Ecommerce brands are exploring new ways to engage customers and increase revenue. One such strategy is memberships. Brands across various industries are setting up membership models to generate recurring revenue for retail businesses.
Whether B2B or D2C, all types of businesses are exploring membership models. B2B membership benefits include more customer engagement, increased sales, and higher sustainability.
In this blog, we focus on the B2B membership model of the stationery brand, Staples. We look at how the brand has set up its membership model, its key features, and the takeaways for other brands.
Let’s get started!
What is Staples membership?
Staples is an American office supply brand. It offers traditional office supplies, such as paper, ink, printers, clearing products, technology, furniture, and all things office. The brand has designed a B2B membership model called Staples Advantage.
Staples Advantage offers multiple plans for businesses to choose from. Businesses can choose plans based on the number of employees they have. For instance, there are plans for businesses that have 20 or less, between 20 and 500, or enterprises that have more than 500 employees.
The membership plans are designed to cater to various types of business needs, from stationery to furniture to food, and more.
Staples membership strategy breakdown and takeaways
In this section, we look at the many features and factors that make Stapes membership plans so sought after by businesses. From the type of plans to how the brand offers flexibility, and more, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the Staples membership strategy.
1. Two membership plans
When it comes to membership plans, it is better for brands to keep it simple and easy. Offering too many choices may leave customers confused and lead to decision fatigue.
Earlier, Staples offered two different membership plans – one for small businesses, and the other for mid to large sized businesses.
1. Staples Plus: This plan is designed for small businesses. Small-sized businesses have lesser employees, and require less office supplies.
2. Staples premium: For mid and large businesses, this plan allows multiple users and locations, and is designed for businesses that require more supplies and administrative tools.
2. Staples Business Advantage membership
Staples Business Advantage has three different membership plants to choose from. The three plans are differentiated by the number of employees the plans are suitable for. Apart from that, the plans’ benefits differentiate them.
3. Three plans offering different benefits
To make the three tiers different and exclusive, Staples offers different benefits under each membership plan.
It’s three plans are differentiated by the number of employee it is suitable for:
1. For up to 20 employees: In this membership plan, members can avail everyday low business prices, fast and reliable next day delivery, and access to category and industry experts. Customers can sign up and save 20%.
2. For 20 to 500 employees: In this plan, members can enjoy custom pricing programs, flexible payment terms, and account support.
3. For 500 plus employees: This plan offers eProcurement system integration, spend controls and approval routing, and dedicated account management.
4. Staples membership plans are free
With so many membership plans available, businesses do not want to keep signing up for multiple memberships. Not only is it expensive, it can also be a security threat. Businesses prefer to stay away from sharing their business details and credentials because of the risk of fraud and data theft.
All three Staples membership plans are free. This membership strategy helps increase members and ensures membership model sustainability.
5. Tier-based benefits
Staples membership plans are tier-based. The brand offers B2B membership benefits based on the different tiers. Tier-based membership models have many benefits:
- There’s an element of exclusivity for each tier
- There are gamification features, making members want to climb to the next tier
- Members can choose which tier they want to join based on their needs
- Because there are options, members tend to stay longer
Staple tier-based plans offer these benefits:
- Benefits such as 10% discount, fast delivery, and access to experts are common to all tiers
- The lowest plan (for 20 employees) does not get the flexibility to schedule deliveries, while the other two plans get flexibility
- The lowest plan cannot have custom pricing option; the middle plan (20 to 500 employees) only eligible businesses get custom pricing; the top plan gets custom pricing
6. A wide variety of products
The more products and services brands offer, the more customers they can cater to. When there is a wide variety of products, you can cater to various customer needs from different customer segments.
Staples understands this well and offers more than 20,000 products across categories, such as office supplies, print, paper, ink, school supplies, furniture, electronics, and more. The brand also offers different types of solutions. Having a wide range of products also ensures recurring revenue for retail stores.
7. Efficient customer support
Reports show that 87% of customers appreciate proactive solutions by brands, boosting satisfaction and loyalty. Staples offers efficient customer service options to its customers. Customers and members can get their questions answered via live chat within 30 seconds.
Efficient customer service reduces customers’ wait time and provides speedy answers and resolutions to their queries. Fast and efficient customer support helps enhance customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty towards the brand.
8. Staples provides a dedicated account management team
Today, it’s a must for businesses to understand their customers and needs. However, for businesses that have a large clientele, it’s not easy to interact or engage at a one-on-one level.
But Staples has an effective membership strategy that helps the brand enhance customer engagement. The brand has a dedicated account management team that looks after customer preferences and requirements. This team gets to know customers and their businesses and helps them solve complex procurement needs. This is one of the biggest benefits of this B2B membership model.
Read more: Ecommerce membership marketing strategies + Examples
9. Discounts and savings
There are many things businesses require in order to function smoothly. For instance, offices require furniture and stationery, printers, and a pantry for employees. All these things can add up to a big cost to the company.
And hence, businesses prefer to buy from brands that offer discounts. Staples Advantage membership plans also offer discounts and savings to its members. Discounts and cost-effectiveness is amongst the top B2B membership benefits that businesses look for.
10. Staples membership caters to various industries
Not only does Staples membership plan cater to various business needs, from technology and furniture to shipping and facilities, but it also provides tailored solutions and products based on different industries.
From education to federal government to higher education and retail, among others, Staples Advantage membership has curated industry-specific product collections.
Takeaways: B2B membership tips and best practices
Let’s look at some takeaways from Staples Advantage membership strategy that other businesses can apply to their membership plans.
- Keep the membership model simple: When it comes to the B2B business subscription model, brands should keep it simple to avoid confusion and decision fatigue.
- Offer many B2B membership benefits: The more benefits you offer, the more customers feel engaged and stay loyal.
- Create tiered plans: Offer member-exclusive discounts by setting up a tiered membership model.
- Improve online shopping experience: Improve the functionalities of your eCommerce store by incorporating a good eCommerce membership tool.
- Offer free plans: Free plans can encourage more businesses to sign up and ensure longevity and sustainability for business subscription models.
- Offer a wide range of products: To cater to various customer needs from different customer segments, have an extensive inventory tailored to different industries and businesses.
- Efficient customer support: to ensure recurring revenue for retail, make sure your customer service is efficient, fast, and easy.
- Focus on technology: Prioritize eCommerce technology, tools, and procurement process to grow your B2B membership model.
Ready to start your eCommerce membership model?
Staples Advantage is a well thought and planned membership strategy. Through its membership strategy, the brand not only increases engagement and revenue, it also ensures scalability.
Whether yours is a small eCommerce business or a large one catering to an exhaustive customer base, you will need an efficient eCommerce membership tool to automate and run your functions smoothly.
Appstle Memberships offers a comprehensive set of features and capabilities, from marketing to billing to churn management, the app is designed to manage almost all the needs of a membership model.
