Office Depot, LLC

Framingham, Mass. – The office supply retail vertical may be in for more consolidation. According to the Wall Street Journal, Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. are in the “advanced stages” of negotiations to combine the two biggest U.S. office supply chains.

Purchase, N.Y. – Several major retailers, including Neiman Marcus and Office Depot, have committed to enable MasterPass to provide seamless, secure online transactions for their customers. MasterPass will soon also be available on Blue Nile, Broadway.com, Chegg, Fareportal/CheapO Air, Market America/Shop.com, and Rue La La.

MasterPass enables consumers to pay with any enrolled payment card, anywhere online or in app, using any device and eliminates the need to enter detailed payment and shipping information with every purchase.

Boca Raton, Fla. - Office Depot Inc. is obtaining a little outside assistance with integration resulting from its merger with OfficeMax. Office Depot has selected Capgemini to drive critical technology migration and finance and accounting services resulting from the merger.

Minneapolis -- Shorenstein Properties LLC and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th announced that Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th has signed a lease for 40,321 sq. ft. in the retail portion of Minneapolis City Center, continuing the fashion retailer’s 25-year presence in downtown Minneapolis. The new store is slated to open April 2016.

“This city has been a strong market for us, and Minneapolis City Center provides us with a vibrant location in which to serve our exceedingly loyal customers,” said Jonathan Greller, president of Outlets, HBC.

Chicago – One pure-play and six omnichannel retailers received top honors for their online customer service in the E-Tailing Group’s Q4 2014 Mystery Shopping Study. In alphabetical order, the top performers were Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kate Spade, Office Depot, Ross-Simons, The Home Depot, Williams-Sonoma, and Zappos.

Boca Raton, Fla. - Office Depot Inc. has selected CoreMedia LiveContext software to help enhance the customer shopping experience for Officedepot.com by streamlining the collaboration between its online authors to ensure faster time-to-market for executing integrated campaigns. Late in 2014 and within a short period of time, CoreMedia LiveContext was integrated with the Office Depot product catalog, pricing information and front-end modules, providing business users with a single interface to access this real-time information and blend it with marketing content.

A desire to accelerate the execution of online marketing campaigns and provide “experiential commerce” prompted Office Depot to use a solution developed by Web content management company CoreMedia.

Late last year and within a short period of time, CoreMedia’s LiveContext was integrated with the Office Depot product catalog, pricing information and front-end modules, providing business users with a single interface to access this real-time information and blend it with marketing content, according to a press release from the companies.

New York -- Activist investor Starboard Value LP, which helped put together the merger of OfficeMax and Office Depot, issued a letter on Tuesday calling for Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. to merge, saying it would lead to greater savings.