www.personalization.com Offers Relevant Information, News and Analysis, and Provides an Open Forum for Consumers, Suppliers, Industry Experts Encouraging

Exploration and Debate

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Web information resource, www.personalization.com , was launched today to promote discussion and debate about how emergent personalization technologies will affect the future of e-commerce, Internet-based communities of interest, and next-generation online marketing initiatives. Underwritten by Net Perceptions(R), Inc. (Nasdaq: NETP) and edited by contrarian Internet business pioneer Christopher Locke, the site is an open, non-commercial forum that has already attracted accolades and contributions from many noted industry figures.

"Personalization.com covers one of the most promising dimensions of e-commerce -- the technologies that make one-to-one marketing possible online," said Don Peppers, co-author of several books on Customer Relationship Management, including the soon-to-be-released The One to One Manager: Real-World Lessons in Customer Relationship Management (Doubleday, October 1999). "Moreover, because CRM and personalization require the integration of technologies and business processes across many different parts of an enterprise, the site's collaborative, non-competitive approach is likely to prove a strong asset to its users."

Marketers using Web and Email personalization technologies have the ability to tailor each page seen by prospects and customers. In doing so, marketers can achieve the benefits of using individual salespeople with the cost of traditional mass marketing. Today's personalization products can learn a great deal about the interests and needs of each individual by asking questions and observing behavior. Personalization can also help form strong, lasting relationships with customers by providing individualized content, information and services.

In addition to listings of vendors, analysts, industry associations, books, current news, and pointers to other Web resources, the personalization.com site offers penetrating discussion and thoughtful debate on core issues relating to the application of personalization technologies. At launch, the site includes contributions from leading Internet business analysts, including Esther Dyson, Thom Forbes, Bruce Kasanoff, B. Joseph Pine II, Thomas Petzinger Jr., Robert Seidman, Jim Sterne, Michael Beckley, Toria Thompson and Kevin Werbach. The site also provides an open, no-holds-barred discussion forum for exchanging questions, opinions, ideas and experiences.

Net Perceptions conceived the idea for the site because it saw a general lack of understanding about the implications and issues surrounding personalization. The site is actively soliciting articles and points of view from anyone with a cogent perspective on the topic -- including the company's competitors.

"You might expect to see our logo blasted all over these pages, but it's not," said Net Perceptions' SVP Steve Larsen. "Instead, our aim was to create a content-rich, non-promotional destination -- a sort of Personalization Switzerland. Although there's some terrific material out there, and some capable reporters and authors covering the space, this information is scattered all over the Web. There's also a lot of garbage and misinformation floating around. We want personalization.com to be a place where the best minds and ideas come together, mix with a little heated discussion to elicit new ideas, and ultimately to become the most comprehensive, credible source of information on personalization available anywhere."

While underwritten by Net Perceptions, personalization.com is anchored by an independent editorial team led by Christopher Locke, editor/publisher of the controversial webzine, Entropy Gradient Reversals, and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto ( www.cluetrain.com ). According to Locke, Internet businesses will only be successful if they enter into honest, open conversations with their markets, and personalization could do much to facilitate such dialogues. "At present, 'personalization' is an ill-defined placeholder for a grab bag of technologies," Locke said. "There's much concern and confusion about how these techniques can either be abused by companies or applied to deliver genuine value to online customers. The site is a place to explore these issues in depth from multiple perspectives, both pro and con. With the help of a lot of smart people who are thinking deeply about these matters, we hope to help companies make the best and most appropriate use of Web personalization."

About Net Perceptions

Net Perceptions is the leading supplier of realtime personalization solutions that enable businesses to market to customers on a true one-to-one basis across multiple touch points. Net Perceptions solutions increase new and repeat business by learning more about each customer's individual needs, tastes and preferences with every interaction, then making increasingly personalized product and service recommendations. Products include Net Perceptions for E-commerce, Net Perceptions for Call Centers, Net Perceptions for Ad Targeting and the Net Perceptions Recommendation Engine.

Net Perceptions, based in Minneapolis, is a publicly held company (Nasdaq: NETP) which operates additional offices in New York, San Francisco, the United Kingdom and a joint venture office in Japan. Customers include many of the world's best known brands including: Art.com; Bertelsmann; Billboard TalentNet; CDnow; E!Online, Micron, SkyMall, Tower Records and Ticketmaster Online. For more information about Net Perceptions products visit http://www.netperceptions.com or call 800-466-0711.

SOURCE Net Perceptions, Inc.