FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Outsourcing partner ramps operations to meet tremendous product demand
TORONTO, CANADA, and PLANO, TEXAS – Feb. 26, 2002 –– Roots, Canada’s leading
lifestyle brand, has chosen PFSweb, Inc. (Nasdaq: PFSW), a leading business
process outsourcing provider, as the official outsourcing partner in support
of Roots’ U.S. Olympic apparel distribution.
The www.Roots.com Web site offers consumers the opportunity to place orders
for Olympic apparel online, by telephone or by fax. The Roots U.S. Olympic
beret seen on “The Today Show,” “Rosie O’Donnell,” and “The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno,” as well as many other major media outlets, is by far the
most popular apparel item.
Under the original agreement, PFSweb Canada was asked to provide Roots with
customer contact, fulfillment, order management, credit card authorization
and distribution services. Based on the incredible demand for Roots Olympic
apparel generated by intense media coverage of Olympians wearing Roots
berets, jackets, and other apparel, PFSweb designed a commerce-enabled
online store within 24 hours, added additional call-center support and
installed additional avenues for order placement. The Olympic store
continues to be hosted by PFSweb, using its EntenteWeb(SM) technology
offering.
In February 2001, The United States Olympic Committee named Roots the
official brand outfitter of the 2002 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams.
Roots supplied the U.S. delegation with the Parade Uniform, Podium Award
Outfit and casual attire for the athletes competing in the 2002 Olympic
winter games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Roots is also outfitting the British
Olympic Team with its parade uniform as well as the Canadian Olympic
athletes with Parade, Podium and Casual wear for the third consecutive
Olympics.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to support Roots in its Olympic
endeavor,” said Mark C. Layton, Senior Partner and CEO of PFSweb. “The
overwhelming desire for the clothing line represents tremendous accolades
for the Canadian company’s work. PFSweb`s personnel, infrastructure and
technology are focused on ensuring that the incredible demand is met with
expedient and polished customer service.”
In the first three days after the Olympic opening ceremonies, PFSweb contact
centers in Toronto, Canada, Plano, Texas, and Memphis, Tenn., experienced a
5,900-percent increase in calls received, as well as substantial response to
the additional order placement methods. After the launch of the
commerce-enabled site, the PFSweb-supported Roots site experienced
tremendous Web-site traffic and has been the order placement method for more
than half of the overall orders. Since the opening ceremony, PFSweb has
received more than one million customer contacts from Roots’ customers.
“PFSweb has been an exceptional partner since the beginning of the Olympic
apparel sales,” said Alan Goldberg, Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer at Roots. “We turned to PFSweb Canada because we had
worked with them in the past and had an extremely positive experience. When
we received the Olympic gear opportunity, we once again turned to PFSweb to
assist us in this initiative.
“The demand for the Olympic gear was more than we originally anticipated,
and PFSweb has worked side by side with us to create a unique solution to
ramp up to meet the surprising demand,” Goldberg continued. “Its
flexibility and responsiveness enabled us to quickly adjust to meet the
customer service and ordering requirements by creating a commerce-enabled
Olympic store. PFSweb has been an integral part of making this venture such
a success. The tremendous demand for the apparel has been far better than we
ever imagined, and our factories have been working overtime to manufacture
enough berets and clothing to meet the needs of the U.S. and Canadian
markets.”
Roots was established in Toronto in 1973 and has become an international
lifestyle brand at the forefront of development, design and manufacture of
modern athletic activewear. The company has over 200 retail stores in six
countries and two state-of-the-art production facilities in Toronto. Roots
is proud to have developed team outfits for the American, Canadian and
British Olympic Teams for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
The Roots motto, “Quality, Integrity, Longevity,” mirrors the Olympic ideals
Higher, Faster, Stronger and their commitment to excellence.
About PFSweb Inc.:
When the world’s brand names need proven, fast, and secure business
infrastructure to enable traditional and e-commerce strategies, they choose
PFSweb for comprehensive outsourcing solutions. Its team of experts designs
diverse solutions for clients around a flexible core business
infrastructure. PFSweb provides solutions that include: professional
consulting services, e-marketplace logistics, web-enabled customer contact
centers, customer relationship management, international distribution
services, light assembly and kitting, billing and collection services, and
ERP information interfacing utilizing Entente SuiteSM.
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+++The matters discussed in this news release (except for historical
information) and, in particular, information regarding future revenue,
earnings and business plans and goals, consist of forward-looking
information under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and
are subject to and involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual
results to differ materially from the forward-looking information. These
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and
involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our reliance
on the projections of and fees generated by the transaction volume or
product sales of our clients; the impact of strategic alliances; trends in
the market for our services; trends in e-commerce; whether we can continue
and manage growth; changes in the trend toward outsourcing; increased
competition; effects of changes in profit margins; the unknown effects of
possible system failures and rapid changes in technology; trends in
government regulation; risks of operating overseas and foreign currency
risks; and our relationship with and separation from Daisytek, our former
parent corporation. A description of these factors, as well as other
factors, which could affect the Company`s business, is set forth in the
Company`s Prospectus dated December 2, 1999 and Form 10-K for the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2001.+++
This news release and more information about PFSweb are available at
www.pfsweb.com. PFSweb is a registered trademark. Entente Suite is a
service mark of PFSweb. All rights reserved.
CONTACT:
Roy G. Miller, account supervisor
Michael A. Burns & Associates Inc./PR
4245 N. Central Expressway, Ste. 500
Dallas, TX 75205
214-521-8596 x227 Work
214-521-8599 Fax
214-616-8597 Mobile
rmiller@mbapr.com E-mail
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