MINNEAPOLIS, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Net Perceptions Inc. (Nasdaq: NETP) today issued an immediate call for entries from businesses in an endeavor to identify, then bring to reality the most compelling proposed application of its enterprise personalization software and services. The $500,000 maximum valuation of the award is based on up to $400,000 of Net Perceptions-licensed products, and up to $100,000 in integration services. Services will be supplied by Net Perceptions implementation partner, Wheelhouse Corporation, a leading eMarketing services firm. In addition, Net Perceptions and Wheelhouse will work with the winner's existing Web design firm to ensure the resulting personalization solution is integrated and consistent with the company's Web design initiatives.

The challenge was issued this morning in Boston from the sold-out Personalization Summit 2000, underwritten by Net Perceptions. Those businesses with an idea and plan for an innovative application of personalization have until May 17 to submit a proposal. Entry forms can be found on the Net Perceptions Web site (www.netperceptions.com) and entries can be submitted via fax, email or the Web.

Finalists will then be selected to present their proposals at the ICONOCAST Web Attack! Conference in New York City on June 8-9 with the winner announced before the close of the conference. An immediate implementation process will be undertaken to take the proposed application live and demonstrable prior to the November 2000 Personalization Summit in San Francisco, when the winner and implementation partners will present results.

"The power of personalization to fundamentally alter and dramatically improve the way businesses interact with their individual customers has only just begun to be realized," said Net Perceptions President and CEO Steven Snyder. "Frankly, we're anxious to see a deeper exploration of that potential, and this challenge should uncover exciting new potential for personalization technologies."

Wheelhouse President and CEO Frank Ingari added: "We share Net Perceptions' vision for the increasingly fundamental role personalization technologies are playing in shaping the best eMarketing strategies, and we're a natural partner to support this challenge."

"Although leading dot-coms are testing the waters with personalized Web experiences and tightly targeted e-mail campaigns, business has just started to appreciate how technology is rewriting the marketer's playbook," said Don Peppers of Peppers and Rogers Group, the management consulting firm which specializes in Customer Relationship Management and ebusiness strategies. "Understanding the potential implications of personalization is vital to understanding the importance of this new discipline. Programs, like this one offered by Net Perceptions, provide the means to further explore how businesses can continue to build their one-to-one customer relationships across the entire spectrum of potential transaction channels."

About Net Perceptions

Net Perceptions is a leading provider of realtime personalization and precision marketing software solutions for Internet and multi-channel retailers. Its software is designed to help retailers understand customers individually, optimize product assortments, prices and inventories and offer the right product to the right customer at the right price. Net Perceptions' customers include many of the world's best-known brands including: Art.com, Bertelsmann, The Children's Place, Egghead.com, eToys.com, Fingerhut, Hudson's Bay Company, J.C. Penney, Procter & Gamble, Tower Records and Walgreens. Incorporated in Delaware, July 3, 1996, the company has offices in Minneapolis, San Francisco, New York, Austin, Texas, Richardson, Texas, Berkshire, U.K. and joint venture operations in Japan.

About Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse Corporation is the first eMarketing services firm focused solely on helping Marketing and IT exploit the Internet's transformational marketing power. Wheelhouse enables organizations to attract, develop and retain customers through the strategic implementation of Internet marketing strategies, technologies and techniques. The firm's services center around two fixed-price consulting practices, eMarketing Strategy and Internet Marketing Technology Implementation, followed by two optional continuing offerings, eMarketing Services and Applications Management. Incorporated in October 1999, the company is funded by leading venture capital firms: Charles River Ventures, Integral Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. For more information visit www.wheelhouse.com or contact Wheelhouse at info@wheelhouse.com or telephone 781-685-4920.

Net Perceptions is a registered trademark of Net Perceptions Inc. Greenlight Go! is a service mark of Net Perceptions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are the company's limited operating history, delays in product development, development of the Internet market, changes in product pricing policies, competitive pressures and the risk factors detailed from time to time in the company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Net Perceptions Inc.

CONTACT: Jacqueline Hanson of Net Perceptions, 612-918-1749, or 800-466-0711, or jhanson@netperceptions.com; or John Taylor of Waggener Edstrom, 425-637-9097, or johnt@wagged.com ; or Lisa Colli of Wheelhouse Corp., 781-685-2949, or lisa_colli@wheelhouse.com /