03/08/2004

TradeStone Software, a provider of collaborative e-sourcing software designed to enable companies to mainstream international trade as a key part of their business, says The Children’s Place Retail Stores (Nasdaq: PLCE) has selected the company’s SteppingStones Suite to automate international sourcing. This follows the recent announcement that off-price retailer Ocean State Job Lot will be implementing SteppingStones for global e-sourcing.

TradeStone says its SteppingStones Suite “delivers the most rapidly deployable, functionally-rich e-sourcing technology to the global sourcing market. It is based on 20 years of development that marries technology with deep domain expertise. Built upon the latest Web Services technology, SteppingStones supports all the key functional areas of international buying and selling – the Request for Quote (RFQ) process, order management, track-and-trace visibility, compliance certainty, and payment processing. Conveniently accessed through a Web browser, SteppingStones requires no up-front training for companies and their suppliers and is the first and only composite application for the global sourcing market that works on either a stand-alone basis or can be layered into an application mix to fill global gaps.”

“We’re delivering value to major retailers like The Children’s Place,” said Sue Welch, President and CEO of TradeStone Software. “Because SteppingStones operates in a no-training environment, works with existing technology, delivers rapid ROI, and leverages the Internet for collaboration with global suppliers, we’re seeing rapid adoption by companies who view streamlining international trade as their key to competitiveness.”

“The Children’s Place selected TradeStone’s software to help us to more effectively collaborate with global suppliers, improve our visibility into the pre- and post-shipment supply chain and to replace legacy sourcing systems on a fill-in-the-gaps basis,” said Ed DeMartino, Chief Information Officer of The Children’s Place. “Using TradeStone’s SteppingStones Suite, should allow us to reduce the cost of merchandise and transportation, improve our back office productivity and reduce markdowns.”