Staples targets back-to-school needs with new app feature

Staples wants to make back-to-school shopping virtually effortless.



The retailer announced a new beta test available on its mobile iOS app. Customers can now send a photo of their child’s back-to-school list via the Staples Easy System on the app and a Staples associate will populate the customer’s shopping cart with everything they need.



Parents can snap a photo of their back-to-school list, send it to a Staples associate via the Staples Easy System (on the app) and then be provided with the best product options within 24-48 hours. Once the list has been populated, customers can choose to buy now or customize their items in the cart, and if they want to pick up their order in store where available or have it shipped to them.



“We listened to customer feedback about their limited time for back-to-school shopping and delivered an experience utilizing the power of mobile,” said Faisal Masud, executive VP, e-commerce and customer experience, Staples. “This new experience enables us to do the hard work on behalf of our customers and we’re already seeing 10 percent of our iOS users interact with the chat feature on a daily basis.”



The new system uses computer vision, artificial intelligence, crowdsourced data, and mobile interfaces to enable this chat-based experience, which also makes it easy for customers to ask Staples for any changes or other service questions.



The beta test is now in effect for select customers, and has applications beyond just back-to-school shopping, as businesses can use the feature to snap a photo of their office or breakroom to get product re-ordering suggestions.