Retail management software vendor Retek launched its business-to-business "trading community" called retail.com last week at the Retail Business 2000 show in Melbourne.
Currently operational in Australia, Europe and the US, retail.com links suppliers to retailers in a number of industries. Currently these industries include apparel, footwear and grocery, and will include electronics in the near future.
The site provides a directory of members, e-services and tools which enable retailers to source for suppliers and products; collaborate with suppliers on product design and development; track purchase orders and make arrangements to ship and distribute goods, according to Mark Stoffberg, Retek's regional director, Asia-Pacific.
Rather than a separate retail.com site for Australia or the Asia-Pacific region only, Australian member companies will join the global site and have access to suppliers around the world, said Stoffberg.
Retail.com's core tool, WebTrack, uses a shared path to bring together business partners on the Web to complete a project such as the sourcing of a product or the opening of a store. Members of retail.com will also have access to personalised industry news and information as well as forums to interact with fellow members.
Retail.com also provides IT staff of member companies with tools they need to connect the site to their existing internal systems. Retail.com is built using Retek's retail and business intelligence software and retail expertise.
$US69 million revenue
Started 12 years ago in Melbourne, Retek now has its global headquarters in the US. The Nasdaq-listed company's revenue for the last financial year was $US69 million. It has more than 150 customers including Angus and Coote, Speeds Shoes, National Pharmacies and The Home Shopping Network.
