Office Max Open on Thanksgiving - Analyst Blog

In order to make the most of the busy holiday season, OfficeMax Incorporated (OMX) announced that it will open at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, armed with attractive deals. Also the company will give saving offers on Black Friday at its online shopping site 12:01 a.m. EST onwards.

On Thanksgiving Day, the store will host door buster events starting at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., and a door buster event at 5 a.m. on Nov 29, to kick off its in-store specials till the stock is available. Moreover, from Nov 27–Dec 2, customers can avail free shipping on most orders worth $20 and above.

Last year, many enthusiasts started shopping on Thanksgiving evening, driving sales for the retailer stores. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has been hawk eyed this season and based on consumer preferences, it adopted the strategy of opening just a day before the most celebrated shopping festival of Black Friday. This strategy is expected to draw cautious, budget-constrained consumers to its stores by offering them alluring schemes and giving them an early bird advantage.

OfficeMax distributes office supplies and paper, print and document services, technology products and solutions as well as office furniture to business enterprises, government offices and consumers.

OfficeMax is repositioning itself to keep afloat in a difficult consumer environment. The company is containing costs, closing underperforming stores and focusing on providing innovative products and services. All these will expectedly lead to margin improvement.

The company, in order to compete with industry bellwethers like Staples Inc. (SPLS) and online rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), has decided to merge its business with Office Depot (ODP). This venture is expected to generate annual savings up to $400–600 million by the end of the third year of the deal, reflecting saving, supply-chain, advertising efficiencies and cost synergies.