Unilever and USA Technologies Forge an Alliance to Capture Student Laundry Marketplace
20 November 2003 - 2:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
Unilever and USA Technologies Forge an Alliance to Capture Student
Laundry Marketplace eSuds(TM) System will Automatically Inject
'all' Detergent and 'all' Fabric Softener into Students' Laundry
GREENWICH, Conn. and MALVERN, Pa., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- Unilever , a global leader in home and personal care products
and USA Technologies (BULLETIN BOARD: USTT) , makers of eSuds(TM),
an online laundry payment, operating and service system, jointly
announced a five year, multi-million dollar strategic alliance
targeting the college and university students in the United States.
Together the companies will launch a concerted program to better
the college laundry experience while capturing a market consisting
of 7 million young consumers. With an estimated 600,000 laundry
machines nationwide in colleges and universities, students will
have the ability to do their laundry more efficiently and with
greater convenience in their new homes. This is the ideal system
for college students, many of whom are new to the laundry process.
From the laundry room, students activate the eSuds system at a
control "hub" with the swipe of their student ID cards or keying in
a unique pin number. The system automatically injects a
pre-measured amount of 'all' laundry detergent and 'all' fabric
softener into each load, at the right time. Developed in
collaboration with IBM, USA Technologies' eSuds is able to connect
washing machines and dryers to the Internet, giving students the
ability to go online to check machine availability, pay with their
student ID and choose to receive an email when their wash and dry
cycles are complete. The system also gives laundry operators the
ability to go online to monitor service conditions, usage and
sales, and utilize alternative payment methods. "This is an
exciting venture for both USA Technologies and Unilever," said
Erika Bender, Vice President and Channel Manager, USA Technologies.
"Together we are introducing a new 'pay injection' laundry service
to college students, providing them with a higher level of service
and convenience," she said. "The 'all' laundry brand team
understands that students are on a tight budget, but still want
their clothes to look and smell great which is why 'all' is the
ideal laundry detergent and fabric softener for this program," said
Craig Cicciari, Director of Strategic Alliances of Unilever. "By
combining USA Technologies' eSuds know-how with Unilever's
knowledge of detergents and fabric softeners, we are opening up new
opportunities and providing a new level of laundry service to
students," he said. "With Unilever as a strategic partner, the
opportunities are limitless," said Ms. Bender. "This alliance
illustrates how far we have come with eSuds, which initially was
offered as a service for operators and students, and now has become
a complete end-to-end solution. We're working with Unilever to
integrate our equipment and systems to deliver a seamless eSuds
system on campuses to college students," she said. About Unilever:
Unilever is one of the world's largest consumer products companies
with annual sales of approximately $47 billion in 2002. It produces
and markets a wide range of foods and home and personal care
products. Unilever operates in around 100 countries around the
globe and employs approximately 250,000 people. In the United
States, Unilever sales were approximately $11 billion in 2002. It
employs approximately 15,225 people and has 59 offices and
manufacturing sites in 21 states. The business comprises: Home and
Personal Care: "all" laundry detergent and fabric softener, Surf
and Wisk laundry detergents; Snuggle fabric softener; Sunlight dish
detergent; Lever 2000, Caress, Pond's and Vaseline skin care; the
Dove family of anti-perspirant, skin- and hair-care products; the
Suave family of anti-perspirant, skin- and hair-care products; Axe
deodorant bodyspray for men; Q-tips cotton swabs; Finesse, Salon
Selectives, and ThermaSilk hair care products; and Calvin Klein,
Cerruti and Vera Wang prestige fragrances. Foods: Lipton teas,
soups and side dishes; Wish-Bone salad dressings and marinades;
Lawry's seasonings and specialty sauces; Shedd's Country Crock and
"I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" spreads and sprays; Ragu pasta
and pizza sauces; Knorr soups, sauces and bouillons; Hellmann's and
Best Foods mayonnaise; Skippy peanut butter; Bertolli olive oil,
premium pasta sauces and frozen dinners; Good Humor-Breyers and Ben
& Jerry's Homemade, Inc. ice cream companies; and Slim-Fast
nutritional and health snack products. Visit Unilever at
http://www.unilever.com/ About USA Technologies: USA Technologies
is a leader in the networking of distributed assets, wireless
non-cash and m-commerce transactions, associated financial/network
services and interactive media technology and energy management.
USA Technologies provides networked credit card and other
non-cash/mobile commerce systems in the vending, commercial,
laundry, hospitality and digital imaging industries. USA
Technologies is an IBM Business Partner and an inaugural member of
the Sprint Enabling Application Service Provider Program for
e-commerce. The Company has marketing agreements with the IBM
Corporation and MEI and the ZiLOG Corporation.
http://www.usatech.com/ Statement under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act: With the exception of the historical
information contained in this release, the matters described herein
contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and
uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters
herein described, including but not limited to product acceptance,
the ability to increase revenues, the ability to achieve
profitability, the ability to obtain orders for its products, the
ability to obtain new customers, the ability to meet installation
goals, economic, competitive, governmental impacts, whether its
pending patents will be granted or defendable; validity of
intellectual property and patents of USA, the ability of USA to
license its patents, the ability of USA to commercialize its
developmental products, technological and/or other factors, which
could cause actual results or revenues to differ materially from
those contemplated by these statements. DATASOURCE: USA
Technologies; Unilever CONTACT: Wendy Jenkins of USA Technologies,
1-800-633-0340, ; Stacie Bright of Unilever, +1-203-625-1130, ;
Investor Relations - Ken Sgro, CEOcast, Inc. for USA Technologies,
+1-212-732-4300 Web site: http://www.unilever.com/
http://www.usatech.com/
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