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IBIZ WATCH

GIANT EAGLE, Pittsburgh, and Quaker Oats Co., Chicago, were among five companies saving almost 10% on computer equipment and services through a consortium bid put together by FreeMarkets, Pittsburgh, according to the business-to-business e-marketplace. "FreeMarkets has conducted extremely successful markets that have generated significant savings for Giant Eagle on an individual basis," said David

GIANT EAGLE, Pittsburgh, and Quaker Oats Co., Chicago, were among five companies saving almost 10% on computer equipment and services through a consortium bid put together by FreeMarkets, Pittsburgh, according to the business-to-business e-marketplace. "FreeMarkets has conducted extremely successful markets that have generated significant savings for Giant Eagle on an individual basis," said David Shapira, chairman and chief executive officer of Giant Eagle. "We were very pleased to join with other purchasing organizations in the FreeMarkets B2B e-marketplace to generate substantial savings on the purchase of standard equipment and services that are also critical to our business," he said. "The FreeMarkets consortium bid provided us with a platform for sourcing the high-quality products and services our locations around the world need at substantial savings, by leveraging the power of other large buyers," said Carl Curry, vice president of integrated purchasing and logistics for Quaker Oats. "Consortium bids are a natural way for FreeMarkets to leverage its power to deliver additional savings and value to its customers around the world," said David Becker, president and chief operating officer of FreeMarkets. "Through consortium bids, customers in our eMarketplace can join together to realize significant savings on standard purchases beyond the savings they achieve through the individual bids they conduct for strategic and custom items through our B2B eMarketplace." FreeMarkets plans to offer a consortium bid for computer equipment and services on a quarterly basis to existing participants in the FreeMarkets B2B eMarketplace, with the next bid scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.

services and new businesses at Target Corporation, Minneapolis. Barry Knichel, a WWRE executive committee member and director of supply chain research and development at Tesco, Cheshunt, England, said, "Along with all members of the WWRE, Boots and Wooltru are committed to improving supply chain efficiencies and creating new opportunities for suppliers and retailers."

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHAIN DRUG STORES, Alexandria, Va., has gone live with ChainDrugStore.net, a prototype of new industry portal. The prototype was unveiled at the NACDS Pharmacy, Managed Care and Technology Conference & Bricks 2 Clicks Forum in San Diego last month. Fashioned to link retailers with manufacturer information, ChainDrugStore.net will serve as a chain community pharmacy industry specific internet portal. The site will feed users into extranets, external networks, operated by manufacturers and offer an easy-to-use interface for finding information. "The mission of the portal is to deliver information to retailers, with broad distribution to the right individuals within each chain," said Craig L. Fuller, NACDS president and chief executive officer. "More than 1,000 suppliers are expected to post information on ChainDrugStore.net in 2001, building the most comprehensive on-line community in retail."

AMERICAN EXPRESS, New York, said it has launched an on-line business-to-business directory that enables American Express corporate, purchasing and small business cardmembers to quickly and easily search for and find business-to-business suppliers. "Our new Online Business-to-Business Directory fulfills an important business need," said Tom Pojero, vice president, merchant acquisition. "More and more companies of all sizes want to purchase their supplies, inventory and even raw materials with credit and charge cards. It simplifies their administrative work and allows them to better manage their expenses. And because American Express Cards are so prevalent, there is a large demand for suppliers that accept our Cards." The American Express Online Business-to-Business Directory now includes more than 400,000 business-to-business suppliers.