Tesco Direct uses IVIS Group Sonetto Retail product

Ealing, London – Wednesday 1st November 2006

IVIS Group, the multi-channel experts, today announced that it is supplying Tesco Direct with Sonetto Retail – a product suite which is becoming the technology standard for closing the gap between the supply-chain and the multi-channel customer.

Tesco Direct is a new concept in non-food shopping which brings 1000s of products from beds and sofas through to kitchenware, electricals, cameras, bikes and golf clubs to millions more customers at great Tesco prices.

Customers can choose the product they want on a new website or from a catalogue and then order either on-line via the Tesco.com website, by phone or in selected stores at the new Tesco Direct desks.

Tesco Direct will mean that shopping for non-food items will be easier than ever before – combining easy access to a great product range and more choices on when and how to shop.

Tesco Direct builds on the success of tesco.com and Tesco’s in-store non-food offer.
However a key challenge for Tesco Direct was a perceived ‘gap’ in the retail supply-chain. All supply-chain systems look backwards towards the supplier, rather than forwards towards the customer. Tesco wanted to identify a solution that connected all internal systems and bridged the ‘gap’ between the business and the customer.

IVIS Group allowed this ambitious plan to be achieved and using the flexibility and power of Sonetto Retail delivered product induction and management; pricing and promotions and online marketing capabilities. This has given Tesco Direct true business agility, greater responsiveness and allows them to focus on providing better deals for their customers.

Jon Higgins, IT Director of Tesco.com said:
“We could not have fully delivered Tesco Direct without IVIS Group. Sonetto has helped us enable a true and integrated multi-channel approach”

About Sonetto

Sonetto allows a business to draw in any amount of data, in any format, and based on business rules standardises, enriches, creates relationship links and allows that information to be easily adapted and published into as many information channels as the business requires.

The power comes from the business rules. Although many systems allow the setting of business rules, they are either set from ‘on high’ into rigid, inflexible dictates –becoming effectively unusable – or they require a technical operator to sit with the business user and program the rules for them. Sonetto captures business knowledge automatically, so training itself on the rules – creating knowledge that it can then implement. This removes the need for technical involvement and inflexible rules that cannot adapt quickly and easily to the demands of the market.

IVIS Group’s experienced team of business analysts, project managers and technical consultants allowed Tesco Direct to have the system delivered on time and to a high level of quality. Integration with multiple legacy systems and a rigorous testing process ensured that everything was built around Tesco Direct’s business and their focus on their customers.

About IVIS Group

IVIS Group helps organisations reach their customers across all of their information channels. Providing a range of services and products, IVIS Group is the multi-channel expert.

IVIS Group has worked with many companies from a range of industries each driven by their customers to create value through the better use of information.

For more information on IVIS Group and its solutions visit: www.ivisgroup.com.