With 41 Members On Board, Combined Sales Represent $596 Billion

LONDON AND MINNEAPOLIS (September 28, 2000) — The WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE), the world’s leading retail e-marketplace, today announced four new members have joined the Exchange: Bangkok-based Makro Asia; and U.S. retailers Meijer, Inc.; Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.; and Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc."We welcome these four new members and look forward to broadening our global presence in the B2B e-commerce marketplace," said Colin Dyer, WWRE chief executive officer. "The continued addition of new members illustrates the level of commitment retailers and suppliers are showing to our Exchange."

About The Newest Members

Makro Asia (Bangkok) is a privately owned company and a 100 percent subsidiary of SHV, the Netherlands. Makro is a high-volume low cost cash and carry wholesaler, selling a full range of food and non-food products to registered professional customers in the retail, catering and service sectors. Makro Asia currently operates 55 stores in six countries, employs more than 12,000 people and has a customer base of about 5 million registered professional customers. The annual turnover exceeds U.S. $2.3 billion, or Euro 2.6 billion.

Meijer, Inc. (U.S), founded in 1934, is a privately held grocery and general merchandise retailer. One of the first retailers to adopt the supercenter format, it now operates 143 supercenters in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Meijer, Inc. is among the 15 largest private companies in the United States.

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is one of the 100 largest private companies in the United States. The company includes more than 50 grocery stores across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1999, the company had U.S. $2.6 billion, or Euro 2.9 billion, in sales from food markets and home improvement centers.

Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. (U.S., NYSE: WIN) is one of the leading food retailers in the southeastern and southwestern United States. Winn-Dixie operates more than 1,100 supermarkets along with a network of distribution centers, processing and manufacturing plants, and a truck delivery fleet. The company had sales of U.S. $13.6 billion, or Euro 15.4 billion, in fiscal 2000.

About The WWRE Members

In addition to the new retailers, WWRE membership includes:

• Albertson’s (U.S., NYSE: ABS)
• Auchan (France)
• Best Buy (U.S., NYSE: BBY)
• The Boots Company (U.K., LSE: BOOT.L)
• Casino (France, ParisBourse: 12558)
• Cora (Belgium, France, PSE: 06176)
• CVS/pharmacy (U.S., NYSE: CVS
• Dansk Supermarked (Denmark)
• Dairy Farm International (Hong Kong, SES: DAIR.SI/Reuters, DAIRYNEW SP/Bloomberg)
• Delhaize Group (Belgium, BSE: DEL)
• Dixons Group plc (U.K., LSE: DXNS)
• Edeka (Germany)
• El Corte Ingles (Spain)
• Gap Inc. (U.S., NYSE: GPS)
• J.C. Penney (U.S., NYSE: JCP)
• John Lewis (U.K., JLH)
• Jusco (Japan, TSE: 8267)
• Kesko (Finland, HEX: KES)
• Kingfisher (U.K., LSE: KGF)
• Kmart Corporation (U.S., NYSE: KM)
• Longs Drugs (U.S., NYSE: LDG)
• Marks & Spencer (U.K., LSE: MKS)
• The Otto-Group (Germany)
• Publix Super Markets (U.S.)
• RadioShack Corporation (U.S., NYSE:RSH)
• Rite Aid Corporation (U.S., NYSE, PSE: RAD)
• Royal Ahold (The Netherlands, NYSE: AHO)
• Safeway Inc. (U.S., NYSE: SWY)
• Safeway plc (U.K., LSE: SFW.L)
• Schlecker (Germany)
• Seibu Department Stores Ltd. (Japan)
• Supervalu Inc. (U.S., NYSE: SVU)
• Target Corporation (U.S., NYSE: TGT)
• Tesco (U.K., LSE: TSC.OL)
• Walgreen Co. (U.S., NYSE: WAG)
• Woolworths (Australia, ASX: WOW)
• Wooltru Ltd. (South Africa, JSE: WLO)
  
  

About The WWRE

The WWRE (www.worldwideretailexchange.org) 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 Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States, the WWRE is open to all suppliers and retailers who wish to use it. To date, the WWRE currently includes members who have combined sales of U.S. $596 billion or Euro 677 billion.

Media Contacts:

Lucy Blogg
Shandwick International
44.207.950.2856
lblogg@shandwick.com

Randy Sands
Shandwick International
952.346.6191
rsands@shandwick.com

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