ORDERTRUST ANNOUNCES PRODUCT MARKETPLACE
FOR FAST, EASY MERCHANDISE SOURCING
AND ONLINE STOREFRONT POPULATION

New Service Introduces Online Merchants to Sources of Product Supply; Helps Them Manage Virtual Inventory
for Greater Efficiency and Lower Cost

Fall Internet World ’99, New York, October 6, 1999 – OrderTrust, Inc. (Booth #227), provider of integrated order management services for e-commerce, today announced the OrderTrust Product MarketPlace service to help online merchants find product suppliers and rapidly populate their commerce sites with merchandise. Drawing on OrderTrust’s existing relationships with the more than 600 suppliers, fulfillers and manufacturers connected to the company’s leading order processing network, Product MarketPlace provides a fast, efficient and cost-effective way for online merchants to source millions of products and gain ready access to preloaded product records for fast storefront population and automatic order processing.

Through an easy-to-use, browser-based interface, merchants can search, select and load SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) into the storefront application residing on their commerce servers. This enables merchants to deliver one-stop access to the broad and deep selection of merchandise that today’s online shopper demands. Product MarketPlace’s product records come preconfigured with images, product descriptions, unit cost, and routing instructions for automatic processing of orders through the OrderTrust network.

"Merchants are quickly realizing that they must offer a much more satisfying online shopping experience, including availability of a broader selection of merchandise, in order to grow and retain their customer base," said Jim Daniell, CEO of OrderTrust. "The OrderTrust Product MarketPlace is the best source for an online merchant to quickly access an ever-growing selection of products, expand their offering, and make their site a hot spot for shoppers. By leveraging our relationships with the hundreds of suppliers on our order management network today, we take the headache out of populating online storefronts by bringing together merchants and suppliers for mutually beneficial business arrangements."

"We’re very excited about this new service from OrderTrust," said Connie Ling, CEO of Foofoo.com. "With the OrderTrust Product MarketPlace, we’ll able to offer a a more complete selection of products for our discerning online consumers quickly and cost effectively. And, in time, we’ll be able to expand our ability to offer commerce promotions at the drop of a hat, populating our Web site with quality name brands that online shoppers have come to expect from us."

Leveraging OrderTrust’s established and growing relationships with commerce partners, the OrderTrust Product MarketPlace service introduces the online merchant directly to suppliers and provides a web-based user interface that dramatically reduces the work required to populate an online catalog with SKUs and manage virtual inventory. As part of the Product MarketPlace service, OrderTrust normalizes data in all product records, thereby speeding and easing storefront population by eliminating data formatting and translation issues.

Unlike affiliate models, the OrderTrust Product MarketPlace enables merchants to retain "Merchant of Record" (MOR) status. This means that the merchants can "own" the entire customer experience, better control brand identity, and maximize revenue recognition for every sale of merchandise. Merchants and suppliers execute contracts directly with each other.

In turn, the OrderTrust Product MarketPlace helps suppliers expand their sales channels by providing a single point of access to a vast pool of merchants looking to increase the breadth and depth of the product offering on their online storefronts. At the same time, OrderTrust Product MarketPlace eliminates the need for suppliers to take on the burden of performing systems integration with each online merchant in their sales channel. The OrderTrust Product MarketPlace provides a virtual commerce community in which both merchants and suppliers connect to the OrderTrust network to achieve seamless data integration and secure, reliable order management.

Using the OrderTrust Product MarketPlace’s intuitive, browser-based user interface, merchants can easily search through a preloaded online catalog and select product records. After signing supplier contracts, merchants use the interface to download product records from the Product MarketPlace to their local systems. Merchants then upload the records into their storefront application for immediate presentment and sale. Because product records available through Product MarketPlace are updated and maintained by OrderTrust, merchants always have up-to-the-minute product information on their storefronts and can confidently add new SKUs for special or seasonal promotions in a matter of minutes.

Once a product record is loaded in the merchant’s storefront, any orders generated for that product are automatically processed through the OrderTrust network. OrderTrust’s intelligent network services read the Product MarketPlace identifier and route the order to the original product supplier. From that point forward, OrderTrust network services manage the lifecycle of that order, performing such functions as real-time inventory checking, real-time credit card authorization, order status routing, financial settlement and e-mail notifications to consumers.

The OrderTrust Product MarketPlace is being piloted with select merchants and product suppliers on the OrderTrust network in Q4 1999. Full service roll out is scheduled for Q1 2000. Merchants are charged set-up fees and monthly maintenance fees to utilize the Product MarketPlace. Set-up and configuration fees are $25,000 and monthly maintenance fees range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the number of suppliers selected.

Privately held and based in Lowell, Mass., OrderTrust provides integrated order management services for e-commerce. Through its fully redundant and highly scalable 24x7 order processing network, OrderTrust securely and reliably manages information throughout the lifecycle of an order, ensuring 100 percent monitoring and auditing of all transactions. Services include order capture, routing of separate fulfillment requests to multiple suppliers, real-time credit card authorization and inventory availability checking, financial settlement and order status notification to consumers via e-mail. By taking advantage of the OrderTrust network, which has established connections to over 600 trading partners, including fulfillers, suppliers, drop shippers and manufacturers, merchants are free to focus on building brand identity and driving site traffic, while gaining access to critical order information required for superior customer service. OrderTrust clients include 1-800-FLOWERS, SkyMall, VerticalNet, Foofoo.com, Espanol.com, Shop2u.com and Signature Shop At Home. For more information, visit our Web site at www.ordertrust.net.

Editor’s Note: OrderTrust is a trademark of OrderTrust, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

Contacts:

Don Jennings
Lois Paul & Partners
(781) 238-5756
[email protected]

Margie Ferro
OrderTrust, Inc.
(978) 551-5077
[email protected]