RD1.COM up and running in 90 days!

NEWS RELEASE
18 September 2000

Contact(s):
Julie Landry
Professional jlandry@ppr.com.au

Jayne Pritchard
Oracle New Zealand
jpritcha@nz.oracle.com

Oracle powers first e-commerce site for NZ dairy farmers
RD1.COM up and running in 90 days!

AUCKLAND - Sept.18, 2000 – Oracle New Zealand, a subsidiary of Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), the largest provider of software for e-business, has helped transform the New Zealand Dairy Group’s (NZDG) "Anchormart" rural merchandising chain into an e-commerce site called RD1.COM in just 90 days.

RD1.COM is a new internet store and portal that consolidates the products and services available at Anchormart’s 27 bricks and mortar locations throughout New Zealand. The new dot.com company operates as an independent business with NZDG, the country’s largest dairy manufacturing company (with more than 8000 farmer shareholders), and other business partners.

In addition to e-commerce, RD1.COM is also a portal for rural farming communities, featuring free personalised services such as news, weather, calendars, email utilities, as well as chat rooms, e-broadcasts and research papers.

RD1.COM also provides farmers access to their individual milk supply accounts, information that is also available on NZDG’s web site.

RD1.COM is scheduled to go live 19 September for 300 farmers who have signed up for a pilot phase. Following the trial period, the test group will be expanded to include 3,000 farmers in December, before the full service is made available, free of charge to anyone with internet access early next year.

Initially, close to 2000 products from Anchormart’s 20,000 product range will be available, including agricultural chemicals, cleansers, rubberware, fencing, water reticulation, fertiliser, farm fuel and farm clothing.

RD1.COM plans to progressively extend its offerings to include the entire Anchormart product range, and will also introduce Anchormart services such as insurance, power supply, telecommunications and cashflow management assistance.

…/more
Page 2:

“It’s all about increasing access to the products and information that farmers need to run their businesses efficiently,” says RD1.COM CEO Neal Murphy. “Anchormart customers can now choose to order supplies by visiting a retail store, contacting the call centre or by clicking on RD1.COM. We are ready for our customers when they want the service. It’s about convenience for our customers.”

“The three channels are fully integrated, which means that in addition to product orders, the delivery and support of these supplies can now be processed through the Anchormart retail outlets, call centre and/or RD1.COM.”

Customised Customer Service
Each registered RD1.COM user has their own login account and password, enabling content to be presented and prioritised according to the user’s individual’s preferences.

“Every RD1.COM customer will have their own personalised web page,” says Mr. Murphy.

“Users can opt to receive personalised information based on a set of preferences and registration details that they have defined. For example, if the user has registered Matamata as their place of residence, then weather and news from the Waikato region will appear at the top of the page. If the same user frequently accesses information about a certain product, such as fertilisers, then RD1.COM will post updates on these products when the user logs on to the site.”

Individual users can also share specified information, such as financial data, with other account holders.

“So that farmer in Matamata may want his family and employees to order supplies on the same account,” explains Mr. Murphy.

Built with Oracle Technology
The technology powering RD1.COM includes Oracle iStore, an electronic commerce application for internet storefronts; and Oracle Portal, software designed specifically for high-performance enterprise web sites. Both applications are powered by the Oracle 8i database.

The easy-to-use browser interface of Oracle iStore and Oracle Portal deliver an organised, personalised view of the business information, web content and applications needed by each user.

It is the first time the two technologies have been deployed in New Zealand.

…/more
Page 3:

The Oracle iStore application is also seamlessly integrated with major enterprise resource planning systems. For RD1.COM, this means that Oracle iStore is linked to the consolidated into the Oracle back office ERP systems of NZDG and Anchormart.

Oracle iStore is a module of Oracle’s 11i Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application, which is part of Oracle 11i E-Business Suite - the industry's first and only fully integrated e-business suite of applications that places a company's entire demand chain, supply chain, and internal operations online.

“We are extremely happy with the implementation of RD1.COM,” says Leigh Warren, Managing Director for Oracle New Zealand. “The NZDG recognised the importance of becoming an e-business and they asked Oracle to help.”

“We have delivered a 90-day implementation solution that will not only expand markets and improve efficiencies for the business, but will also bring savings and improved service for its 8000 rural customers,” says Mr. Warren.

ENDS

About Oracle Corporation
Oracle provides the software that powers the Internet.

Trademarks
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Tell Me More
Here is some more information about Oracle applications used to build RD1.COM.

 Where can I learn more about Oracle E-Business Portals?
Visit: http://www.oracle.com/portals/

 Where can I learn more about Oracle iStore and other e-commerce applications?
Visit: http://www.oracle.com/appsnet/products/ecom/index.htm

 Where can I learn more about Release 11i, the Oracle E-Business Suite?
Visit: http://www.oracle.com/appsnet/

 Where can I see, try, buy Oracle’s industry leading Internet products?
Visit: http://oraclestore.oracle.com/.

© Scoop Media