RETAIL INTERNATIONALIZATION PROJECT

Retail Internationalization Project

Retail Internationalization Project

Introduction

The Worldwide Retail Exchange (WWRE), the world's leading retail e-marketplace, today announced those five retailers Kesko, Longs Drugs, Publix Super Markets, Seibu Department Stores Ltd. and Woolworth's Ñare joining the Exchange. These leading retailers strengthen our global reach and continue to diversify our membership at Tesco. The addition of Seibu and Woolworth's Australia strengthens our role in Asia-Pacific, while more new members in the U.S. and Europe secure our position as the world's leading retail exchange. Consumers will ultimately benefit from the caliber of members joining the Exchange, according to Jerry Storch, head of marketing for the WWRE and president of financial services and new business at Target Corporation. With leading U.S. retailers such as Publix and Longs Drugs joining, more and more American consumers will realize the savings that occur when retailers work together to reduce supply chain inefficiencies.

WWRE

The WWRE is a Web-based business-to-business exchange designed to facilitate and simplify trading between retailers and more than 100,000 suppliers, partners and distributors. Consisting of leading retailers from Asia, Europe and the United States, the WWRE is open to all suppliers and retailers who wish to use it. To date, the Exchange currently includes members who have combined sales of $527 billion (U.S.) or Euro 524 billion. (Palmer, J.W. and M. Markus, "The Performance Impact of Quick Response and Strategic Alignment in Specialty Retailing," Information Systems Research, September 2000, 11(3), 241-259.)According to Jupiter research, 51% of online shoppers stated that site recognition and trust are driving factors when selecting online retailers. With that in mind, Snaz the leading universal shopping cart, now offers access to over 50 top online retailers in the US and Mexico. Snaz's merchant network offers shoppers several well-known and trustworthy retailers in each of the major shopping categories.

Their approach to retail partnerships has been 100% customer-driven, since our shopping platform works with any online retailer; we have selectively chosen stores where our users want to shop.

Just two months old, Snaz has already attracted close to 100,000 users to its site, clearly signaling an unmet need in the online shopping marketplace. Snaz's online shopping cart gives users a way to save shopping ideas to a single cart while browsing across the leading retailers. The items remain conveniently stored in personalized lists until the shopper is ready to speed through the checkout process with a single transaction.

The Snaz merchant network includes Amazon, eToys, Drugstore, PlanetRx, LandsEnd, SmarterKids, Bluefly, Beyond, Cooking, Garden, Gear, ibeauty, KBkids, MarthaStewart, Mondera, Sharper Image, Tower Records, Wine and more.

Mexico retailers include Amazon, Alphabetstreet, Audiostreet, DVDstreet, Gamestreet and eToys. Founded in February 1999, Snaz is the leading universal shopping cart provider from New York based Shopnlist, Inc. Snaz provides a simple and convenient way to shop online, offering users several shopping tools such as a universal shopping cart, e-wallet and gift registry. Snaz employs 35 people in their downtown NY office and maintains a Business Development office in Mexico.

In a market which is rapidly maturing, where it is getting ...