Staples 2004 Annual Report Download - page 67

Associates and Training
We have a strong corporate culture that values 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 recruit actively on college campuses, hire talented individuals with experience in successful
retail operations, and reward current associates for referring new associates.
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. We have continued
to make an investment in computer-based, multi-media training programs to upgrade associates’ selling skills and
improve customer service at our retail stores and delivery operations. Much of the training we provide targets sales of
capital goods such as fax machines, copiers, furniture and computers. Store management trainees advance through the
store management structure by taking on assignments in different areas as they are promoted. Store and call center
associates prepare for new assignments through Staples and third party designed training modules, written manuals,
video instruction and self-testing.
As of January 29, 2005, Staples employed 33,577 full-time and 31,501 part-time associates.
Competition
We compete with a variety of retailers, dealers and distributors in the highly competitive office products market. We
compete in most of our geographic markets with other high-volume office supply chains, including Office Depot and
OfficeMax, that are similar in concept to us in terms of pricing strategy and product selection, as well as mass merchants
such as Wal-Mart, warehouse clubs, computer and electronics superstores such as Best Buy, and other discount retailers.
In addition, both our retail stores and delivery operations compete with numerous mail order firms, contract stationer
businesses, electronic commerce distributors, local dealers and direct manufacturers, such as Dell.
We believe we are able to compete favorably against other high-volume office supply chains, mass merchandisers
and other retailers, dealers and distributors because of several factors: our focus on the business customer and home
office; our ability to respond to the dynamic markets in which we operate and the changing needs of our customers;
courteous, helpful and knowledgeable associates serving customers; a wide assortment of office supplies that are in-stock
and easy to find; fast checkout; easy to use web sites; reliability and speed of order shipment; convenient store locations;
hassle-free returns and fair prices. Many of our competitors have increased their presence in our markets in recent years.
Some of our current and potential competitors are larger than we are and have substantially greater financial resources.
Trademarks
In connection with our North American Retail business, we have registered the marks ‘‘Staples’’ and ‘‘Staples The
Office Superstore’’ in the Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the marks ‘‘Staples
the Office Superstore,’’ ‘‘Staples’’ and ‘‘that was easy’’ in Canada. In connection with our North American Delivery
businesses, we have registered the marks ‘‘Staples.com,’’ ‘‘Staples National Advantage,’’ ‘‘Staples Business Advantage,’’
‘‘Staples Business Delivery,’’ ‘‘StaplesLink.com,’’ ‘‘Quill,’’ ‘‘Quill.com,’’ ‘‘Medical Arts Press,’’ ‘‘HMI,’’ and
‘‘SmileMakers’’ on the Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In connection with our
International Operations, we have registered the mark ‘‘Staples’’ in many foreign jurisdictions, including, but not limited
to, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Belgium and China; the mark ‘‘Office Centre’’ in
many foreign jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the Netherlands, Portugal and Belgium; the mark ‘‘Bernard’’ in
multiple foreign jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, France and Belgium; the mark ‘‘JPG’’ in many foreign
jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, France and Belgium; the mark ‘‘Neat Ideas’’ in many foreign jurisdictions,
including, but not limited to, the United Kingdom; the mark ‘‘Sistemas Kalamazoo’’ in Spain; the mark ‘‘MondOffice’’ in
Italy; the mark ‘‘Kontorslagret’’ in Sweden; the mark ‘‘Pressel’’ in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Poland and the Czech
Republic; the mark ‘‘Malling Beck’’ in Denmark; and the mark ‘‘Officenet’’ in Argentina and Brazil. Our joint venture in
China, OA365 (China), owns the mark ‘‘OA365.’’
We maintain a web site with the address www.staples.com. We are not including the information contained on our
web site as a part of, or incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We make available free of
charge through our web site our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports
8