PCATS Gateway Pilot Deemed a Success

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology
Standards' (PCATS) Gateway pilot program has been hailed a success, as the five participating retailers realized electronic pricebook synchronization between supplier and retail data.

The PCATS Gateway program was powered by 1SYNC, a data pool solution of GS1 US, and sponsored by the National Association of Convenience Stores.

The program created a secure communications pipeline that allowed trading partners in the convenience industry to synchronize products' price and promotion information using the standard PCATS-NAXML format to facilitate the electronic population of the companies' pricebook. PCATS-NAXML was designed by the PCATS EB2B Retail Working Group as a low-cost, effective and simple industry format for electronic business documents.

The test ran from February until April 13, with retailers Clinard Oil, EZ-Mart Stores, Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes, The Pantry, and Town and Country Food Stores, and suppliers Arctic Glacier Ice, Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, Frito-Lay, Panhandle Popcorn Co., and The Coca-Cola Co.

CMi Solutions and PDI assisted retail customers with connecting and integrating the transmitted data into the their pricebook.

"The 1SYNC pilot project was something the industry has been clamoring for years to be developed and is something that is long overdue for the convenience store industry," said Matt Paduano, vice president of information, Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes. "This process will allow even the smallest retailer and the smallest vendors to share electronic data without a huge investment in hardware, software or technical expertise. The pilot went well with the two vendors we tested with and it integrated into our system seamlessly."

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