Staples

How can the retail customer experience matter when your customers are locked into buying from you? To get the answer, we need to back up a step or two: When you're a retailer, there are two possible commercial relationships you can have with your customers:

Remote workers are a fast-growing group. Almost one-fourth of Americans work some hours from home each week, and the number of companies that give their employees the option to work remotely has nearly doubled — from 34 percent to 63 percent — since 2005 (Yahoo is a notable exception, of course). Working from a home office or a coffee shop in the neighborhood provides ample perks: cozier ambience, less commuting and more time to run errands. One glaring disadvantage?

Cause-based marketing — i.e., attaching your business to a philanthropic endeavor or social cause — has become increasingly popular among retail brands today. Consumers want to know that the brands they're purchasing from are committed to more than just growing their bottom lines. They expect retailers to be involved in the communities where they operate, whether that means donating to the local children's hospital or helping to build a park. Three retailers that are at the forefront of cause-based marketing when it comes to environmental sustainability are Kohl's, Ikea and Staples.

Google is finally opening up its Google Shopping Express service to the public today, with the same day delivery service being made available as a test to select users in San Francisco and the Peninsula from San Mateo to San Jose. Participating retailers include, as we've previously reported: Target, Walgreens, Staples, American Eagle, Toys"R"Us/Babies"R"Us, Office Depot, San Francisco's Blue Bottle Coffee, Raley's Nob Hill Foods, and Palo Alto Toy & Sport.

Focusing on the omnichannel customer, mobile apps vs. mobile sites, and the real return on investment of social media were just a few of the many topics discussed at eTail West, which took place in Palm Desert, Calif. this week. Here's a look at a few key takeaways — and fun perspectives — via tweets sent during the conference:

Only two retailers — Office Depot and Staples — made it into the top 10 U.S. companies on the 2012 Newsweek Green Rankings, while Marks & Spencer is the sole retailer to make it onto the top 10 global list. For the fourth year in a row, Newsweek's Green Rankings assessed the environmental performance of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States and around the world, comparing their environmental footprint, corporate management and transparency. To conduct the study, Newsweek partnered with two leading environmental research organizations — Trucost and Sustainalytics.

Staples switched into turnaround mode yesterday, announcing plans to shave $250 million in costs by ramping up store closings, investing more in its online and mobile offerings, restructuring its international operations, and making leadership changes. The Framingham, Mass.-based office products company said it will close 15 U.S. stores by the end of the year and cut its overall North American retail square footage by 15 percent over the next three years.

Your homepage sets the stage for the overall site experience. The goal of your homepage is to give the shopper a compass to direct them through the site and to the right products for them. Shoppers that click through a product recommendation on the homepage are 20 percent more likely to convert than shoppers that don't. Here are four tips for getting those coveted clicks on your homepage:

Now is the time to begin planning your email marketing strategy for the holidays. Anything you do now to improve your email performance will pay benefits for the rest of the year and position you for success during the holidays. Consider the following tips to help you get started: 

A Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. unsealed a case against retailers accused of transshipping Chinese-made pencils to avoid antidumping duties. The four named defendants are Staples, OfficeMax, Target and Industries for the Blind. The defendants are accused of transshipment of Chinese-made pencils through third countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam by U.S. importers. The importers would knowingly buy Chinese-made pencils in those countries and claim to U.S. Customs that they originated in those countries. If guilty, the defendants are subject to three times the loss of revenue to the government and a 10 percent duty for false country of origin marking.