Mortar Stores

Brick-and-mortar stores have been facing the increasing dilemma of competition with e-commerce stores. Consumers are turning more to the internet to perform all their shopping needs such as comparison shopping and product searches. Many companies have expanded into the world of e-commerce by adjusting to the consumers needs and creating online shopping availability. Staples, Inc. is no acceptation to the vast companies moving toward offering online shopping services.

Most brick-and-mortar companies have moved to expanded into the e-commerce world without making vast changes within their organizations, however after some time and financial data companies have realized that more consumers are looking to shop and possibly purchase products online. Staples, Inc. has given consumers more than one way to shop. We're all about convenience, whether you prefer to shop in store, online or on the go (Staples, 2014). The company has expanded products and services to make it easier for consumers to find what they are looking for in the most convenient way possible.

Staples, Inc. is a large office supply retailer that has analyzed the importance of e-commerce versus the brick-and-mortar business they have been used to. After reviewing the financial stability of the organization the company reinvented the business to expand more with the e-commerce option and close some of the brick-and-mortar facilities. With the expansion into e-commerce, Staples, Inc. needed to build a consumer friendly website so customers were able to browse and order products online. Research was completed to analyze the competition and understand what needs should be met for consumer satisfaction. The ordering process was tailored to online purchases, maintaining the website on a regular basis. The website was secured with firewall technology so unauthorized access is not permitted and search engine optimization was increased by using keywords and tags to help consumer traffic.

With the revamping Staples, Inc. has done to move from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce there have been some struggles, concerns, and successes. There are advantages, disadvantages, limitations, and risks to using the Internet for business activities. Some areas of concern are advertising and publicity, costs, privacy and security, and intellectual property management. The Internet is a useful tool in creating buzz about an organization, such as company sales, products, and services. Social networking