The Ofiice Superstore Case Study
1) How would you classify the office superstore industry? Who are the competitors? What are the characteristics of this industry that lead to this conclusion?
Today’s office superstore industry in the United States provides a convenient one-stop shopping experience for small businesses and individuals with home offices. The main competitors in the industry are Office Depot, Staples, and Office Max. All of them offer a variety of office supplies, as well as computers, office furniture and other business related items.
Office Depot is the largest office superstore chain in the United States. Office Depot is first in total number of stores, first in average sales per store, first in average weekly store sales, first in total delivery sales and first in net earnings. Most importantly, Office Depot is the lowest price competitor among office superstore chains.
Staples is the second-largest office superstore chain in the United States; and the third major player in the office superstore industry is OfficeMax. The intense competitive rivalry between Staples and Office Depot turned to be quite beneficial for consumers. Both competitors had to reduce prices, introduce innovative approaches to marketing, distribution and store layout and expand into new areas of the country, bringing increasing numbers of consumers the convenience of one-stop shopping at low prices. Office Depot has been the most aggressive and lowest-price competitor, in turn forcing Staples and OfficeMax to compete more aggressively. Staples' office supply prices are the lowest in the cities where all three of the national office superstores (Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax) compete. Prices are higher in markets where the only other competitor is OfficeMax and higher in those areas of the country where Staples faces no other superstore rival. Similarly, Office Depot charges significantly higher prices where it faces little or no superstore competition.
2) What barriers to entry help maintain the
Today’s office superstore industry in the United States provides a convenient one-stop shopping experience for small businesses and individuals with home offices. The main competitors in the industry are Office Depot, Staples, and Office Max. All of them offer a variety of office supplies, as well as computers, office furniture and other business related items.
Office Depot is the largest office superstore chain in the United States. Office Depot is first in total number of stores, first in average sales per store, first in average weekly store sales, first in total delivery sales and first in net earnings. Most importantly, Office Depot is the lowest price competitor among office superstore chains.
Staples is the second-largest office superstore chain in the United States; and the third major player in the office superstore industry is OfficeMax. The intense competitive rivalry between Staples and Office Depot turned to be quite beneficial for consumers. Both competitors had to reduce prices, introduce innovative approaches to marketing, distribution and store layout and expand into new areas of the country, bringing increasing numbers of consumers the convenience of one-stop shopping at low prices. Office Depot has been the most aggressive and lowest-price competitor, in turn forcing Staples and OfficeMax to compete more aggressively. Staples' office supply prices are the lowest in the cities where all three of the national office superstores (Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax) compete. Prices are higher in markets where the only other competitor is OfficeMax and higher in those areas of the country where Staples faces no other superstore rival. Similarly, Office Depot charges significantly higher prices where it faces little or no superstore competition.
2) What barriers to entry help maintain the