PARIS & ATLANTA – December 2009

With a successful deployment of Manhattan’s WMS at a sixth DC, a company-wide upgrade to the latest solution release, and integration of a recently acquired store chain, Kiabi’s seven year collaboration with Manhattan continues to reap dividends, helping make the retailer’s supply chain a key enabler for growth

Global supply chain optimisation provider Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH) today announced that Kiabi, one of France's leading value-clothing fashion retailers, has successfully implemented Manhattan Associates’ Warehouse Management solution (WMS) at its new 710,000 square foot distribution centre (DC) in Lauwin-Planque (Northern France). In addition to this most recent go-live success, Kiabi is in parallel completing two other major projects in conjunction with the Manhattan system. It has upgraded its five other DCs across Europe to the latest version of Manhattan’s WMS and it is integrating the supply chain operations of 75 additional stores to Kiabi’s existing Manhattan-supported supply chain.

The system go-live at the Lauwin-Planque site follows five previous deployments of the Manhattan solution at Kiabi’s DCs located in Tournai (Belgium), Mâcon (South of France), Villeneuve d’Ascq (Northern France), Madrid (Spain) and Dourges (Northern France). This most recent implementation, on a site which is equipped with automated conveyor, sorting and mini-load storage systems from Savoye, required the integration of the Manhattan WMS with Savoye’s Warehouse Control System (WCS). The phased roll-out of the solution at Lauwin-Planque was conducted in parallel to a company-wide upgrade programme that will enable all six DCs to rely on to the latest version of Manhattan’s WMS. The six sites now represent a combined warehousing capacity of 1.8 million square feet and support order fulfilment to a network of more than 300 stores across France, Spain, Italy and Romania.

In 2010, Kiabi will integrate the Vêti store chain into its current operations, adding 75 stores to its existing Manhattan-supported distribution infrastructure. Manhattan’s solutions enable Kiabi to manage the warehouse operations of all its DCs in real time and provide the necessary flexibility and visibility for continuously optimising its supply chain processes.

“Our new Lauwin-Planque site opened in May 2009 and will soon be processing 150 million individual clothing items per year. It allows us to support our already extensive and rapidly expanding store network,” declares Béatrice Régnier, logistics organisation manager at Kiabi. “The Manhattan team, with whom we’ve partnered for seven years, has helped us simultaneously manage three key projects during 2009. Our partnership with Manhattan Associates continues to reap benefits and the long-term nature of the partnership gives us huge confidence that we can effectively execute the next stages of our supply chain development programme.”

The next phase of the Manhattan technology roll-out, scheduled for 2010, will extend to Kiabi’s e-commerce operation and to the implementation of Manhattan’s technology at the distribution hubs of Kiabi’s logistics services partners.

Henri Seroux, general manager of Manhattan Associates France, commented, “The long term relationship that exists between Kiabi and Manhattan Associates is built on a mutual understanding of one of the retailer’s strategic imperatives: to create a robust distribution platform that supports the company’s growth at the same time as providing a key competitive advantage. We believe the investments we make in our technologies every year go a long way to helping clients such as Kiabi continuously improve their supply chain operations and evolve their distribution capabilities to adapt to their ever changing business needs. We are proud of the role we have played in helping Kiabi to become a genuine supply chain leader, and we look forward to supporting the next phase of the company’s supply chain development programme defined for 2010.”