Staples has long been a staple, pun intended, for office supplies and services of all sorts, for small businesses. You walk into your local Staples store and can pick up pencils, paper, toner, an office chair or bottles of water. You can order all of this and more online.
Of course Amazon.com is the leader in just about everything that one might order online, it’s beating Wal-Mart and every other retailer due to its speed of delivery, Prime service (free shipping) and great customer support.
Staples has much of this – and one more thing – retail stores within a few miles of most businesses in the USA.
To celebrate the new year, Staples is offering an 110% percent price match guarantee. If you find an item that Amazon sells cheaper than Staples, Staples won’t only match the price but will also beat the price by 10%.
Of course price alone won’t be enough to beat Amazon, but it’s a start. Staples has also enlisted the help of some digital big wigs to conduct a Twitter Chat on 7 January. Where they will offer back-to-business advice and best practices – and will continue to support the initiative through blog posts and other content.
Chris Brogan – CEO of Owner Media Group, a sought-after public speaker and consultant, and New York Times bestselling author of eight books; Melissa Stewart – Founder of She Owns It, a website where female entrepreneurs share success stories and provide motivation for others and Melinda Emerson – Creator and host of #Smallbizchat, the longest running live chat on Twitter for small business owners, and bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months in a Twitter Chat on January 7th follow- #MoreSmallBiz.