News

Staples to add third-party merchants

October 31, 2013

Yet another retail giant is super-sizing its offerings: Office supply chain Staples is dramatically increasing the number of products it sells, chiefly through a third-party marketplace.

In an interview with Internet Retailer, the company's EVP of global e-commerce, Faisal Masud, said his company is moving from being a place to gets pens and paper to being a one-stop shop for businesses:

Businesses have lots of needs beyond office products, and that's what we're going after ... Businesses may need hard hats or networking technology, or products for their employee break rooms. We'll be covering any business needs.

The chain, which operates roughly 1,500 stores, carries about 8,000 SKUs in a typical store, according to the report. The proposed expansion, which includes comprehensive redesigns of the company's e-commerce sites, will also include a third-party merchant marketplace, the details of which are yet to emerge, and the article suggests that the number of SKUs eventually available could be more than 1 million.

Read more about online retailing.