Sept/Oct 2003

Staples, the American-owned office products supplier, is using the Evant multi-channel merchandise planning solution to support its multi-channel retailing activities. The system is said to have saved Staples staff half a day a week previously spent on consolidating information.

The Evant system allows the company to collaborate with suppliers and trading partners, sharing plans and predicting supply and demand through its store, Internet and catalogue channels. Previously these functions were handled by no fewer than 25 separate systems.

The company reportedly selected Evant following benchmarking by IBM's Solution Partnership Center in California, and a particular factor in its favour is said to have been its scaleability.

Evant solutions run on IBM i-series and J2EE Java platforms.