Consumer Products Companies Increasingly Leverage Procurement Outsourcing for Cost Savings

ICG Commerce Expands Market Penetration and Continues Momentum as Leading
Procurement Outsourcing Specialist for Consumer Products
PHILADELPHIA--(Business Wire)--
Procurement outsourcing began to emerge as a strategy in 2006, with several
leading consumer products (CP) companies among the early adopters. Since then,
more than 20% of top-tier U.S. CP companies have signed procurement outsourcing
agreements in an effort to reduce indirect costs, drive bottom line improvements
or reinvest to drive growth. ICG Commerce, the procurement outsourcing
specialist, has been selected as the provider of choice in 50% of these deals,
and almost doubled its market penetration in 2009 alone, adding Pinnacle Foods
and several others to an already strong CP client base. Adoption of procurement
outsourcing is poised to accelerate in 2010 as companies look for
next-generation cost savings opportunities coming out of the recession.

"Based on increased pressure to quickly meet changing business demands, CP
companies continue to be the leading adopters of procurement outsourcing," said
Rachael Stormonth, senior vice-president at Nelson-Hall, a leading Business
Process Outsourcing (BPO) research firm. "Companies such as Unilever,
Kimberly-Clark, Sara Lee and Chiquita are using procurement outsourcing to
reduce non-core costs and increase the effectiveness of their procurement
function."

Also in 2009, as part of a focused effort to enhance its offerings and delivery,
ICG Commerce formed a Consumer Products Executive Advisory Board to provide
strategic counsel on business issues facing the industry. The Executive Advisory
Board met on February 2nd and 3rd in Philadelphia for a roundtable discussion of
industry challenges such as private-label pressure and continued commodity cost
increases - both of which are driving the need for cost reductions - as well as
discussion of the opportunities presented by procurement outsourcing.

Click here for excerpts from interviews with these Advisory Board members during
the meeting.

"In 2010, the ability to drive earnings per share improvements continues to be a
challenge with a short list of solutions," said Jon Feeney, Managing Director
Research, Consumer Research Group, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC and guest speaker
at ICG Commerce`s February meeting. "Those companies who focus aggressively on
productivity will be most successful. I have seen a number of CP companies
implementing strategies involving procurement outsourcing to improve
productivity and reduce costs and expect this trend to continue."

For most of 2009, consumer products leaders reduced costs through traditional
one-time measures such as employee layoffs, plant closings and product price
cuts. In 2010, even with economic conditions stabilizing, companies are looking
for new ways to fund innovation and growth. Procurement outsourcing provides an
important opportunity to further strengthen top and bottom line performance.

"CP executives` primary focus has traditionally centered around the
consumer-facing side of the business, and especially of late, understanding
changing consumer behaviors with the downturn," said Manly Molpus, a member of
ICG Commerce`s CP Executive Advisory Board. "More recently, leaders are stepping
back to look at the overall business from top to bottom, with a focus on costs
too -- and procurement outsourcing represents an important opportunity to
improve operations and optimize spending."

Also discussed during the roundtable was the emerging trend among CP companies
to include marketing services spending in procurement outsourcing initiatives.
Marketing is an area long underserved from a procurement support standpoint,
largely because of a shortage of procurement resources with marketing subject
matter expertise. In response to demand from customers, ICG Commerce has built
out a specialized marketing services procurement capability to address this
need.

"We are expecting procurement outsourcing to continue to emerge as a key trend
among forward-thinking CP companies looking for the next-generation of cost
savings," said Carl Guarino, CEO of ICG Commerce. "In 2010, ICG Commerce will
continue to enhance its solution and the support we provide to the consumer
products industry with the strategic direction of our Advisory Board and our
customers in the industry."

About ICG Commerce, Inc.

ICG Commerce, the procurement outsourcing specialist, is driving a fundamental
change in the way today`s businesses achieve financial agility and fund growth.
ICG Commerce is the only procurement outsourcing specialist with superior market
intelligence integrated into an operational approach, resulting in hundreds of
millions of dollars in realized savings. ICG Commerce is a privately held
company and member of Internet Capital Group's (Nasdaq: ICGE) network of partner
companies.

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Racepoint Group for ICG Commerce
Cheri Keith, 781-487-4672
ckeith@racepointgroup.com

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