US oil major takes retailers interactive

US oil giant Chevron is poised to spin off a private company to allow gasoline retailers and convenience stores to trade on-line. Founded as the Chevron Retail Alliance (CRA) in 1998, the system went live in May 1999 with 3000 retail outlets on-line. Overwhelming demand for access to more suppliers led to the March 2000 formation of RetailersMarketExchange (RMX) which combines Chevron with Oracle Corporation and Wal-Mart subsidiary McLane Company. RMX became independent in September, and will go public in the near future.

One of the elements which are driving growth of RMX is sheer size. Three supply chains feed into a network of 120,000 retail outlets and are interlinked to various distributors and manufacturers. Advantages for retailers are many. Chevron plans to bring 3000 retailers on to RMX with auctions and reverse auctions, plus the ability of dealers to Request for Proposal. It could be possible, for example, for a service centre to RFP for an equipment buy among multiple manufacturers and supply chains simultaneously. Supply chains are seen to be the future of this form of business-to-business E-commerce, delivering not just product, but product information and brand support such as marketing and planogramming. Suppliers may be able to reduce the need for support personnel on the ground, although it’s doubtful that the human touch will disappear, at least in the near future.