The largest office products supplier in Mexico, with 28 retail stores and two distribution centers, Office Depot de Mexico has grown at a spectacular rate since it was established in 1994. Last year alone, the company's retail sales increased by more than 150 percent. We expect the virtual store to generate three times the revenue of a retail store and cost 30 percent less to manage and operate. Powered by IBM Net. Commerce, the virtual store offers an electronic catalog with descriptions, pictures and prices of more than 6,000 products.
Customers can place orders, request delivery and make payments online.
The printed catalog contains only ten percent of our merchandise, doesn't list prices and becomes outdated almost before it is released. Suppliers now have secure Internet access to their accounts with Office Depot, enabling them to track inventory, invoices and other account information. They can monitor sales of their products at each retail store, review their product mix, determine optimum stock levels and initiate new orders. In the past, Office Depot's analysts generated hard copy reports for the suppliers. We've reduced operational costs nearly ten to 15 percent by providing suppliers online access to inventory data.