Costco CRX Program from IRI Gaining Momentum Across CPG and Non-Food Manufacturers.

CHICAGO -- Initial IRI and Costco Collaboration Program a Success; IRI and Costco Announce Roll-out of Fully Expanded Program, Providing Item Movement Information for Nearly all Areas of Total Warehouse

On the heels of completing its successful pilot program earlier this year, Information Resources, Inc. and Costco Wholesale announce the full deployment of the Costco Collaborative Retail Exchange(TM) (CRX) program across Costco's major food and non-food departments in the United States. The program provides direct, interactive access to the industry's only source of Costco's warehouse-specific, daily, item-level point-of-sale (POS) data in nearly real time. Since pilot completion, manufacturer participation in the program has continued to increase rapidly.

This unique IRI program allows Costco's manufacturer partners to access and utilize Costco's data in a structured, collaborative framework, reflecting Costco's unique category and geography definitions. The exclusive program enables the identification of mutual business growth opportunities between Costco and manufacturers through improved communication and more streamlined item management. Leveraging the Costco CRX program, participating manufacturer partners can see new item and warehouse-level business opportunities and act faster with greater confidence to win at the Costco retail shelf.

"The CRX Program is our approach to providing our vendor community with standard, secure access to current and detailed information about their business at Costco Wholesale," said Costco Executive Vice President Ed Maron. "We believe that this program will further strengthen the communication between Costco and its trading partners. IRI has demonstrated their value and expertise to transform our POS information into actionable business insights for our partners. We are encouraged by the results being achieved from this program, not only within our organization, but also within our manufacturer partners."

Costco initially selected IRI, the leading global provider of enterprise market information solutions for the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare industries, to implement a unique information sharing program with select manufacturers across eight core CPG departments. Based on the success of the initial pilot, the program has been expanded across virtually all warehouse departments including alcoholic beverages, office supplies, sporting goods, housewares, major appliances, and home furnishings.

"Costco represents one of the fastest retail growth opportunities for many of our manufacturing clients today," said IRI President and Chief Executive Officer Scott W. Klein. "We are pleased to be furthering our relationship as the exclusive provider of business insights for Costco. Our work with Costco provides the industry with invaluable visibility that was simply not available before. Costco CRX provides today's innovative manufacturers with consistent, structured visibility to more effectively reduce out-of-stocks, increase new product introduction success, and better manage item and promotion performance."

For complete information about the Costco CRX Program, visit www.infores.com

About Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale is the largest wholesale club operator in the U.S. The company operates 460-plus membership warehouse stores serving 45 million cardholders in 37 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and the UK, primarily under the Costco Wholesale name. The Company also operates Costco Online, a U.S. electronic commerce web site, at www.costco.com. The company plans to add up to 30 new outlets in the U.S. and Canada by the end of its 2006 fiscal year.

About Information Resources, Inc.

Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is the world's leading provider of enterprise market information solutions and services, empowering its clients to grow their business profitably in a complex marketplace. Driving the transformation of the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, only IRI provides a unique combination of real-time market content, advanced analytics, enterprise performance management software, and professional services. The company's portfolio of services, solutions, and technology enable leading retailers and their suppliers around the globe to see what they are missing, act faster with greater confidence and win at the shelf. Ninety-five percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 in CPG and retail leverage IRI to power their business. For more information, visit www.infores.com.