MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 11, 2001--

Net Perceptions, Inc. (Nasdaq:NETP) today announced that Brylane, the third-largest U.S. catalog retailer, has signed a multi-million dollar contract to purchase both Net Perceptions call centers and e-commerce solutions to improve its overall revenue growth and enhance customer service across the two core channels of its operations.

The decision followed a Net Perceptions test pilot within Brylane's call center operations that increased overall average order sizes and promotional effectiveness. When the technology is deployed across the entire call center operation, as well as Brylane's Internet sites, it is expected to provide a significant bottom line increase.

"As one of the more successful catalog retailers in the U.S., Brylane clearly does things right," said Steven Snyder, Net Perceptions president and CEO. "To go into such an environment and deliver clear uplift is especially satisfying. This success is another convincing illustration of Net Perceptions' ability to effectively deliver on our company goal of transforming insight into profitable action for the world's leading retailers."

Brylane CEO Russell Stravitz said: "Net Perceptions has demonstrated that they can be a key player in helping Brylane realize its performance goals. They're providing Brylane with the single view of our customer across all our operations that is essential as we rapidly expand more of our catalog brands to the Web during the next year. The results generated during our test demonstrate their ability to provide us with a competitive edge in a very competitive industry."

During the 13-week study, a test was conducted in a controlled environment. Overall sales of the test group were compared to those of a control group that continued to use Brylane's traditional recommendation strategy. The result was a substantial lift in overall sales.

"Retailers are beginning to demand reasonable return on investment for CRM (customer relations management) solutions," said Jeff Roster, Gartner Dataquest, senior analyst, Retail. "Net Perceptions is one vendor that recognizes this demand and has created an offering aimed at meeting that requirement. If a retailer the size of a Brylane can realize even incremental lift from improved promotional effectiveness, it has the potential of adding millions to its bottom line."

The Net Perceptions solution has the added benefit of enhancing overall customer service by providing recommendations based on customers' own tastes to help them complete entire outfits based on a single item selection. During the study, operators repeatedly received comments from customers such as, "How did I miss these stretch pants? They are definitely something I would like," or, "Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'd marked it ... but I'd overlooked it."

"Those kind of comments are very important to us," noted Stravitz. "This feedback helps demonstrate that not only are Net Perceptions recommendations accurate, but our customers appreciate the level of service we were able to provide using this technology."

About Brylane

With more than $1.5 billion in sales, Brylane is the third-largest US catalog and Internet retailer. The company sells women's clothes through its Lane Bryant, Roaman's and Jessica London catalogs and men's apparel under the KingSize name. Brylane also sells women's regular-sized apparel through the Lerner and Chadwick's of Boston catalogs, and it has a catalog of home items, Brylane Home. Brylane markets some catalogs under an agreement with Sears. The company was acquired by French retailer Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) in 1998.

About Net Perceptions

Net Perceptions, a leading provider of precision merchandising and personalization infrastructure software, is the innovator and preeminent supplier of software solutions that allow companies to translate insight into profitable business action. Its Commerce Solutions and Knowledge Solutions products enable companies to capitalize on business information and optimize product assortments, pricing, customer relationships and intellectual capital. Customers include market leaders such as Best Buy, GUS, J.P. Morgan, JC Penney, Kmart and Tesco. The company is based in the U.S. and has offices in six other countries, including the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and a joint venture operation in Japan. For more information visit http://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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

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