PLUM Plumtree Software (MM)

Plumtree Creates New Solutions Group to Develop, Market and Sell Portal-Based Retail Applications Customers Applebee's International, Groupe Casino, Hy-Vee and O'Charley's Deploy Plumtree-Powered Retail Applications CHICAGO, Retail Systems 2004 Conference/ICS Collaborative Commerce, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Enterprise Web leader Plumtree Software today launched a new retail solutions group to develop, market and sell Plumtree-powered solutions to the retail industry. Staffed with sales, marketing and engineering professionals, the group is focused on working with retail-focused services and software companies to build solutions for store performance management, associate productivity and retention and supplier collaboration. By using Plumtree's portal, integration and collaboration software to build these solutions, retailers can easily combine data and functionality from many existing systems, giving the stores one simple way to get everything they need to drive revenues. Already, retail customers including Applebee's International, Groupe Casino, Hy-Vee O'Charley's and several Fortune 500 companies have deployed Plumtree to improve store performance and supplier relationships. Several Plumtree retail customers have been recognized publicly for the innovative nature of their Plumtree deployments. Most recently, Staples was named a World Class Solution finalist by DM Review and a finalist in the Retail Systems Achievement Award presented by Retail Systems Alert Group and Chain Store Age and sponsored by Intel, Microsoft and JDA. Plumtree will host a Web seminar for retailers featuring AMR Research on June 16th. AMR will discuss how leading retail organizations are taking a Six Sigma approach to store performance optimization, and what role a portal can play in standardizing operational execution across stores. Plumtree will provide store management insights from its retail customers and their store portal deployments. Register at http://www.plumtree.com/04/retail. As part of its retail initiative, Plumtree today announced a retail focus to its Applications Incubator partner program, released a retail deployment case study profiling Plumtree customer Hy-Vee, available at http://www.plumtree.com/04/hy-vee, and released Forrester's March 2004 case study "Learning from Best Buy's Employee Portal," available at http://www.plumtree.com/04/Bestbuy. Plumtree is also presenting its portal solutions for retail at the Retail Systems 2004 Conference and the NRF 94th Annual Convention. "Plumtree's new retail solutions group is part of a larger company initiative to deliver portal-based applications that solve specific business problems," said Plumtree CEO John Kunze. "Plumtree will continue to sell technology products to IT, but we believe our industry initiatives together with our applications focus can create exciting new opportunities for Plumtree to sell targeted solutions to line-of-business executives." Why Plumtree for Retail Applications? One of the primary reasons that retail customers choose Plumtree is for its ability to incorporate services from diverse systems, programmed in diverse languages. Forrester recognized this Plumtree differentiator in its recent case study mentioned above. Retail customers also choose the Plumtree Enterprise Web Suite because it can: -- Deliver information based on role, geography or department: Plumtree integrates access and profile information from any user directory or enterprise application, enabling retailers to easily secure and customize the user experience for store managers, associates, suppliers and corporate employees. -- Manage applications for many audiences through one framework: Plumtree allows retailers to build and secure store management, supplier collaboration and employee services applications separately, yet share services and provide a common look and feel across them all. -- Provide for two-way communication and collaboration: Retailers use Plumtree's content publishing and collaboration services to gather feedback and publish best practices from associates and store managers, as well as to manage joint calendars, task lists and documents with suppliers. -- Be deployed to wireless devices or low-bandwidth environments: Retailers can roll out Plumtree-powered applications to a range of devices they may already use including POS systems, kiosks, PDA's, or tablet PC's. To accommodate the low network bandwidth to many retail outlets, Plumtree provides a low-bandwidth user interface option. Retail Customers Build High Performance Store Management and Supplier Collaboration Applications According to feedback from Plumtree customers and industry analysts, the following three applications address some of the most pressing retail problems. Improving Store Manager Productivity Analysts agree that the more time a store manager spends on the sales floor, the better the store performs. But store managers often spend long hours at the PC, on the phone, or sorting through FedEx pouches in the back office to meet corporate demands. Using Plumtree, retailers can assemble everything their store managers need to optimize store performance in one application, including the ability to: -- View, drill-down and act on sales, labor and inventory metrics; -- Manage store hiring, training, scheduling, rewards and recognition; -- Act on tasks, alerts and shared best practices; and -- View advertising and store-specific calendars, planograms, rebates, coupons, policies and procedures. Applebee's, the largest casual-dining chain in the United States with over 1,600 restaurants, chose Plumtree as the framework for creating a store management application that serves franchisees and will serve company-owned restaurants. Restaurant operators use the store management application to evaluate progress of customer satisfaction metrics and to access best practices for operations, guest experience, food quality and bar service while franchisees use the portal to get the most up-to-date product information and to report sales for promotions, like WeightWatchers meals. The application helps Applebee's save on printing and mail costs and allows for more dynamic communication across corporate offices, franchises and company-owned stores. Building Loyal, Experienced Sales Associates According to most industry estimates, average store employee turnover can range from 60-110 percent a year. Retailers can thus benefit greatly from solutions that ramp up associates faster and encourage associate feedback, helping garner loyalty and longer tenure. Using Plumtree as the framework for a sales associate productivity and retention application, retailers are able to assemble all of the communications, training and customer service tools that they want to put in the hands of sales associates. Associates can: -- Access online training, submit HR benefits, and read forms and policies; -- Search for product information including pricing, specifications and competition; -- Trade shifts, submit overtime and time off requests; -- View company announcements and news; -- Participate in employee surveys, submit best practices and feedback; and -- Track promotions, store performance metrics and store-specific calendars. Hy-Vee and several of Plumtree's Fortune 500 customers have created successful store associate applications in their Enterprise Web deployments. Collaborating More Efficiently With Suppliers As part of the ongoing challenge to compete with the industry leaders, retailers are working to make their supply chain relationships more efficient. With Plumtree's framework, retailers can create a portal-based application for sharing information and automating processes with suppliers. Using the application, suppliers can: -- View or change order status and monitor product inventory by store; -- View joint promotions calendars and provide feedback and ideas; -- Get pricing information, policies, procedures and documentation; and -- Search for contacts at the retailer. Groupe Casino, a leading food retailer in France and owner of the Smart & Final wholesale retail chain in the United States, recently purchased the Plumtree Enterprise Web Suite. In the first deployment phase, the buying and supply chain department will streamline management of its relationships with 7,000 suppliers through a collaborative application. In one place, suppliers will be able to export Groupe Casino orders as XML documents for easy entry into their own systems, access delivery procedures and other documentation, and provide delivery notes so that Groupe Casino can more precisely plan its warehouse labor needs. About Plumtree Software Plumtree Software is the Enterprise Web leader. Plumtree's mission is to create a comprehensive Web environment for employees, customers and partners across the enterprise to interact with different systems and work together. Plumtree's Enterprise Web solution consists of integration products for bringing resources from traditional systems together on the Web, shared services such as collaboration, content management and search for building new Web applications, and a portal platform for delivering these Web applications to broad audiences. Plumtree's independence and its Web Services Architecture allow this solution to span rival platforms and systems, helping maximize customers' return on their existing technology investments. With offices in more than a dozen countries, Plumtree has licensed over 600 customers, including Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Procter & Gamble and the U.S. Navy. For more information, visit Plumtree on the Web at http://www.plumtree.com/. NOTE: Plumtree is a registered trademark of Plumtree Software, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners. Press Contact: Carilu Dietrich Plumtree Software 415-399-7047 DATASOURCE: Plumtree Software CONTACT: Carilu Dietrich of Plumtree Software, +1-415-399-7047, or Web site: http://www.plumtree.com/

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