Officeworks

Officeworks is a chain of Australian office supplies stores which was established in the early 1990s by Coles Myer (which became Coles Group, now part of Wesfarmers). The store concept adopted by Officeworks was based on the US chain Office Depot.

History
The first Officeworks store opened in the inner city suburb of Richmond in Melbourne in June 1994. In 1994 and 1995 Officeworks opened more stores throughout Melbourne in South Melbourne, Fitzroy, Chadstone and Ringwood, while also expanding interstate.

Harris Technology, an IT retailer, was purchased by Coles Myer in 1999 and became a subsidiary of the larger office supplies retailer. Viking Australia (a subsidiary of Office Depot) was purchased by Coles Myer in December 2002 and was merged with Officeworks Direct to form Officeworks BusinessDirect.

By late 2006 the business opened its 100th store in South Yarra. Officeworks now has over 110 Retail stores, with a presence in every Australian state and territory except for the Northern Territory.

Following the purchase of Coles Group by Wesfarmers in November 2007, Officeworks and Harris Technology form part of Wesfarmers' Home Improvement and Office Supplies division.


Rebranding
View of a new Officeworks store.
Views of a typical (pre-Wesfarmers takeover) Officeworks store.During 2008 Officeworks underwent a "rebranding", which saw the introduction of a new corporate logo, new uniforms, renaming departments in store, store re-fits and a new slogan - "Lowest Prices Everyday". This re-branding has been adopted to re-align Officeworks as a low cost warehouse similar to that its sister company Bunnings Warehouse. Officeworks has also adopted the "Lowest Price Guarantee", similar to that found at Bunnings Warehouse, where Officeworks will beat any competitor's price of an identical item by 5%.


Business
View of the interier of a new Officeworks store, post rebranding.
View of the interier of a new Officeworks store, post rebranding.Most Officeworks stores feature the following departments:

Print (aka Copy Centre, formerly Printworks) - Provides services including printing, photocopying, laminating, custom promotional products, Photobooks, business cards, printed stationery, stamps and name badges
Technology (aka Business Machines, formerly Techworks) - Computers, business machines and other electronic products.
Furniture (formerly Furnitureworks) - Chairs, desks, filing cabinets and other office furniture.
Stationery - Pens, paper and other stationery needs.
Some stores formerly featured Inkworks, which provided ink and toner replacements and recycling. This is now part of Technology/Business Machines.

Officeworks BusinessDirect is an internet and phone sales division with its own warehouse. It stocks a similar range to retail stores on a delivery only basis, with a focus on day-to-day needs of medium to large businesses rather than small business and general consumers that shop in store.

Recent performance
Officeworks sales growth announced in April 2008 was described as "sluggish".

Home Supplies