Montreal, QC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/28/2007 -- Impartial software evaluation firm Technology Evaluation Centers Inc. (TEC) launches its Merchandising Systems Evaluation Center to help companies select the software solutions they require for their specific business requirements.

Featuring research on prominent retail vendors, the Evaluation Center allows software buyers to easily compare solutions based on over 3000 criteria, in areas including inventory replenishment, purchasing, and vendor management, across multiple retail channels and countries.

"As retail organizations shift strategies to become more customer-centric, solutions that can facilitate, streamline, and automate operations are becoming 'must haves' in any size retail organization," says Christina Park, TEC research analyst for retail. "Technologies that help with inventory management and getting merchandise in the right stores at the right time are increasingly mission-critical."

Murray Forester, Editor of ChainStore Age Magazine, adds, "We have seen a trend toward a one-stop shop approach by retailers. In response, demand-driven solution providers are increasingly moving in the direction of offering end-to-end solutions."

Before approaching software vendors, TEC suggests companies engage in an online comparison of merchandising solutions using services such as TEC's eBestMatch software evaluation tool. This step can save firms time, money, and staffing resources during the critical selection process. Prominent merchandising systems vendors like Aldata, XpertMart, Lawson, and Epicor/CRS are participating in the Merchandising Systems Evaluation Center, and their solutions can already be considered for user evaluation.

Merchandising solutions often fail because customers lack a solid understanding of their own requirements. TEC believes that this is largely a failure in the request for information (RFI) process, by which customers evaluate their short-listed vendors.

For more information on the Merchandising Systems Evaluation Center and to start your own custom comparison, visit:
http://retail.technologyevaluation.com/merchandising/

About Technology Evaluation Centers Inc. (TEC) -- Founded in 1993, TEC is a leading online provider of resources to help organizations select software solutions best suited to their particular business models and special requirements. TEC currently maintains over twenty software evaluation resource centers containing specialized software evaluation tools, as well as thousands of detailed criteria on over 800 software solutions, ranging from enterprise resource planning (ERP) for distribution, customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM), to business intelligence (BI) and enterprise asset management (EAM). For more information, visit www.technologyevaluation.com.