Circuit City Selects WebTrends Reporting Service for Comprehensive e-Commerce Analysis; Leading Retailer Looks to WebTrends Solutions to Increase Sales and Conversions.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2003

NetIQ Corp. (Nasdaq:NTIQ), a leading provider of Systems & Security Management and Web Analytics solutions, today announced that Circuit City Stores, Inc., a leading national retailer of brand-name consumer electronics, personal computers and entertainment software, has selected WebTrends(R) Reporting Service, its Web analytics ASP service, because of its robust and comprehensive e-commerce and campaign management reporting.

Circuit City turned to WebTrends(R) Web analytics to answer key business questions about its e-commerce site, such as which demand creation activities are yielding the best results, what product categories and products have the highest conversion ratios on the site, and how many customers are converting online versus the call-center.

"We chose WebTrends Reporting Service because it offers the e-commerce capabilities that match the breadth and depth of our merchandising and marketing mix," said Steve Duchelle, assistant vice president of Circuit City Direct at Circuit City. "WebTrends Reporting Service allows us to drill into detail on all of our product and campaign conversions without having to wade through multiple reports. With this relevant information at our fingertips, we already are seeing how the WebTrends Reporting Service provides us with measurable results."

WebTrends Reporting Service Provides Leading E-Commerce Analysis

Many Web analytics solutions only include dimensions such as "visits" and "purchases" when tracking e-commerce, which may dilute the accuracy of conversion rates, particularly when analyzed over larger time periods. WebTrends Reporting Service adds "unique visitors" and "unique buyers" as well as "first-time" versus "repeat buyers." With this information, organizations not only have a more accurate picture of conversion rates, but they also can understand behavior differences between segments of buyers.

WebTrends Reporting Service correlates visitor behavior metrics with relevant retail metrics -- such as average order value, revenue, units sold, campaigns, product category, shopping cart conversion and more -- providing organizations with a comprehensive understanding of their e-commerce activity. According to Jupiter Research senior analyst Matthew Berk, without the ability to correlate traffic measurements and business metrics, site operators are ill equipped to act on their optimization hypotheses. In e-commerce, the simplest case, this means tying and correlating transactions with traffic data. (Source: "Web Site Analytics", Jupiter Research, May 2003).

With the ability to use a broad range of dimensions and with the ability to drill-down into the reports for more detail, organizations can get very specific information about the interests and purchase patterns of different types of customers.

WebTrends Reporting Service also reports on "sales cycle" information, to help organizations measure the time between initial visits and eventual conversion and then correlate the information to products and campaigns. The result is an understanding of which campaigns are more likely to convert customers sooner versus those that convert customers over a long period of time, and which products are purchased on a rapid cycle.

"Circuit City's e-commerce site is a great example of how enterprise organizations are leveraging the Web as a critical business channel today, thereby requiring relevant, detailed metrics more than ever to influence both online and offline business decisions," said Greg Drew, senior vice president and general manager of the Web Analytics business unit at NetIQ. "We are pleased to provide robust, customizable solutions such as WebTrends Reporting Service to improve the effectiveness of any web-influence business channel."

About WebTrends Solutions

As the market leader for Web analytics, WebTrends solutions from NetIQ provide timely answers enabling customers to improve their return on investment from Web-based initiatives. More than half of the Fortune and Global 500 companies rely on WebTrends for accurate and actionable insight into Web site activity and Web visitor behavior. WebTrends solutions uniquely provide both licensed software and a hosted ASP offering as well as multiple levels of insight to seamlessly accommodate increasing customer requirements.

About NetIQ

NetIQ Corporation (Nasdaq:NTIQ) is a leading provider of Systems & Security Management and Web Analytics solutions. Historically focused on the Windows management market, NetIQ now delivers cross-platform solutions that enhance business performance resulting in higher returns on infrastructure and Web investments. NetIQ products are sold across all continents directly and through a network of authorized NetIQ partners and resellers. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with development and operational personnel in Houston, Texas; Portland, Ore; Raleigh, N.C.; Bellevue, Wash.; Galway, Ireland and Auckland, New Zealand. For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.netiq.com or call 1-888-323-6768.

NetIQ and WebTrends are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetIQ Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.