The Stapler Wars

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When the gurus at venerable staplermaker Swingline woke up to a sharp business reality in 2001--market share had declined from 65% in the mid-1990s to 60% by the end of the decade--they opted for a measured and scientific response: research. For three years, they plumbed the psyches of stapler users, surveying 2,867 people online and sending four-person teams into the offices of 54 individually selected companies to see how their products were used. "We noticed the nuances of their stapling habits. We saw where they kept their staples and their removers," said Jacklyn Gyoerkoe, marketing manager for stapling.

Meanwhile, in the offices of fledgling Accentra, a more intuitive process was under way: Todd Moses, a former hardware marketing executive, had been frustrated with his jam-prone Swingline (the top complaint gleaned from Swingline's exhaustive research). So he created the PaperPro stapler, which Moses boasts requires only 7 lbs. of palm pressure to operate, compared with 30 lbs. for a traditional model. "You can do 20 sheets with one finger. You can even use your pinkie."

So what happened next? Late last year, Swingline, which is owned by Fortune Brands, came out with five new models (including the ergonomically contoured Optima Grip), which it claims will help it revive market share to 70% by the end of the year. Yet Moses' PaperPro has come on strong, selling 1 million units in its first six months in a market that sells 25 million annually. At the Staples chain, which offers Moses' product under the One-Touch brand, sales average 20 units per store each week--10 times what the chain expected. "We respect what they've done," says Swingline vice president Jeffrey Ackerberg. "There's a natural need to make staplers easier to use." But, he adds, "there's not a natural need to use a pinkie." In the seemingly genteel stapling world, those almost sound like fighting words. --By Wendy Cole/Chicago