Retail Pro, Page-Digital File for Bankruptcy

Retail merchandise management systems vendor Retail Pro (formerly Island Pacific) and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Page Digital, IP Retail Technologies International and Sabica Ventures, entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 10.

Retail Pro has been struggling to survive over the past several years with declining sales and fewer annual maintenance renewals. On Sept. 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed securities fraud charges against Retail Pro and two of its former CEOs, as well as a former chief financial officer, for their roles in an accounting fraud scheme designed to falsely inflate Island Pacific's revenues.

Retail Pro is used by some of the largest retailers in the country. Some of its customers have taken on the development, maintenance and continued growth of the product internally or through the use of third-party vendors -- some of which are former Retail Pro software design and developers.

Whether Retail Pro will be able to regroup under the protection of Chapter 11, and whether investors or another company will step up and acquire it, remains to be seen.

Paul Sobota is vice president of F. Curtis Barry & Co. (www.fcbco.com), a multichannel operations and fulfillment consulting firm with expertise in systems, warehouse, call center, inventory and benchmarking.