FTD.Com Chooses Escalate To Deliver Complete Supply Chain Visibility and Advanced Order Management Capabilities.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2003

Escalate Supplier(TM) Enables Leading Floral and Gift Company to

Automate Order Management and Improve Customer Service

Escalate(R), Inc., a leading provider of Web-based supply chain and order management software for retailers, today announced that FTD.COM, FTD, Inc.'s direct to consumer floral and specialty gift provider, has chosen Escalate Supplier to manage all of its non-floral, direct-to-consumer orders and shipments. Using Escalate's software, FTD.COM and its network of vendors can collaborate to provide better customer service by ensuring reliable execution of orders and have complete visibility to the order lifecycle.

A powerful and complete Web-based supply chain and order management application, Escalate Supplier is a complete solution for retailers to better manage and monitor all direct-to-customer orders, whether fulfilled in-house or through vendors. By automating the order management lifecycle, Escalate's technology enables FTD.COM and its partners to increase fulfillment accuracy and decrease fulfillment times, while dramatically reducing the costs associated with manual order management processes. In addition, Escalate Supplier can be deployed rapidly for fast ROI. The system also provides for easy upgrades and scales to handle FTD.COM's extremely high transaction volumes during holidays, making the software easy for FTD.COM's IT staff to manage.

The Escalate Supplier product line provides retailers with a complete, Web-based solution for vendor collaboration, order execution, shipment tracking, inventory visibility and reporting. Robust event management and exception management allow retailers to be more proactive in preventing service failures. Escalate Supplier integrates easily with existing back office systems such as OMS, WMS, shipping and payment systems without changing existing business processes. The ability of Escalate Supplier to bring together all the information about orders, shipments and inventory in one place enables retailers to better manage vendor relationships and improve vendor performance.

"FTD.COM chose Escalate to improve visibility and control," said Keng Lim, president and chief executive officer of Escalate. "Escalate Supplier gives FTD.COM additional tools to improve customer service, fill rates and overall vendor performance."

Escalate also announced today that Escalate Supplier is now certified on the Oracle Application Server. Because Escalate Supplier is built on an open platform, it can be run on a retailer's existing J2EE-compliant application server. This announcement further extends the number of deployment options available to Escalate customers.

About FTD, Inc.

FTD, Inc., supported by its worldwide FTD brand, is a leading provider of floral services and products to member florists and consumers. Through its florist business, FTD, Inc. provides products and services to approximately 21,000 quality member florists in the U.S. and Canada and through ownership and participation in a related organization, connects approximately 28,000 additional florists in 152 countries outside of North America. FTD, Inc.'s consumer business is a direct marketer of flowers and specialty gifts, primarily through the www.FTD.COM Web site and 1-800-SEND-FTD telephone number. FTD, Inc.'s Class A Common Stock is quoted on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "FTDI" and additional information about FTD, Inc., including investor relations, is available at its Web sites, www.FTD.COM and www.FTDI.com.

About Escalate

Escalate(R) is a leading provider of retail supply chain and order management software. Based on its unique web-based cross-enterprise order management application foundation, Escalate gives retailers an end-to-end solution for order management, fulfillment and merchandise flow management for both stores and direct to customer businesses. Using Escalate software, retailers improve order management efficiency, reduce supply chain costs and service failures, improve vendor compliance and performance, and expand assortments and vendor options without operational concerns. The Escalate applications are built on a highly scalable open platform and are J2EE-compatible. Escalate applications are available as software licenses or as a managed service. Over 200 companies use Escalate technology; customers include Williams Sonoma(R), Neiman Marcus(R) Direct, FTD.com, Fred Meyer(R) Jewelers, and LVMH(R). Escalate is headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif., with offices in New York and Chicago.

Product Note

In it's latest release, Escalate 7, the functionality in Escalate Direct(TM), Escalate Order(TM) and Escalate Supplier(TM) has been reorganized. The five new application names are Direct to Customer Order Management, Vendor Management, Order Fulfillment, Logistics Management, and Returns and Reverse Logistics. Escalate Direct(TM) and Escalate Order(TM) make up Direct to Customer Order Management, while Supplier(TM) has been expanded into Vendor Management, Order Fulfillment and Logistics Management.

Note to Editors: Escalate(R) is a registered trademark of Escalate, Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.