Apropos Retail Ships Visual Allocation for Closed-Loop Decision Support by Chain Retailers.

SEATTLE and MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999--

Mission Critical Merchandising Module Fully Integrates

With Informix's MetaCube to Deliver a Powerful Link

to Apropos Retail Data Warehouses

Apropos Retail Management Systems, the leading provider of software for chain retail management for small and mid-size chain retailers, and Informix(R) Corporation (NASDAQ: IFMX), the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, today announced the immediate availability of Apropos Visual Allocation Version 1.0, a next generation, mission critical merchandising module that delivers closed-loop decision support for chain retailers.

The latest product in the Apropos Retail Management Systems suite, Apropos Visual Allocation fully integrates with Informix's MetaCube(R) to create a powerful link between Visual Allocation and Informix-based Apropos data warehouses and data stores. This link enables allocators to quickly access important information needed to get the right merchandise in the right place at the right time.

Jay Jacobs, a 118-store specialty apparel retailer targeting career and casual clothing for young men and women, is the first retailer to announce its commitment to Apropos Visual Allocation.

"Virtually every chain retailer recognizes that proper allocation of merchandise can have a tremendous impact on profitability," explained Kent McNall, president of Apropos Retail. "Shipping merchandise accurately the first time -- to store locations with the best chance of selling it -- not only directly improves margins, but reduces markdowns and the cost of transferring merchandise."

Apropos Visual Allocation is designed within a 3-tier architecture to connect to operational Apropos3 data warehouses and data stores via the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) of Informix's MetaCube, enabling efficient access to Informix-based Apropos data warehouses and data marts via a client/server interface or Web browser. The MetaCube component, according to McNall, is what gives Visual Allocation its punch.

Added Kenneth Leung, manager of global retail industry marketing at Informix, "MetaCube is a highly sophisticated data analysis solution that helps our customers derive business information from their data warehouses. Its intuitive, multi-dimensional view of data is designed for easy navigation by business analysts and decision-making executives who require answers to their sophisticated analytical problems. By giving organizations insight into metrics not accessible before, MetaCube enables customers to get the smartest information out of their data warehouses and data marts for predictive analysis."

In developing Visual Allocation, the Apropos team found a wide variety of allocation methods being employed by retailers. Most allocators were using some combination of printed reports and manual spreadsheets to support their allocation decisions and distributions. In one case study, a retailer was performing 30+ minutes of manual manipulation on every single line item that came through their door. "We knew we could dramatically reduce that to a two-to-five minute process," explained McNall. "The resulting time savings of Visual Allocation can be staggering."

The flexibility of Visual Allocation allows an allocator to base merchandise distribution decisions on many factors. For example, for a new style, an allocator can base allocation on sales of the same product class for the past seven, 30, or 60 days. They can base the decision on sales of a similar product, style, or coordinate grouping. Historically, an allocator ran many sales reports to get this information, resulting in a time-consuming decision-making process. The data warehouse interface of Visual Allocation allows allocators to easily customize their view of the data and construct queries in order to get sales analysis instantly.

The `Visual' aspect of Allocation is also very important, according to McNall. "There is a reason allocators love to use spreadsheets," he said. "Allocation is very much a visual exercise. Allocators need to be able to freely change and play with the numbers, dragging and dropping data between allocation `bands,' and trying lots of `what if' scenarios. We wanted to re-create the spreadsheet look and feel without the manual data entry aspect."

About Apropos Retail Management Systems

Founded in 1989, Apropos Retail Management Systems has become the leading supplier of advanced technology retail software and system solutions to the growing market of small to mid-size chains, from 5 to 250+ store locations. Apropos provides complete software systems for growing chain retailers who want to be more profitable and productive. Apropos is a suite of retail applications built on the advanced SQL database environment. Apropos provides a complete, one-stop solution from POS to Back Office to Accounting and Data Warehousing -- all built on the most advanced technology, and tied together with full professional services.

About Informix

Informix Corporation, based in Menlo Park, California, provides innovative database products that assist the world's major corporations to attain competitive advantage. Informix is widely recognized as the technology leader for corporate computing environments ranging from small workgroups to very large parallel processing applications. Informix's database server, application development tools, superior customer service, and strong partnerships enable the company to be at the forefront of major information technology solution areas including data warehousing, high performance OLTP, and Web/e-commerce. For more information, contact the sales office nearest you or visit our Web site at www.informix.com.

The following are trademarks of Informix Corporation or its affiliates, one or more of which may be registered in the U.S. or other jurisdictions: Informix(R) and MetaCube(R).

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