Staples Selects CommercialWare to Power Retail Commerce Operations; CommercialWare to Provide Integrated Solutions for Order Management, E-Fulfillment, and Customer Service

Business Wire, July 5, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

NATICK, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 5, 2000

CommercialWare, Inc., a leading provider of retail e-commerce solutions, today announced Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), a $9 billion retailer of office supplies, furniture and technology, has selected CommercialWare's retail commerce solutions to seamlessly integrate its enterprise-wide order entry, order management, fulfillment and customer service initiatives. Staples will deploy CommercialWare's retail.dot.commerce solution suite in its operations centers that support the company's catalog, e-commerce and special order businesses in the United States and Canada.

Staples joins CommercialWare's valued list of branded retail customers, which include Target Corporation, Saks Fifth Avenue, Starbucks, Disney, Brooks Brothers, Ritz Camera, Jos. A. Bank, Chico's, Patagonia, and many others, whose retail e-commerce infrastructure is powered by CommercialWare.

"At Staples, our goal is to provide our customers with the best shopping experience, whether they shop with us in our retail stores, through our catalog or online," said Shira Goodman, senior vice president of Direct for Staples. "Fully integrating our call center and fulfillment operations across the multiple sales channels allows us to be even more responsive to our customers and provide an even better shopping experience. With CommercialWare's comprehensive solutions, domain expertise, and proven track record in e-commerce solutions, we have a solution that can scale to meet the growing market needs, as well as the flexibility to change with the new economy."

"We are extremely excited to provide Staples with a comprehensive solution for their online and offline commerce needs," said Amish Mehta, president and CEO of CommercialWare. "With Staples.com and other e-business initiatives, the company is truly leveraging the Internet to deliver value to its customers and suppliers, and CommercialWare is proud to be part of its core e-business infrastructure and the vendor of choice."

About Staples, Inc.

Staples Inc., (NASDAQ:SPLS), is a $9 billion provider of office supplies, furniture, technology and services to consumers and businesses of all sizes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered near Boston, Staples invented the office superstore concept and is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. The company has 50,000 employees who help customers slash the cost and hassle of running their businesses through more than 1,100 retail superstores, an e-commerce business, direct mail order operations under the brands of Staples and subsidiary Quill Corporation, and a national accounts contract business. More information about the company is available at http://www.staples.com.

About CommercialWare

CommercialWare, Inc. is a leader in retail e-commerce solutions, serving the eConsumer industry. CommercialWare's retail.dot.commerce suite provides the end-to-end e-business infrastructure for retailers and e-tailers - with a robust, integrated approach to online commerce, order management, e-fulfillment and customer service. With CommercialWare retail commerce solutions, companies can increase brand equity, drive growth, provide consistent customer interactions through all sales, marketing and customer service activities, and dramatically improve the customer shopping experience across the internet and other retail channels. CommercialWare powers retail commerce for more than 80 brands at companies such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Target, Brooks Brothers, Starbucks, EBWorld.com, J. Jill, Disney, Frederick's of Hollywood, Ritz Camera and Patagonia. For more information, visit CommercialWare on the Web at http://www.commercialware.com.