Staples to shut 225 stores as sales fall
US office supply retailer Staples is set to close 225 stores in an attempt to save $500m (£300m) from its annual operating expenses by 2015.
The company that was taken public thanks to the private equity firm founded by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, ended 2013 with over 500,000 products on Staples.com versus 100,000 at the beginning of the year.
The company also achieved full year profitability in Europe through reducing costs.
Ron Sargent, chairman and chief executive, commented:
With nearly half of our sales generated online today, we’re meeting the changing needs of business customers and taking aggressive action to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
For the quarter ended 1 February the company saw sales fall from $6.6bn to $5.8bn. However, profits leapt to $212m from $78m at the same time last year.