Staples Leverages Emptoris ePASS for Online Strategic Sourcing

Business Wire, June 25, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 2001

Leading Office Supply Retailer uses Emptoris' Collaborative

Strategic Sourcing Solution to Consolidate Buying Across All Selling

Channels and Determine Optimal Supply Base Allocation

Emptoris, Inc., a leading developer of Web-based collaborative strategic sourcing solutions, today announced that Staples, Inc., the $11 billion retailer of office supplies, business services, furniture and technology to consumers and businesses from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies, has leveraged Emptoris' ePASS(TM), a Web-based collaborative strategic sourcing solution, to automate its strategic sourcing initiatives.

Staples is using ePASS' demand aggregation capabilities to evaluate consolidated buying opportunities across its selling channels. ePASS also enables Staples to take advantage of flexible supplier bidding options, such as business volume discounts, to lower product costs. Once all supplier bids are received, Staples can use ePASS' optimization-based decision support technology to quickly determine the best purchasing scenarios and then choose the best supplier.

"Staples focuses on bringing our customers everything needed to run a business and we are constantly looking for new products and business services that help our customers slash the cost and hassle of running their business," said Greg Papp, manager of business services for Staples. "ePASS' powerful workflow, decision support and collaboration capabilities help save us considerable time and resources in the sourcing process, and enable Staples to quickly evaluate the potential impact of strategic sourcing decisions."

By implementing ePASS, multiple purchasing organizations across an enterprise can efficiently aggregate and disseminate their sourcing needs to their primary suppliers. Using ePASS's collaborative sourcing capabilities, primary suppliers can interact with other suppliers to quickly respond to the buyer's overall demand. Through ePASS' optimization-based decision support technology, buyers can quickly analyze all purchasing scenarios through scientific algorithms to come to the optimal supply base allocation. Combining advanced collaboration, sourcing event management and decision support capabilities, ePASS enables enterprises to streamline the strategic sourcing process, determine the optimal supply base allocation, and forge tighter buyer/supplier networks, allowing buyers to lower the total cost of ownership while enabling suppliers to differentiate themselves through product criteria, historical performance and flexible pricing structures.

"In the highly competitive, price-driven office supply market, retailers are constantly looking at creative ways to lower product purchase costs in order to increase profit margins," said Avner Schneur, president and CEO of Emptoris. "By choosing ePASS, Staples can quickly reduce product costs through demand aggregation, volume discounts and shortened sourcing cycles. Using ePASS' optimization-based decision support capabilities, Staples is able to more easily unveil product cost reduction opportunities. In addition, Staples' suppliers benefit from ePASS through flexible bidding options that enable them to compete more effectively. Emptoris is excited to be working with Staples and looks forward to expanding our relationship."

About Staples

Staples Inc. is an $11 billion retailer of office supplies, furniture and technology to consumers and businesses from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered outside Boston, Staples invented the office superstore concept and today is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. The company has over 50,000 employees serving customers through more than 1,300 office superstores, mail order catalogs, e-commerce and a contract business. More information about the company is available at http://www.staples.com.

About Emptoris, Inc.

Emptoris is a leading provider of collaborative strategic sourcing solutions that support the end-to-end sourcing activities of multi-tier buyer/supplier networks. By implementing ePASS(TM) (Electronic Procurement Application for Strategic Sourcing), enterprises can streamline the strategic sourcing process, determine the optimal allocation of business among suppliers, and forge tighter buyer/supplier networks. Through a functionally rich sourcing and communications platform, ePASS facilitates efficient buyer/buyer, buyer/supplier, and supplier/supplier collaboration. Key benefits include lower costs, shorter sourcing cycles, and improved sourcing productivity. Emptoris, a privately held company, is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. For additional information, please visit www.emptoris.com.