DELHAIZE, Belgium, will be participating in the European pilot of the WorldWide Retail
(CPFR) service. CPFR is designed to help retailers and suppliers focus on customers and jointly manage product categories to reduce costs in the supply chain by reducing excess inventories. The Alexandria, Va.-based WWRE has launched CPFR pilots in the U.S. and Europe. Target and Kimberly Clark will be participating in the U.S. pilot while Delhaize and Vandemoortele, Belgium, are doing the European pilot. Vandemoortele is a food supplier for a wide variety of products ranging from margarine and mayonnaise to soy products. Don Norman, chief information officer of the WWRE, based in Alexandria, Va. said, "These pilots will validate the functionality of our services and will result in a product that improves the flow of information between all of our current and future member retailers and their suppliers." WWRE is a non-profit, on-line retail trading exchange.
NASH FINCH, Minneapolis, said it would partner with TradeWind EC, Dallas, to use its system for the on-line processing of purchase orders and invoices, and other e-commerce documentation, as well. TradeWind is a private company that makes it possible for small- and medium-sized grocery suppliers and their retail customers to receive and send electronic purchase orders, invoices and other commercial documents over the Internet. Nash Finch operates 119 supermarkets and does $4 billion in annual sales. "We were looking for a fast and easy way that all of our suppliers could use to conform to the requirements of our e-commerce supply-chain system," said Christopher Brown, executive vice president, merchandising, Nash Finch.
VIALINK, Dallas, has launched a product called the viaLink Partner Package that is designed to offer a subscription-based B-to-B service that helps companies implement e-commerce projects. The new product is based on viaLink's syncLink, a service that aligns item, price and promotion data between trading partners in the food industry. The new Partner Package consists of four services: clearLink, which lets all trading partners see the daily movement of products; promoLink, permitting trading partners to promote products at the point of sale; viaLink honor check-in, enabling trading partners to eliminate back-door check-in; and sbtLink, giving trading partners the ability to conduct scan-based trading.
