 repeat customers in their third quarter. Colin Hynes, the director of Site Usability at Staples.com said that the 67% up surges because of the user friendly interface of the website that gives the customers positive experience even if he is a first time user.

It was revealed by BizRate that the website development improved shopping experience by 10%. They also stated that the relaunch of Staples improved order placement, overall shopping experience and probability of shopping again, all of these by about 10%.

Works Cited

"Case Study - Staples." Usability Consulting and Training with Human Factors International--ensuring User Satisfaction through User-centered Design, User Experience Design, Human Factors, and Software Ergonomics. Web. 20 Dec. 2011. <http://www.humanfactors.com/about/staples.asp>.

Catalog Item. "Staples.com® About Us Information." Office Supplies, Printer Ink, Toner, Electronics, Computers, Printers & Office Furniture | Staples®.Web. 20 Dec. 2011. <http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/about_us/>.

"Staples, Inc. Company Profile - Yahoo! Finance." Top News Archive - Yahoo! Finance.Web. 20 Dec. 2011. <http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/14/14790.html>.