April 09, 2009

S.P. Richards Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Genuine Parts Company (GPC:NYSE) and leading wholesale distributor of business and office supplies, announced today...

New and Improved Design Made Easy® furniture space planning and sales visualization tool launches

Design Made Easy®, S.P. Richards Company’s state-of-the-art online furniture space planning and sales visualization tool, is now live. With Design Made Easy®, dealers will be able to work with furniture clients and prospective clients to develop a virtual layout of their ideal workspace. Enhancements to the program include more realistic graphics of S.P. Richards’ furniture offering and the option to work in either 2D or 3D views. Users have the ability to rotate rooms and products, zoom in and out, paint the walls, lay the carpet, and show the client exactly what their finished office will look like.

"We’ve made some truly dynamic improvements to the Design Made Easy program. Being able to work in an interactive way with your clients and show them what their actual office environment will look like is extremely powerful", said Dawn St. Peters, S.P. Richards Furniture Program Training Manager. "We believe this program can be a difference maker for our customers."

For additional details on the new Design Made Easy® program, dealers can contact their local S.P. Richards Sales Representative.

S.P. Richards Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Genuine Parts Company (GPC: NYSE), distributes a wide spectrum of business products to office products resellers throughout the U.S. and Canada. These products include consumable office supplies, office furniture, computer supplies, consumer electronics, cleaning and breakroom supplies from all of the major industry manufacturers. S.P. Richards Company also markets several proprietary brands under the names of Lorell, Integra, Sparco, Genuine Joe, Nature Saver, Compucessory, and Elite Image. The company operates 43 Distribution Centers in the United States and Canada.

Genuine Parts Company is a distributor of automotive replacement parts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Company also distributes industrial replacement parts in the U.S. and Canada through its Motion Industries subsidiary. S. P. Richards Company, the Office Products Group, distributes business products nationwide in the U.S. and in Canada. The Electrical/Electronic Group, EIS, Inc., distributes electrical and electronic components throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Genuine Parts Company had 2008 revenues of $11.0 billion.