Advanced Data Exchange Scores with Gart Sports
Leading sporting goods retailer selects ADX to electronically enable its entire supply base
Newark, CA - November 13, 2002 - ADX – Advanced Data Exchange, the leading provider of outsourced Internet Advanced Data Exchange today announced that leading sporting goods retailer Gart Sports has chosen ADX to provide outsourced Internet EDI services to electronically connect their entire supply base. Under the terms of the agreement, ADX will develop a comprehensive program to recruit and enable more than 1,000 of Gart Sports mid- and small-sized suppliers to trade electronically through ADX Network. Gart Sports Company is the largest full-line sporting goods retailer in the Western United States, offering a comprehensive high-quality assortment of brand name sporting apparel and equipment at competitive prices. Gart Sports operates 180 stores in 25 states under the Gart Sports, Sportmart and Oshman’s names.
Specialty retail is a mature industry comprised of thousands of highly differentiated suppliers exchanging business documents, such as purchase orders and invoices, in high volumes with their trading partners. Typically, major retailers establish EDI (electronic data interchange) connections with their largest suppliers to send and receive business documents electronically. However, the majority of the suppliers in this industry cannot afford traditional EDI. These smaller firms continue to manage transaction processing through fax and mail, business processes that cost their larger trading partners millions of dollars each year due to the inefficiencies associated with paper-based transaction processing.
ADX solves this problem with an outsourced translation service. Large enterprises like Gart Sports partner with ADX to recruit, educate and connect suppliers to the ADX Network, enabling the suppliers to conduct EDI transactions without the costs or complexity of traditional EDI systems. With ADX, Gart Sports extends its existing EDI systems to expand electronic trading relationships to even the smallest suppliers to reduce errors, achieve greater efficiency, cut costs, and increase profitability. Smaller enterprises use ADX as a complete outsourced translation service, without the need to purchase and maintain EDI software.
“We’ve been using EDI to trade with large suppliers for five years,” said Patrick Cotter, Director, Supply Chain Management for Gart Sports. “But until now we’ve never found an easy way to get our mid-and small-sized suppliers on board. With ADX, we’ve found a partner that can finally electronically connect our entire supply base and bring about improved efficiency, reduced costs and ultimately increase profits. ADX is a natural extension of our electronic trading program and should be a major asset to our suppliers.”
“Gart Sports is a great example of a large enterprise with an excellent EDI infrastructure but that has struggled to find a cost-effective solution to get their smaller suppliers electronically connected,” said ADX CEO Andy Duncan. “Because these suppliers account for a significant portion of total trading volume, Gart has experienced significant business process inefficiency and costs associated with handling paper documents. We are partnering with Gart Sports to solve this problem and eliminate millions of dollars from their supply chain costs.”
About Gart Sports
Gart Sports Company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the largest full-line sporting goods retailer in the Western United States. The Company was established in 1928 and offers a comprehensive high-quality assortment of brand name sporting apparel and equipment at competitive prices. Gart Sports Company operates 180 stores in 25 states under the Gart Sports, Sportmart and Oshman’s names. The Company`s e-tailing websites, located at gartsports.com, sportmart.com and oshmans.com, are operated by Global Sports Interactive, Inc. under a license and e-commerce agreement. The Company trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol GRTS.
About ADX - Advanced Data Exchange
Advanced Data Exchange provides an easy, outsourced EDI and XML translation service that enables companies to exchange business documents, such as purchase orders, purchase order acknowledgements and invoices, electronically with all of their suppliers and customers. ADX has strategic business alliances with American Express, webMethods, Oracle, and Ariba, and has relationships with more than 200 of America’s leading enterprises, including Ace Hardware, Arch Coal, Do It Best Corp., Fisher Scientific, Food Lion, Home Depot, Hughes Supply, Kroger, Lowe’s, Michaels Stores, Newark Electronics, Owens Corning, Sears, Shaw’s Supermarkets, and TruServ. ADX is a privately held corporation. For more information, ADX can be contacted at 510-493-5000 or www.adx.com.
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