Royal Ahold (NYSE:AHO - news), the leading international food provider, today announced that six new retailers have joined the WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE), of which Ahold is a founding member. The six new retailers are Dairy Farm International (Hong Kong), Dansk Supermarked (Denmark), El Corte Ingles (Spain), Rite Aid Corporation (USA), Safeway plc (UK) and Supervalu (USA). They boost the number of members of this business-to-business (B2B) Web-based exchange to 25. In addition to the six new retailers, WWRE membership includes, in alphabetical order: Ahold (the Netherlands): Albertson's (USA), Auchan (France), Best Buy (USA), Casino (France), Cora (France), CVS (USA), Delhaize (Belgium), The Gap (USA), J.C. Penney (USA), Jusco (Japan), Kesko (Finland), Kingfisher (UK), Kmart (USA), Marks & Spencer (UK), Safeway Inc. (USA), Target (USA), Tesco (UK) and Walgreens (USA). "We're very pleased to have players of this caliber all actively involved in the WorldWide Retail Exchange," said Gerard van Breen, senior vice president global sourcing at Ahold, one of the retailers that took the initiative to form the WWRE last March. "Through the Exchange, that will be operational in August, we see great opportunities for Ahold's global and regional sourcing activities, lowering our costs considerably. We are convinced the Exchange will become the preferred place for retailers and suppliers to conduct transactions. We believe it will swiftly become the standard for all B2B e-commerce transactions." The WWRE (