HUFFINGTON POST: Staples (SPLS), the largest office-supplies chain, will close as many as 225 stores in North America and reduce costs by as much as $500 million by the end of 2015, as it forecast sales to drop for a fifth consecutive quarter.
The savings are expected to come from supply chain, retail store closures and measures including “labor optimization, non-product related costs, IT hardware and services, marketing, sales force and customer service,” the Framingham, Mass.-based company said in a statement Thursday.
Staples is facing increased competition from online retailers including Amazon.com (AMZN). Revenue in its fiscal first quarter will fall from a year earlier, excluding any potential impact from its restructuring plan, the retailer said Thursday without providing a projection… (more)
