ACNielsen Upgrades Leading Business Intelligence Internet Portal With New Sales Management System; Category Masters Attendees Among First to See Sales Management Planner.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 2002

New System Accessed Through ACNielsen Answers(TM) Web Portal 

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU Company, today unveiled Sales Management Planner (SMP), a new Web-based sales management system accessed through the ACNielsen Answers(TM) Internet portal. The system was demonstrated here during Category Masters, ACNielsen's annual client conference attended by over 500 executives from the consumer packaged goods industry.

SMP gives manufacturers a whole new way of analyzing their proprietary databases of product sales information, derived from the ACNielsen Scantrack(R) retail measurement service, and communicating those decision-ready insights quickly to people across the organization. It is the second in a planned series of Web-based business management systems available through the ACNielsen Answers portal, following the successful launch of Category Business Planner, a tool that assists manufacturers and retailers in their joint category management efforts by organizing sales information according to individual retailers' category definitions.

John Petrakis, senior vice president, Marketing, ACNielsen U.S., said, "The pace of business today demands that up-to-the-minute insights be available whenever and wherever decision-makers need them. Through the ACNielsen Answers portal, our manufacturer clients can access Sales Management Planner anytime, anywhere for the mission-critical insights that drive their businesses."

Whereas Category Business Planner provides a common language between retailers and manufacturers when they collaborate on category plans, Sales Management Planner is designed specifically for manufacturers and their field sales organizations. Using the manufacturers' own proprietary product sales databases, SMP provides:

    --  Scorecards that deliver a quick view of key performance
        indicators such as sales, market share, items carried, and
        more;

    --  Insights Reports that provide more detailed analysis of key
        performance indicators, merchandising and promotion analysis,
        consumer analysis via the ACNielsen Homescan(R) consumer
        panel, and custom analysis;

    --  Alerts that are sent to users' desktops, notifying them of
        significant marketplace changes in brand share, volume, price,
        distribution and promotion activities.

SMP fosters collaboration among people within the manufacturer's organization by making it quick and easy for them to share information. For example, a sales manager could set up reports based on criteria primarily relevant to the sales organization and then grant access to those reports to others in that organization.

Sales Management Planner is available now through the ACNielsen Answers collaborative business intelligence Internet portal, which brings unmatched sales and consumer content to ACNielsen clients through the Web.

ACNielsen, a VNU company, is the world's leading marketing information company. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the company provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.

Note to Editors: Look for this press release and other ACNielsen news on the Internet at http://acnielsen.com/news.