Staples Inc. has initiated a number of changes at retail as part of its plan to shift focus from marketing to consumers to the more-profitable small-business market.
Plans include reducing the square footage of its prototype store from 24,000 to 20,000 feet. It has removed 700 stock keeping units (SKUs) that appeal to consumers, such as feather pens, and has replaced those products with items more likely to appeal to small-business customers, such as multi-packs of office supplies, Deborah Hohler, a Staples spokesperson, said.
“While we will continue to service consumers, we will focus on the more profitable small-business market in our retail operations,” Hohler said.
The Framingham, MA-based office supplier firm had $10.74 billion in sales during fiscal 2001, up from $10.67 billion in 2000. The company’s net income more than quadrupled, from $59.7 million to just under $265 million.
During fourth quarter 2001, the company’s sales fell to $2.93 billion from $3.11 billion. But the quarter was profitable, with Staples earning $93.8 million in net income, compared to a $111.7 million loss in fourth-quarter 2000. Both fourth-quarter and fiscal 2000 had an extra week. Fiscal 2001 ended Feb. 2.
Staples’ does not anticipate much change to its catalog product mix which has traditionally focused on the small-business market, Hohler said.
Hohler added that the larger Fortune 500 companies it services would continue to have their needs met through its contract delivery service.
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