Checkpoint Systems' Global Service Bureaus Slash Label Costs by More Than 60% for International Retailer Charles Vogele.

Business Editors

THOROFARE, NJ--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 2000

Charles Vogele Chooses to Install Checkpoint's Digital RF EAS 

Systems Chainwide

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CKP), a leading provider of supply chain management and security solutions worldwide, has been selected by international fashion retailer Charles Vogele in Switzerland to provide apparel labels and digital radio frequency electronic article surveillance (RF/EAS) to its almost 600 retail stores across Europe. Checkpoint is one of the few loss prevention providers that harnesses the power of the Internet to deliver its services worldwide to companies like Vogele through a network of global service bureaus. By selecting Checkpoint, Charles Vogele has cut its label costs by more than 60% and greatly reduced the time it takes to transport time-sensitive merchandise to the sales floor of its locations in five European countries.

"Checkpoint's network of global service bureaus allows us to save dramatically on label costs. Even in a company such as ours, with sales of approximately $690 million, these savings are a tremendous boost to bottom-line earnings," said Eduardo Stahel, vice-director and head of the Sys/Com business unit of Charles Vogele Trading AG. "Another reason for our decision is Checkpoint's global leadership position in electronic protection and source tagging of goods. Service from one supplier corresponds with our philosophy of working with only a few companies who are the most renowned in their field," Stahel added.

With 25 facilities in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific, Checkpoint has the industry's largest network of service bureaus, capable of producing billions of labels each year with bar codes and variable data.

Checkpoint is taking advantage of its label converting facilities and worldwide service bureaus to produce and deliver labels to Charles Vogele's vendor facilities in Pakistan, India, China, Taiwan and other international locations, minimizing or eliminating many of the customs issues that can slow the movement of merchandise to the stores. The retailer uses approximately 70 million variably imprinted labels each season, each of which includes an item description, price and an EAN code. The item-specific labels are color-coded to identify whether they are destined for Charles Vogele stores in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Holland or Belgium. Checkpoint supplies these variably imprinted labels to the designated manufacturers who then apply them to the merchandise before dispatching it to the retail stores, where it arrives floor-ready.

Subcontracting label production to Checkpoint has benefited Charles Vogele in several ways. Checkpoint's technology has virtually eliminated label-handling costs for Charles Vogele and takes the responsibility for label processing out of the retailer's hands. Merchandise orders are transmitted online to Checkpoint, which activates a service bureau order for the corresponding labels. "We only trigger the orders, and the rest is the responsibility of Checkpoint and our manufacturers," Stahel said.

To further enhance its operations, Charles Vogele's plans to control shrinkage losses by using Checkpoint's digital RF EAS systems, deactivation units at the point-of-sale, and RF EAS tags and labels chain-wide in all of its 567 stores.

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. is a $750 million multinational company that manufactures and markets labeling systems designed to improve efficiency, reduce costs and provide value-added label solutions for customers across many markets and industries. Checkpoint is a leading provider of digital RF EAS and RFID systems, RF source tagging, barcode labeling systems, hand-held labeling systems, and retail merchandising systems. Applications include automatic identification, retail security, and pricing and promotional labels. Operating in 27 countries, Checkpoint has a global network of subsidiaries and provides professional customer service and technical support around the world. Checkpoint Systems, Inc.'s web site is located at www.checkpointsystems.com.