Office Depot Launches Vendor Extranet; New Internet Based Management Tool Designed to Enhance Supplier Relationships Through Increased Information Flow

Business Wire, Oct 4, 2000

Business Editors

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2000

OFFICE DEPOT, INC. (NYSE:ODP), the world's largest seller of office products, today announced it has launched its new vendor extranet at http://partner.officedepot.com. This new Internet based management tool will allow for increased flow, speed and accuracy of information between Office Depot and its vendor community.

This new management tool, currently being deployed to the Office Depot vendor community, offers a low cost means for sharing data with suppliers. The site provides suppliers with a secured Internet access to monitor critical business information including data on specific products, invoice and payment, product tracking, purchase orders, guidelines and procedures.

Steve Embree, Executive Vice President of Merchandising, commented, "This new Internet based solution will streamline communication between Office Depot and its suppliers. By supplying our vendors information electronically, we are ensuring that the information flows faster and more accurately. The accessibility of the Internet makes it an ideal tool for any size business partner."

Embree continued, "Our goal with this new vendor extranet is to optimize our working relationships with suppliers. They play an important role in our ability to offer our business customers a compelling shopping experience. As a result, we want to create the best environment in which to monitor our combined business performance and develop new, innovative ways of growing together. Information is the key to making that happen."

Built in-house by Office Depot's Application Development Team, this first generation extranet was developed in collaboration with Office Depot's vendors. The site offers users a self-service access to a myriad of vendor-related data defined by suppliers and Office Depot as critical to effectively managing the business.

About Office Depot

As of June 24, 2000, the Company operated 855 office supply superstores in the United States and Canada, in addition to a national business-to-business delivery network supported by 30 delivery centers, more than 60 local sales offices and seven regional call centers. Furthermore, the Company owned and operated 27 office supply stores in France and seven stores in Japan; had mail order and delivery operations in 14 countries outside of the United States and Canada; and under joint venture and licensing agreements, had 89 additional stores operating under the Office Depot name in six other foreign countries. The Company also operates an award-winning U.S. Office Depot brand Internet Web site at www.officedepot.com where customers can access Office Depot's low competitive prices seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and it operates www.officedepot.co.jp in Japan as well as Viking brand Web sites at www.vikingop.com in the United States, www.viking-direct.co.uk in the United Kingdom, www.viking.de in Germany, www.vikingdirect.nl in The Netherlands, www.vikingop.it in Italy, www.vikingop.com.au in Australia and www.vikingop.co.jp in Japan. Office Depot's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index.