Staples in Europe

http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/industry-verticals/retail/single-article-page/article/increased-european-sales-for-staples-yeah-weve-got-that/?adcode=90

Economy in the European Union is growing rapidly. Many companies in the United States are trying to expand their markets into Europe. Framingham, Mass-based Staples, second largest office products superstore retailer in the United States is trying aggressively to improve its sales and market in Europe. The trick is to duplicate Staple’s success in the United States where they already have 1200 superstores, and New York alone has about 100 superstores. Still, they are trying to find the needs of the European market. Last fall Staples opened a new European headquarters, distribution center, and call center in Belgium. Staples up to this point, has 165 retail stores in Europe. It has stores in Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Portugal. Even though Staples is a relatively new company in Europe, it is more efficient than most European retailers.

Where is My Food?

I think this is very interesting article. I had very bad experience for my super-bowl party. I ordered a dinner from a particular place in Brighton, and they said it was going to take about 45 minutes to arrive at my house. I was waiting for an hour and a half, and I didn’t get my food. I called them, but nobody picked up the phone. Finally I got them on the phone and they said that they had run out of ingredients, and they couldn’t deliver my food. I was angry, because they should have called me and told me what was going on with my food. With today’s technology I think every business should have a tracking system in place, so you know when your food is going to arrive to your house and you know that it is fresh.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-01-29-pizza-tracker_n.htm

Technological Changes

Technology is changing so quickly. I remember when my parents bought their first VCR. That was about eighteen or nineteen years ago. Not many people had VCR’s at that time. Then, CDs and DVD’s came out, and I know that many people in my country didn’t have DVD’s. Technology is changing all the time, to the point that people can’t afford all those things. And now Blue- ray came into the market. Some critics say that Blue- ray is going to become more popular than DVD was or ever could be. I would like to know what is going to come out next?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-02-04-blu-ray-format-war_N.htm

Internet Usage & E-Business

In the last couple of years, the number of Internet users in the United States and the world has grown dramatically. People access the Internet at home, at schools, at work, or at other public places. Many Americans get their news from Web sites; they shop or sell goods over the Internet, and communicate with other people. With a computer and Internet access you can shop 24 hours a day, 7 day a week. You can buy almost anything anywhere. For example, you can buy clothes, food, a car, order flowers, buy tickets for a movie, pay your bills, book a hotel room, research a site for a paper, and download music or videos. The characteristics of online shoppers are changing. Men used to shop more online than women did, but now women shop online more. In my personal experience, I can tell you that I use the Internet a lot. For example, if I want to order a dinner, I am not going to do that by phone, I am going to use the Internet. If I want to go to the movies, I am going to buy my tickets over the Internet, so I don’t have to wait in the line, or if I want to visit a particular city, I am going to do some research over the Internet.