Tesco adopts Sonetto Retail to unlock the value of its Product Information

London, 2nd March 2005 - Following the launch of Sonetto Retail from IVIS Group, Tesco.com, the world's biggest online supermarket, has announced that it has adopted the Sonetto Product Information Management (PIM) solution. Using Sonetto's patented, intuitive technology, Tesco.com is confident it can make its supply-chain infrastructure even more flexible and cost-efficient by increasing the accuracy and relevance of its product information as it flows between its suppliers and customers.

Sonetto PIM provides Tesco.com commercial managers with a single version of product truth, because it centralises product data in one location, thus simplifying the process of integrating disparate and often incomplete and inaccurate product details. Once the data is integrated and enriched internally, the commercial teams will be able to be more creative in building new product categories, which can appeal to customers and personalise their shopping experience.

"IVIS Group has the advantage of understanding the retail sector well and also they are pragmatic in assisting businesses in adopting new technologies", comments Mike McNamara CTO Tesco.com. "So many IT projects fail because they demand that businesses change their processes, which is wrong, because technology should not force people to behave differently. Sonetto is ideal, because it is intuitive and speaks to business users in their language."

Jon Higgins, Head of E-Commerce Development at Tesco.com expanded, "We responded to customer demand for accurate and high quality product information. Sonetto PIM will enable us to enrich the data available to our customers, who will be able to make more informed choices when comparing different products before they make a final purchase. Ultimately this will help Tesco.com to improve its online offering, enabling it to respond with greater agility to changing consumer trends and ultimately enhance the customer experience".

Sonetto PIM allows business users to use a combination of a natural language interface and a series of drop down menus to set-up rules. These rules are used to define product information and to manage and categorise attributes. This process makes it easy for retailers to provide information that is relevant to their customers, partners and employees thus enriching the shopping experience of customers while at the same time helping collaboration with partners and streamlining internal processes for management and evaluation of performance.

As Bruno Monteyne, Electrical Category Manager, at Tesco.com said, "Sonetto's superior Product Information Management capability has considerably improved the quality of our website navigation by cleaning up and enhancing the data we receive from suppliers and partners.

The strength of the system lies in its ability to 'learn' over time, so that the time needed to maintain the quality of the data is very low. Instead of having a full time person cleaning data, we can now do the job in one hour per week and we can be much more creative with what types of new data we would like create."

Eight years ago Tesco Plc embarked on major growth plans with the launch and expansion of Tesco.com as one of its core strategies. Early on Tesco.com turned to IVIS Group and since 1996 the company has been intimately involved in the development of the architecture of the Tesco.com custom-built e-commerce engine.

Qusai Sarraf, CEO IVIS said, "IVIS Group is proud to have been working to help deliver the Tesco.com e-business strategy and architecture since their inception in 1996. We are confident that Sonetto will further enhance Tesco.com's already considerable advantage. With the launch of Sonetto, we are building on the success of Tesco.com, and extending the advantages of an enhanced supply chain to both suppliers and customers alike."

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.