International office supplies giant Staples enters Beijing market

Staples will introduce the local supermarket store format to China. The goal is to exceed US$1 billion in total revenue in China by 2010.

Staples, the world's leading office supplies retailer, announced in Beijing recently that its Beijing branch was formally announced at the same time that it celebrated the company’s first anniversary of China’s entry into China. This move not only means that Staples' "Northern Raiders" has been launched, but also marks that the world's top 500 office supplies retail giants have begun to fully force the Chinese market.

Mr. Ronald L. Sargent, Staples' global chairman and CEO, said that
Beijing plays a pivotal role in the entire North China market and is at the heart of Staples' China strategy. Although the Beijing market already has relatively mature companies doing related businesses, he believes that in only half a year, Staples will repeat itself in Shanghai and compete for half of Beijing's office supplies market. He said that when the Chinese market matures, Staples will introduce localized supermarket stores into China. Staples aims to achieve a total revenue of more than US$1 billion in China by 2010.

It is understood that in August last year, Staples and Shanghai Shangxin Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd. reached a cooperation and formed Staples Trading Company, Staples to enter the Chinese market first step. Its flagship brand "OA365" in the Chinese market is already famous in the office supplies industry. Through the Internet, telephone ordering, cataloging and other direct sales channels, it has created a new model for office supplies sales in China. According to relevant statistics, Staples' "OA365" currently holds more than 50% market share in Shanghai's traditional cultural and educational office supplies. At the press conference, Mr. Ronald L. Sargent, chairman and CEO of Staples, warmly praised the management team of Staples Trading Co., Ltd. and praised only such a good team in China can grow rapidly at such a record-breaking speed.

According to the IDC special report, the demand for modern office supplies in China continues to increase, and the market for cultural goods has great potential. According to statistics, the consumption of Chinese cultural articles exceeds 300 million. Among them, in addition to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, the annual consumption of Beijing, Shanghai, and the Pearl River Delta accounts for more than 50% of the total consumption of office supplies in the country. Supplies have great potential for consumption. This attractive market prospect has made the sales of office supplies in China a new battlefield for Chinese and foreign companies to compete.

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Staples Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) is a global leader in the retail and distribution of office supplies. The company is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., USA. There are more than 1,600 office supplies stores and warehouses worldwide. In addition to the sales center, the business forms include business magazines and websites, in addition to office supplies supermarkets and convenience stores. The business covers 21 countries, including 1700 stores in 7 countries, and includes South America, Europe, and Latin America. 18 countries in the logistics business.

After nearly two decades of development, today's Staples has become the world's largest office supplies retail and distribution company, Staples with its outstanding business performance, in 2004 by the US Business Weekly listed as the S&P500 stock index of the best 50 companies in the Ranked 39th and ranks 417th in the top 500 global companies. In 2004, its sales exceeded US$14 billion.