Staples (SPLS) is expected to report poor third quarter earnings on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 with analysts expecting a 4.3% drop in earnings from a year ago.
Even more, the office supply sector is worse off with Staples ( SPLS) and these two companies going head-to-head not only with online retailers, but with each other.
Dell has countered by striking retail deals around the world with Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) and most recently with Staples (nasdaq: SPLS - news - people ).