MINNEAPOLIS, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Eleven of the world's leading
retailers, including Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), today announced
they will form a collaborative partnership to establish the WorldWide
Retail Exchange. The new web-based, business-to-business exchange,
is expected to begin operating mid-2000. It is designed to facilitate
and simplify trading between retailers and over 100,000 suppliers,
partners and distributors.
The partners are Albertson's (US), Auchan (France), Casino (France),
CVS (US), Kingfisher (UK), K-Mart (US), Marks Spencer (UK), Royal
Ahold (The Netherlands), Target (US), Tesco (UK) and Safeway Inc.
(US). Together the group operates over 30,000 stores and had 1999
combined sales of over $300 billion. Other prominent retailers
are also invited to join the exchange and have expressed interest
in the initiative. Cora, the leading French- Belgian retailer,
has also taken the decision to join shortly.
The WorldWide Retail Exchange is a web-based marketplace,
enabling transactions between retailers operating in the food,
general merchandise, and drugstore sector. It is an open exchange
and provides an information highway of publicly available item
data together with private price and promotion information between
multiple buyers and sellers. The exchange will also provide the
means for auctioning products.
Participating companies expect interaction on the WorldWide
Retail Exchange to be more efficient due to standardized item
information. The WorldWide Retail Exchange is expected
to lower costs in the supply chain for all participants. Initially,
the founding members of WorldWide Retail Exchange
will each hold 5% of the new company's share capital. The remaining
equity will be re- considered by the WorldWide Retail Exchange
when it is known how many other retailers wish to join the exchange.
Currently, CEOs of the participating companies, or their representatives,
form the Executive Committee. In the future, the WorldWide
Retail Exchange is expected to be an independently managed
company. The founding members will review major technologies and
invite IT companies to work with the exchange.
In the first few years, investment in the collaborative partnership
is expected to amount to approximately $100 million. Savings generated
from WorldWide Retail Exchange for the participating retail
companies are expected to rapidly exceed costs.
Commenting on the development, the participating retail companies
said: 'We're proud to be part of this innovative exchange, the
largest of its kind in the world. We are particularly pleased
that companies from both Europe and the United States are part
of the WorldWide Retail Exchange. This comprehensive initiative
will reduce trade costs significantly, particularly benefiting
our customers, our shareholders and our companies.'
Target Corporation operates large-store general merchandise formats,
including discount stores, moderate-priced promotional and traditional
department stores. The company currently operates 1,252 stores
in 45 states. This includes 921 Target stores, 267 Mervyn's stores
and 64 Department Stores.
CONTACT:
Susan Eich, media
612-304-0700
and
Susan Kahn, investors
612-370-6735
both of Target Corporation
09:32 EST
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