CHICAGO, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Net Perceptions, Inc. (Nasdaq: NETP) today announced at the Retail Systems Conference in Chicago the availability of Net Perceptions Intelligence for Advertising, the first data analysis solution proven to maximize revenue return for print promotional campaigns. Net Perceptions Intelligence for Advertising is a breakthrough for retailers, who have long sought to understand how to improve the total impact of a sales promotion, by identifying exactly how a specific featured product increases up-sell, cross-sell and in-store traffic.

Net Perceptions Intelligence for Advertising provides an analytics-based alternative to what historically has been an ad-hoc approach to defining which products will be featured in promotional advertising such as Sunday circular ads -- with the potential for significant cost savings.

Retailers such as Net Perceptions customer JCPenney can now reference data representing three years of in-store transactions and promotional history to determine exactly what products to feature, when these products will most appeal to customers, as well as the optimal product placement on the page. The result is lower-cost ad circular campaigns that also increase store visits, revenue per transaction and transaction margin.

"For mass merchandisers, a typical weekly merchandising campaign involves cross-departmental negotiations and limited perspectives for selecting products to feature in promotional advertising campaigns," said Steve Larsen, senior vice president of Net Perceptions. "This solution makes current practices for managing promotions virtually obsolete and takes the process to a level that encompasses all products and departments in both the individual store and the chain to achieve maximum increases in total store revenues and margins. Promotion strategies can now be based on data-derived intelligence rather than the limiting factors such as promotional routines, departmental politics or incomplete information."

For the first time, retailers can have a baseline for performance across all product lines and then understand the incremental impact of a promotional item against every other item in the store. For example, a featured bathrobe may draw customers to the store, but may not result in the sale of additional items. By comparison, promoting a specific brand of flatware may drive a large increase in the sale of other non-advertised items, thereby improving overall promotional performance. Until now, retailers have not had access to technology that delivers fast, accurate and deep analysis and recommendations to leverage promotional campaigns for consistent improvement in same store sales.

Additionally, using Net Perceptions Intelligence for Advertising, retailers can more accurately define discount pricing and strategies for improved margins. Financial benefits extend to the potential for reduced advertising costs because more effective product selection, pricing and placement may also result in the reduction of the number of ad pages.

With the acquisition of KD1 earlier this year, Net Perceptions gained a set of advanced data analysis solutions and extensive retail industry expertise. The acquisition is part of an aggressive strategy to deliver the most effective merchandising solutions for multi-channel and dot.com retailers.

The proprietary functionality of Net Perceptions Intelligence for Advertising allows retailers to gain valuable insight into several areas of promotion design:

• Department space allocation -- The ability to understand promotional performance at the department level allows for smarter space allocation.
• Product role analysis -- Fast, factual identification of the role each product plays in the promotional strategy, including feature items, traffic builders, cross-sell drivers and products that should not be promoted.
• Pricing analysis -- Deep analysis of the impact of various pricing strategies on the performance of the promotion aids retailers in defining the how best to balance traffic building discounts with margin improvements.
• Cross-sell identification -- Accurate recommendations on the best cross-sell opportunities for each featured item.

About Net Perceptions

Net Perceptions is a leading provider of enterprise-wide 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, CDNOW, 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 a joint venture operation in Japan. For more information about Net Perceptions products visit ttp://www.netperceptions.com or call 800-466-0711.

Net Perceptions is a registered trademark 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 /