OFFICE DEPOT GETS FLASHY WITH GIFTS MICROSITE

TO ENCOURAGE CONSUMERS to check out its fun holiday gifts, office supplies merchant Office Depot in November launched the microsite Top30SmartGifts.com.

The goal of the flash site was to help consumers shop for gifts based on a recipient’s personality type and to promote special deals for the week up until Christmas, says Monica Luechtefeld, Office Depot’s executive vice president, e-commerce and direct marketing.

Top30SmartGifts.com includes daily sweepstakes, hosted holiday videos and games. But the microsite is not set up for e-commerce. If you click for more information on one of the gifts, you are redirected to the product location on OfficeDepot.com.

“We try to keep the microsites away from the transactional business, especially during the holiday,” Luechtefeld says. “We want the customers to distinguish between the store and a community.”