Zelerate Software to Run ThinkGeek E-Commerce Site
Jan 31st, 01:31 UTC
NEW YORK, NY, LinuxWorld Expo--January 31, 2000--Zelerate, Inc., the
leading provider of accelerated e-commerce solutions, today announced
that its Zelerate AllCommerce(tm) application will be used to run the
commercial operations of ThinkGeek(tm), the OSDN(tm) online retailing
site that has earned cult popularity with programmers, IT professionals
and other members of the open source community.
ThinkGeek chose Zelerate AllCommerce as its online retailing solution
last year because of its ability to run order management and fulfillment
operations. To support ThinkGeek's recent sales growth, Zelerate is
working to increase the functionality of its software in statistical
analysis, customer service and accounting system integration. ThinkGeek
expects its new Zelerate e-commerce system to be ready in the first
quarter of 2001.
"ThinkGeek has built a solid online business by identifying,
understanding and catering to the needs of an independent-minded
audience," said Bonnie Crater, president and CEO of Zelerate, Inc.
"ThinkGeek offers goods in a lighthearted way that the open source
community appreciates, while also operating an effective business
venture. We look forward to helping to grow ThinkGeek's business."
"ThinkGeek's increasing sales velocity mandated a more robust e-commerce
platform to manage future growth and continue to provide a superior
customer experience," said Douglas Schatz, senior vice president of
e-commerce for OSDN. "Zelerate's open source technology translates into
a quality long-term investment because it provides unlimited access to
software source code. We expect Zelerate's software to provide
integrated functionality to allow us to better manage merchandising,
sales, customer service, accounting, order management and fulfillment."
ThinkGeek, in business since 1999, has earned the loyalty of its target
audience of programmers and open source community members by offering a
wide range of items: From parodies of inspirational posters, and
caffeinated goods popular with coders, to consumer electronics and
unique clothing items. ThinkGeek intends to use Zelerate AllCommerce
for fulfillment house operations, purchase order management, receiving,
product management and order-triggered inventory decrementing.
By using the unique Zelerate mesh data structure--which bypasses the
limitations of traditional cataloging systems by allowing complementary
products to be easily linked together--ThinkGeek expects to be able to
cross-sell and up-sell to its target audience. And, to enable the
system to function through periods of heavy transactional traffic, the
implementation project will use Zelerate's two-layer server technology
in which parallel servers constantly monitor information for heightened
reliability. Security and credit card verification will be managed by
integrating the Zelerate AllCommerce application suite to CyberSource.
To further enhance customer service, increase site efficiency and reduce
operational costs, the Zelerate professional services team will
implement a customer services module that will allow ThinkGeek to manage
customer service through a single administrative interface. Operational
expenditures will also be reduced by allowing site visitors to track
inquiries, returns and arrange replacements for missing, damaged or
incorrect items. ThinkGeek intends to use the reporting capabilities of
Zelerate AllCommerce for inventory reports, expected receiving dates,
Web site reports, conversion analysis, sales reports and fulfillment
reports.
# # #
Editors, please note:
Zelerate will demonstrate its solutions for order management and
fulfillment during the LinuxWorld Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New
York City from January 31 to February 2 in booth # 2039. Developer's
notes and documentation can be found at www.zelerate.org.
About Zelerate, Inc.
Zelerate, Inc. (formerly OpenSales, Inc.) is the leading provider of
accelerated e-commerce solutions. Based in San Mateo, California, the
company is the developer of Zelerate AllCommerce(tm), the only suite of
business applications to fully integrate e-commerce and fulfillment
functions. Using the Zelerate collaborative development model, the
company supports a worldwide community of developers that tests and
critiques the software; Zelerate also ensures the rapid development of
quality solutions by quickly incorporating new, customer-generated
features into its product line. To maximize its offerings, Zelerate
offers a complete range of installation, customization and support
services.
Note: Zelerate AllCommerce is a trademark of Zelerate, Inc. OSDN and
ThinkGeek are trademarks of VA Linux Systems, Inc. All other trademarks
are property of their respective owners.
Contact:
Paul Carlstrom
Director of Corporate Communications
Zelerate, Inc.
650-358-7770
paul@zelerate.com
(Submitted by Paul Carlstrom of Zelerate)
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