INFRA and ECRS Partner to Drive Member Efficiencies and Growth

ANAHEIM, Calif., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent Natural Foods Retailer Association (INFRA) and ECR Software Corporation (ECRS) today announced their formal partnership during the ECRS Retail Automation Conference in conjunction with the Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim, CA. This partnership unites two of the major forces in the natural products industry to create a stronger community of independent natural foods retailers.

INFRA is the fastest growing cooperative of independent natural foods retailers in the United States providing operational, purchasing, and marketing support for 100+ stores. In addition to its established position as the leading point-of-sale (POS) provider to natural products retailers, ECRS offers proprietary DemandFill consumer-based order generation and LogicSync -powered Supplier Gateway technology which facilitates bi-directional eCommerce between retailers and their suppliers. These cutting-edge technologies combine to dramatically advance inventory management and supply chain efficiencies while improving order accuracy.

The executive management of ECRS and INFRA have agreed to work together in order to perfect a competitive advantage for the benefit of INFRA members by providing a structure through which members are able to easily and affordably implement ECRS technology. To increase member adoption of ECRS's proven technology, INFRA will endorse, support and market ECRS as its preferred POS and retail automation solution provider.  This partnership places great focus on getting solution-based technology in the hands of INFRA members in order to improve efficiencies, provide critical store data, increase sales, and strengthen retailer/supplier relationships.

"INFRA is a tremendous advocate for natural foods retailers and its innovative programs are helping members to achieve unprecedented success in a highly competitive market," said ECRS President and CEO, Pete Catoe. "We are excited to collaborate with INFRA to bring our technology to its many respected members. This is a great opportunity for all parties involved."

"We are pleased to be entering into this strategic partnership with ECRS, and look forward to enhancing INFRA members technology options," said Corinne Shindelar, CEO of INFRA. "ECRS will be a great partner for INFRA and it's retail members by supporting our growth through increased efficiencies."

"DemandFill consistently provides a clean order, eliminating human error from manual entry or incorrect counts. When ordering from our main vendor, it used to take up to four hours, and we did it three times a week. Now it takes about 30-45 minutes per order and that includes spot checking and review," said Scott Shimoda of INFRA-member store, Bi-Rite Market. "Receiving is much easier because Gateway transfers the completed order information to Catapult and a Price and Cost Change worksheet is generated based on the shipped order."

About INFRA

INFRA is cooperative owned and governed by natural and organic food retailers of all sizes working together to leverage our voice in the industry. INFRA unites members for the purpose of providing operational support, leveraging purchase power, and engaging in other marketing activities on behalf of our retail members. For more information, please visit http://www.naturalfoodretailers.net/

About ECRS

ECRS has provided complete retail automation solutions, backed by award-winning support, to the natural products and health industry for over 20 years. The ECRS solutions suite includes: Point-of-sale, self-checkout, back office management, mobile reporting and analytics, automated inventory management, supplier integration, self-hosted gift card, customer loyalty, membership management, dedicated store server, POS electronic advertising, signature capture, and pharmacy management system integration. ECRS's CATAPULT is National Weights and Measures Certified and is also PA-DSS certified for retailer PCI DSS compliance. Contact: www.ecrs.com – 800.211.1172 – [email protected].

*DemandFill, LogicSync, and Supplier Gateway are Trademarks of ECR Software Corporation, 2012.

SOURCE ECRS