Atlanta — Publix Supermarkets announced plans to launch PublixDirect, its own Webvan-style online and home delivery operation. The Florida-based chain plans to launch the service in Florida this year and in Atlanta in 2002. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, PublixDirect will add a charge of $7.95 to all orders and will accept no orders under $50.
Boston — Kimco Realty Corp. recently adopted a web-based asset and portfolio management software solution designed to streamline the REIT's financial operations. About 150 Kimco employees now use the REquest software, which was developed by Boston-based REsolve Technology, a provider of web-based portfolio and asset management software for commercial real estate. REquest extracts data from underlying software programs such as MRI, CTI, DYNA and Argus, and aggregates the information into reports.
“Since implementing REquest we've been able to easily access and use volumes of information that have been compiled in our operating system,” says Mitch Margolis, Kimco's chief information officer. “We've been able to drastically reduce the amount of time Kimco associates spend gathering, inputting, and reformatting property information from our various locations.”
Charlotte, N.C. — Cleveland-based Management Reports International (MRI) and locally based AvidXchange announced an agreement to jointly market AvidXchange's procurement products to MRI clients.
AvidXchange offers web-based procurement products for electronic procurement services, online bid management, and electronic payment and settlement. MRI applications focus on accounting, property management, and budgeting systems.
Johnstown, Pa. — Salt Lake City-based JP Realty recently signed an agreement to license mall website-development software created by locally based Crown American Realty Trust. All 18 of JP Realty's enclosed regional malls now use the software to launch their own Internet sites.
Crown American rolled out its Internet system in 2000 at all of its 26 malls. To date, the company's mall websites have generated more than 2.3 million visitor hits. Each can be accessed through its own web address or through Crown American's site.