WWRE will act as a Web-based marketplace, enabling transactions between participants operating in the food, drugstore, home, textiles and general merchandise sectors. It will function as an open exchange providing publicly available data, together with private price and promotional information, to multiple buyers and sellers. The Exchange will also provide the means for auctioning products.
Dairy Farm will have a seat on the Food Development Board of WWRE and will participate in the development of the Exchange.
Commenting on this B2B initiative, Ronald J Floto, Group Chief Executive of Dairy Farm said, "We are pleased to become a member of this innovative exchange. With participants spanning the United States, Europe and Asia, the Exchange will widen our choice of suppliers and has the potential to increase the supply chain efficiency of our Dairy Farm companies which will, in turn, benefit our customers."
The Exchange currently includes members who have combined sales of nearly US$454 billion. Besides Dairy Farm, current WWRE membership includes: Albertson's (US), Auchan (France), Best Buy (US), Casino (France), CVS (US), Delhaize (Belgium), El Corte Ingles (Spain), Gap Inc. (US), J.C. Penney (US), Jusco (Japan), Kingfisher (UK), Kmart (US), Marks & Spencer (UK), Rite Aid Corporation (US), Royal Ahold (The Netherlands), Safeway, Inc. (US), Safeway plc (UK), SUPERVALU INC. (US), Target (US), Tesco (UK) and Walgreens (US).
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Dairy Farm is a leading food and drugstore retailer in the Asia-Pacific Region. At the end of 1999, the Group and its associates operated 2,063 outlets, principally supermarkets, convenience stores and drugstores, employed some 80,000 people in nine territories and had 1999 sales of US$6.8 billion.