Join / Membership Information

WWRE membership FAQ’s:

What value does the WWRE offer?

The WWRE is the premier integrated worldwide exchange community for retailers and manufacturers created to improve efficiency and lower costs throughout the supply chain.

There are seven key ways for members to realize value:

• Low-cost product offerings that are secure, robust, scaleable, integrated, and fully supported
• Shared technology investments and outsourced assets
• Ability to access a global membership community and network with other retailers/manufacturers
• Value-added services from a trusted source, at competitive costs
• Participation in collaborative activities with trading partners
• Complex transactions and interactions made easy through automation
• Standard setting benefits for all B2B activities

What is special about the WWRE?

The WWRE is the premier exchange for retailers and their manufacturers worldwide, consisting of 64 retailer and manufacturer members and over 100,000 manufacturers, partners, and distributors. Neutral and impartial by design, it is operated to generate benefits for the member retailers and manufacturers and, ultimately, the consumer. There are no plans to take the WWRE public; therefore, our primary focus is to continue to generate savings and added value for members and consumers.

What is the value proposition for manufacturers to join the WWRE?

Benefits for manufacturers include:

• Improved sales performance
• Lower transaction/negotiation costs
• Immediate efficiencies in inventory management
• Collaboration with trading partners in a secure environment
• Faster utilization of cutting edge technology with minimal investment in internal systems
• A single platform to post catalogs for worldwide visibility
• Participation in the development of next generation of WWRE products and services

Listing and launching new products is very expensive for manufacturers and needs a medium-long-term relationship. What will the impact of the WWRE be?

The WWRE offers a widely available communications platform and a suite of supply chain tools that provide efficient control over the new product introduction process. These tools, Worldwide Products Design and Management (WPD&M), Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR®) and Item Management (eCatalog), will help manufacturers reduce the costs of new product development and enhance partnerships between retailers and manufacturers in new product development.

What are the additional services that WWRE provides? Is Technology WWRE’s core offering?

Success in collaborative supply chain commerce is less dependent on technology and more on addressing the change management issues that arise when a new set of tools is introduced and existing processes and infrastructure are impacted. The WWRE recognizes this reality and dedicates most of its effort on providing the required support to enable trading partners to prepare, plan and execute their collaborative supply chain strategies.

Through focused member adoption programs (MAPs), 24/7 support, and best practice knowledge aggregated and shared from many member implementations, the WWRE knows how to help its members ensure rapid ROI on the utilization of its technology.

What is the WWRE’s Membership cost?

Membership in the WWRE is on an annual subscription basis giving members access to our entire supply-chain management platform of services and technology. WWRE membership fees vary depending on a member’s size as measured by sales and are the same for manufacturers and retailers.

Can WWRE provide a clear path to ROI?

Several WWRE members have achieved ROI within a matter of months. The average annualized savings per member, to date, is between $6-7M. Longer term ROI from CPFR and Item Synchronization will bring substantial savings running into millions of dollars.

The WWRE is uniquely qualified to assist members in building a solid business case outlining a clear path to ROI. Having witnessed the results obtained by our members through the use of our services we know where value lies and what it takes to realize it.

The WWRE’s solution suite includes a valuable set of tools and services that can be tailored to a member’s specific needs and can provide a short, medium and long term ROI profile

Will manufacturers have a voice in the Exchange?

Yes, with immediate membership in the Vertical Boards that cover industry sectors, and membership on the Operating Committee and Board currently under discussion.