Staples 2007 Annual Report Download - page 80

Marketing
We pursue a variety of marketing strategies to maintain high brand awareness, and attract and retain our target
customers. These strategies include broad-based media advertising such as television, radio, newspaper circulars, print,
and Internet advertising, as well as catalogs, e-mail marketing, loyalty programs, and sophisticated direct marketing
capabilities. In addition, we market to larger companies through a combination of direct mail catalogs, customized
catalogs, and a field sales force. We change our level of marketing spend, as well as the mix of media employed
depending upon market, customer value, seasonal focus, competition, and cost factors. This flexible approach allows us
to optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of our marketing expenditures.
Our marketing message focuses on the communication of our brand promise: we make buying office products easy.
The look and feel of our advertising vehicles reflect our ‘‘Easy’’ brand promise, and we are consistently communicating
the brand across all channels and customer touch points, including our signage, television commercials, product
placement on national television programs, catalogs, web sites, circulars, direct marketing, and store uniforms.
Our retail, catalog and Staples.com marketing efforts generally focus on small businesses and home offices. Our
marketing strategies emphasize our strong brand and leverage all of our retail and delivery vehicles to send a consistent
message to our core customers. We also target our back-to-school, holiday, and tax-time selling seasons, and drive
greater awareness and trial of important growth initiatives such as copy and print services and Staples EasyTech. We
continue to improve our systems and capabilities to track our customers’ multi-channel purchasing behaviors and to
execute more effective direct marketing and customer loyalty programs to drive higher sales across all our channels. In
2007, we relaunched our Staples Rewards program to create a more compelling offer to customers. The enhanced
program gives members 10% back in rewards on purchases of ink and toner, paper, and copy center services, which are
the products and services our core customers buy most frequently.
Associates and Training
We have a strong corporate culture that values ethics, high performance, entrepreneurship, and teamwork. We place
great importance on recruiting, training, retaining, and providing the proper incentives for high quality associates.
Offering attractive career opportunities and a commitment to a diverse and safe work environment, we pride ourselves
on being a workplace of choice.
We consider customer relations and our associates’ knowledge of office products and related capital goods to be
significant to our marketing approach and our ability to deliver customer satisfaction. Associates are trained in a number
of areas, including, where appropriate, sales techniques, management skills, and product knowledge.
As of February 2, 2008, Staples employed 43,048 full-time and 32,540 part-time associates.
Corporate Values
Staples is committed to responsible corporate citizenship, or what we refer to internally as Staples Soul. Staples Soul
is a holistic approach to business that recognizes the close connection between our financial success and our desire to
make a positive impact on our associates, communities, and the planet. We believe that by practicing sound ethics,
sustaining the environment, embracing diversity, and giving back to the community, we will solidify our place as the
world’s best office products company.
Ethics—Ethics at Staples is more than a set of policies on paper. It is part of our culture. Staples maintains ethical
business practices by encouraging open and honest communication and giving associates practical tools to make sound
decisions. We conduct ethics training around the world to help our associates understand that their actions have an
impact on other associates, our customers, our suppliers, and our shareholders. Our training identifies ethical dilemmas
that associates might face, and provides information on the many ways associates can get help and report concerns. In
doing this, we ensure that Staples associates act in the best interest of the company and protect our brand reputation.
Environment—Staples makes it easy for our customers, suppliers and associates to make a difference. We are
committed to offering a broad selection of environmentally preferable products, providing easy recycling solutions for
customers and associates, investing in renewable energy and energy conservation, and supporting environmental
education efforts. These initiatives help preserve natural resources for future generations, while helping meet customer
needs, create operational efficiencies, and spark new business opportunities.
Diversity—Diversity at Staples goes beyond race and gender. We believe our workforce and our suppliers must
reflect the face of our customers. Therefore, we strive to offer an inclusive business environment that offers diversity of
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