Today, business software maker i2 Technologies announced SoftgoodsMatrix.com, a Web-based marketplace designed to connect retail, apparel, footwear, home furnishings, floor covering and textile goods suppliers and sellers.
SoftgoodsMatrix.com is the latest in what analysts expect to be an explosion
of marketplaces in the retail industry. The largest of the marketplaces was
launched yesterday when database giant Oracle and
retail good powerhouse Sears
There are about 30 retail marketplaces to date, with
Oracle-Sears the
largest one planned so far. Analysts expect many of the smaller, independent
exchanges to eventually join a larger retail exchanges.
In conjunction with today's i2 announcement, apparel maker VF Corporation,
which markets Lee, Wrangler, Vanity Fair, Bestform and Lily of France brands
of clothing, said it will become the first anchor tenant of SoftgoodsMatrix
as part of a new
electronic business initiative.
A growing number of manufacturers and technology providers have been
jumping into the lucrative business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce market,
building trading exchanges and large marketplaces that connect
suppliers, partners and customers online. Oracle, for one, has made an
aggressive push to tackle the fast growing market, which Forrester
Research predicts will reach $1.3 trillion by 2003.
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