11/18/03 - Raleigh, NC - HAHT Commerce, the leading provider of Demand Chain Management applications, announced that Central Garden & Pet, a leading innovator, marketer and producer of quality branded products for professional use in the garden and pet categories, has selected HAHT Commerce for its product information management solution.

As part of their efforts to become a great business partner to their retail customers, Central Garden & Pet has implemented HAHT® Quick Connect for UCCnet™ services. This solution enables Central Garden & Pet to manage all of their product information in a central catalog and to use the UCCnet GLOBALregistryÒ services to keep that product information synchronized with their customers, including PETsMART, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowes.

According to research from analyst firm A.T. Kearney, consumer products companies waste up to $50 billion each year as a result of product information errors in catalogs and on invoices. HAHT Commerce has solved this problem and the results are a win-win for both the manufacturer and the retailer.

The HAHT Quick Connect for UCCnet Services solution was designed to be a comprehensive and secure behind-the-firewall solution that enables a company to manage their product information through a single interface and synchronize that information with the UCCnet GLOBALregistry service. In addition, the solution can be rapidly deployed and can publish product information to a variety of other formats.

“After researching a number of data synchronization solution providers, we chose HAHT Commerce because their solution covers the entire product information management lifecycle, not just data synchronization with UCCnet services,” said Stephen Levandowski, CIO of Central Garden & Pet. "Using the HAHT Quick Connect product, we have a powerful catalog to manage all of our data sources and a mechanism to quickly synchronize that data with UCCnet services or send it to a variety of other sources.”

“We congratulate Central Garden & Pet for their continued technological innovations that give them a reputation among their customers as one of the easiest companies to do business with,” said Tom Thomas, president and CEO of HAHT Commerce. “At HAHT, we understand this goal of customer success and are proud to help Central Garden & Pet achieve it.”


About Central Garden & Pet Company
Central Garden & Pet Company is a leading innovator, marketer and producer of quality branded products for the pet and lawn and garden supplies markets. Our pet products include pet bird and small animal food, aquarium products, flea, tick, mosquito and other pest control products, edible bones, cages, carriers, pet books, and other dog, cat, reptile and small animal products. These products are sold under a number of brand names, including Kaytee®, All-Glass Aquarium®, Zodiac®, Altosid®, Nylabone®, TFH® and Four Paws®. Our lawn and garden products include grass seed, wild bird food, weed and insect control products, decorative outdoor patio products and ant control products. These products are sold under a number of brand names, including Pennington®, Norcal Pottery®, Lilly Miller®, Matthews Four Seasons®, AMDRO® and Grant's®. For additional information on Central Garden & Pet, including access to the Company's SEC filings, please visit the Company's website at http://www.centralgardenandpet.com/.