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Dallas,
Texas – January 8, 2001 –
Parago, Inc., a technology platform company specializing in promotional
management and a subsidiary of CT Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CITN), today
announced that Staples, Inc. has signed a contract, extending through
January 2002, to continue and expand promotional management services for
its 1,000-plus retail locations.
Following a successful yearlong partnership with
Parago, Staples has opted to renew its contract and add additional
services. The renewed
contract calls for a continuation of the automated technology that
processes Staples’ promotions/rebates for approximately 140 vendors. In addition, the agreement enables Parago to add new services
for Staples.com and creates a new management Intranet to provide
Staples’ 1,000-plus stores with a comprehensive customer relationship
management solution.
“We’re excited to extend our contract with
Staples, based on the success of the promotional and rebate services
we’ve provided,” said Steve Solomon, chairman of the board for Parago,
Inc. “Our technology platform has addressed and improved Staples’
relationships with its customer base by providing easily processed
solutions.”
Staples
first partnered with Parago in June of 1999.
The contract with Parago called for the
use of Parago’s patent-pending technology platform to automate
and streamline the rebate process, providing better customer satisfaction.
Parago has been instrumental in streamlining the rebate process for
Staples by handling the back-end functions of the “Rebate Center” at
Staples.com, as well as by handling rebates processed through the
traditional rebate submission method.
Through the Parago system, consumers have access to real-time
information regarding their rebates.
In addition, consumers generally receive their rebates in
four-to-five weeks instead of 10 to 13 weeks, which is more typical of
rebates.
About
Staples
Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is
a $9 billion retailer of office supplies, furniture, technology and
services to consumers and businesses, from home-based businesses to
Fortune 500 companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered outside Boston,
Staples invented the office superstore concept and today is the largest
operator of office superstores in the world. The company has over 50,000
employees serving customers through more than 1,200 office superstores,
mail order catalogs, e-commerce and a contract business. More information
about the company is available at http://www.staples.com.
Parago's
patent-pending technology platform and processes represent an innovative
approach designed to improve the promotional marketing industry.
We provide a range of Internet-based customer relationship
management products, including PromoCenter, InfoCenter and
KnowledgeCenter, that are created to increase sales, reduce costs, enhance
customer retention for our clients. These
products comprise our Continuous Customer InteractionSM model,
which helps retailers, manufacturers and service organizations reduce the
cost of conducting promotions and drive incremental revenue by
cross-selling and upselling new products and services.
During the relationship management process, we capture fresh,
accurate, and usable transaction and buyer demographic data that can be
used by our clients to improve their promotional marketing programs.
CT Holdings, Inc., is an incubator for early stage
Internet companies (www.ct-holdings.com).
CT Holdings' incubator ventures include Parago and River Logic.
Forward-Looking
Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which
involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly,
no assurance can be given that the actual events
and
results will not be materially different than the anticipated results
described in the forward-
looking
statement. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking
statements. These factors
include
Neither CT Holdings nor Parago undertakes any obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
