Online exchange launched for retailers

Oracle, Chevron and Wal-Mart Stores' subsidiary McLane Company have joined forces to start a global online supply exchange for the convenience store industry.

The three will establish RetailersMarketExchange.com as an independent company and are aiming it at all convenience store and small business retailers and their suppliers. It is due to go live this summer.

Each will hold an equity interest in the venture. Retailers and suppliers will be expected to commit capital to the venture to participate. This will lead to an equity stake.

Dave O'Reilly, Chevron's chief executive, said: "This is the world's first global exchange for the $200bn convenience and small store retailing market. The big benefit here is to leverage the internet to create an efficient purchasing and communications exchange."

RetailersMarketExchange.com will run on Oracle's e-business software and its Exchange application, while McLane will provide supply chain fulfilment and distribution expertise.

McLane is a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, which also owns Asda in the UK. It provides distribution services to more than 30,000 retailers in the US, Brazil and Taiwan, including convenience stores, mass merchandisers and fast food restaurants.

Chevron, the second largest US oil company, owns and operates 700 convenience stores and has another 6,500 branded ones. It claims to have about five per cent of the US convenience store market.

RetailersMarketExchange.com is the third exchange that Oracle has become involved in over recent weeks.

Last week, Ford Motor, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler AG agreed to combine their online purchasing into one auction site.

Retailers Sears, US based Roebuck and France's Carrefour have also teamed with the database supplier to form GlobalNetXchange, a procurement network to deal with their $80bn worth of supply chain purchasing.