CombineNet Continues Strong Revenue Growth in Delivering Strategic Sourcing Solutions for Supply Chain Industries

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- CombineNet, Inc., the leading provider of best-in-class sourcing technology solutions for global supply chains, today announced that it continued its strong growth through 2012, gaining strong momentum in key industries and successfully completing a number of major solution, product, and customer support initiatives throughout the year.

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CombineNet grew its direct sales customer base by approximately 45% in 2012 over 2011, once again ending the year with top revenue numbers in the company's history. Additionally, the company more than doubled the number of its strategic partnerships with logistics solution providers, big consultancies, and referral partners – setting the stage for strong indirect revenue growth in 2013.

The number of customers' sourcing events supported through the company's advanced e-sourcing CombineNet ASAP® solution doubled (101%) in 2012 as compared to 2011, as customers' increased their use of the solution to support strategic sourcing activities across multiple spend categories. Spend areas of highest growth included packaging, food ingredients, retail store facility services, and corporate services. This growth followed a 250% increase in customer sourcing events supported from 2010 to 2011.

CombineNet added a number of new national and global customers in the supply chain-intensive industries of Food and Beverage Manufacturing; Retail; Restaurant Chains; and Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturing. In response to this growth, CombineNet in November 2012 launched Strategic Sourcing Best Practices Center offerings for each of those four industries, combining the CombineNet ASAP product with premium e-sourcing event services, content, and template solutions to maximize customer success and results. At year end, nearly 50% of CombineNet's customers were Best Practices Center subscribers.

CombineNet's Chief Executive Officer Rich Wilson commented: "Coming off of a very strong year in 2011, and despite macro-economic challenges both domestically and across Europe in 2012, we are extremely delighted with the continued growth of our advanced sourcing solution adoption in the market in 2012. Strategic sourcing solution investments are proven to yield significant benefits in cost savings, supplier collaboration, and supply chain innovation – and we are very proud to serve clientele who lead their industries in this area."

Additional key highlights from 2012 included:

• Named by Spend Matters as a "Top 5 Specialist Vendor You Must Talk to in 2013."
• Several major product release updates to the CombineNet ASAP e-sourcing software, which included: the launch of next-generation e-auctions; improved bid analysis features; and expanded supplier negotiation capabilities.
• Four new U.S. patents awarded for its research and development efforts in sourcing optimization and analytics.
• Increased customer support and professional services personnel by approximately 30% during 2012, with additional investment planned here through 2013.
• Its first international customer and partner conference, @TheSource, with multiple tracks for sourcing management and hands-on users alike and featuring Fortune 500 customer speakers.
• Receipt of many industry awards, including: Food Logistics 100; Supply & Demand Chain Executive Pros to Know for four staff members; Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100; Inbound Logistics' Top 100 Logistics IT Company; and SupplyChainBrain's 100 Great Supply Chain Partners.

For a sampling of CombineNet's customers, please visit: http://www.combinenet.com/customers/index.php

To read more about CombineNet's headlines in the e-sourcing market, please visit our newsroom online at: http://www.combinenet.com/news-events/pressreleases.aspx

About CombineNet

CombineNet, Inc. delivers award-winning best-in-class e-sourcing software solutions through its products CombineNet ASAP® for advanced e-sourcing, CombineNet Spend Analysis, and CombineNet Contract Management. Using these Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based sourcing products, CombineNet customers can rapidly adopt proven solutions for increasing spend under management and improving enterprise spend insights. Now in its twelfth year in business, CombineNet is known for its track record in driving significant bottom-line and productivity savings for its clientele which includes: General Mills, Hershey's, Heinz, Procter & Gamble, Sears, Johnson & Johnson, A.P. Moller-Maersk, Bayer, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser, and many more Global 2000 firms. www.combinenet.com

SOURCE CombineNet, Inc.