December 12, 2012

Office Depot, FedEx Office and Go Daddy Partner With Planet Soho to Access Hard-to-Reach SOHO Market

SohoOS Surpasses 1M Small Businesses, Changes Name to Planet Soho As It Enters Next Phase

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PlanetSoho (formerly SohoOS), the leading provider of easy-to-use online management tools and services for small office / home office businesses (SOHOs), has recently been undergoing rapid growth and change. The company has formed partnerships with Office Depot, Go Daddy and FedEx Office to increase the services it offers its membership, which just surpassed one million SOHOs. To reflect the expansion of its partnerships, membership and mission, the company has changed its name from SohoOS to Planet Soho.

With 25 million U.S. and 500 million global SOHOs in existence today, the trend to turn your skills, talents and hobbies into a bankable asset is on the rise. SOHOs pump $5 billion into the U.S. economy on a daily basis - $1.8 trillion annually.

Planet Soho is joining with Office Depot, Go Daddy and FedEx Office to provide discounts and integrated services for the over-one-million small businesses on the business-management platform today, giving them the tools they need to succeed in a single, integrated and easy-to-use solution. These partnerships enable SOHOs to get discounted rates on products and services that are typically available only for Fortune 500 businesses, and the partnerships “level the playing field” for these SOHOs that are essentially the engine of the U.S. economy. The partnerships will also offer these large brands access to a much-desired yet difficult-to-reach market segment of the smallest of small businesses. The products will be available to all Planet Soho users in January 2013.

“Planet Soho has created an ecosystem of over one million ‘SOHOs’ that we will reach through this important relationship,” said George Hill, Senior Vice President, Copy & Print Depot and Managed Print Services at Office Depot. “As these small businesses are the engine of our economy, we are thrilled to provide special programs and meaningful discounts from Office Depot, to help them grow and thrive.”

As it expands its capabilities and offerings, SohoOS has become more than just an "operating system"—it is now a gathering place for SOHOs. In recognition of this shift, the company is changing its name to Planet Soho, a name that better represents the never-before-created community of SOHOs and reflects the company’s success in bringing together these small businesses in a single online destination and giving them the tools to help them grow and flourish. With more than 1,500 small businesses joining every day, Planet Soho is the fastest growing SOHO ecosystem in the world.

Planet Soho benefits address SOHOs' biggest pain points, such as finding new customers, staying on top of their business, and getting paid faster. Now, with these new partnerships, Planet Soho members also enjoy deep discounts on much-needed business services.

The discounts and special offers from Planet Soho’s partners include the following:

“Go Daddy has helped millions of small business owners leverage the Internet to achieve their business goals on- and offline,” said Go Daddy Vice President of Domains Rich Merdinger. “A domain name is more than a Web address; it’s an online identity and the foundation of any online business. Through our partnership, Planet Soho has enabled us to expand our services specifically to their large community of SOHOs, allowing them to establish their own online presence quickly and easily.”

Read original article on BusinessWire.