Klatu

CNET Content Solutions DataSource™ Powers Klatu's Leading E-commerce Application for Latin America/Caribbean

CNET Content Solutions's product data powers Klatu's leading international e-commerce application for Latin America and the Caribbean

CNET Content Solutions's DataSource™ has helped transform Florida-based Klatu from an online technology reseller to a leading international e-commerce application provider within Latin America and the Caribbean.

Klatu first used DataSource to develop its e-commerce application in order to resell Ingram Micro and Tech Data's products throughout Latin America.

"We utilized DataSource's highly structured and multilingual content and image data to combine Ingram Micro and Tech Data's inventory information," said Klatu President Ralph Falkenburg.

"Once we proved our application's suitability and operational model during 2001, we changed our company's direction and became an Application Service Provider (ASP). We added additional functionality, a marketing front-end and began licensing our eComT application to Latin American and Caribbean resellers that required branded e-commerce solutions. In addition to resellers, our application has since proved attractive to manufacturers interested in selling products into Latin America and distributors interested in increasing their inventory visibility through Latin American reseller-branded websites."

CNET Content Solutions's DataSource service provides Klatu's eComT application with the highly structured product information required to effectively power a multi-lingual online e-commerce application. This makes it possible for the application to display both Ingram Micro and Tech Data pricing and availability, other suppliers and the reseller's own inventory. DataSource contains parametric data, photographs, marketing descriptions and relationship data that allow Klatu to greatly enhance its e-commerce offering. DataSource transforms, on demand, the customer's product portfolio into rich, granular, and standardized product data, called Transactive Product DataT (TPDT). TPD enables customers to build an enhanced, multilingual, multi-vendor and well-informed purchase environment at a fraction of the cost of most internal operations.

Klatu's eComT is a true international e-commerce solution. The underlying tool integrates extensive international e-commerce functionality; DataSource's highly structured content and images, along with pricing and availability information from major supply chain partners. The embedded e-commerce functionality includes real-time pricing and availability, multiple payment methods, a pricing engine, product filtering, multiple INCOTERM pricing, including landed-cost pricing, multiple languages, and currencies. The resulting solution is very affordable, powerful and easily customized to a customer's requirements.

"CNET Content Solutions's structured content data made it possible to build an international e-commerce application. This differentiated eComT and Klatu from the other available e-commerce ASP solution providers." said Ralph. "CNET Content Solutions is the clear leader in technology content provision and its product information comes in multiple languages. Choosing them was a logical decision. Our engine is already available in Spanish and English and will be released later this year in Portuguese. By being able to quickly and seamlessly bring our application to market in Spanish we realized a sizeable additional cost-benefit. There's no doubt that partnering with CNET Content Solutions has increased our competitive advantage."

In the future, Klatu plans to expand its eComT application into the area of consumer electronics products and CNET Content Solutions will be its first choice as content partner.

About Klatu

Klatu, headquartered in Miami Florida develops and provides multi-lingual international e-commerce solutions for resellers, distributors and manufacturers that supply Latin America and the Caribbean. Klatu's principal e-commerce platform; eComT, integrates CNET's structured multi-lingual product data with supply chain information, international logistics and export compliance intelligence, resulting in an affordable and powerful e-solution. The application communicates with third party information providers via XML and API links, allowing real-time e-commerce sales based on real-time information about product availability & pricing, foreign exchange rates and transportation costs.