Rank Holidays Licenses OpenRSA Client/Server Merchandising.

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, UK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 1999--Rank Holidays Division, one of the largest providers of holidays and leisure activities in the UK, today announced it has licensed the advanced OpenRSA Retail Merchandising and Supply Chain Management Solution from Radius Retail Ltd. OpenRSA will be used as the basis for providing Rank's new centralized Venue Stock Control, Retail Pricing Management, Sales Analysis and Gross Margin Analysis System across the whole of the Rank Holidays Division. In addition, Rank will implement the specialist Recipe Management and Analysis Module, designed specifically for the hospitality sector.

Rank Holidays Division includes Butlins, Oasis, Warner and Haven, offering in excess of 80 holiday destinations around the UK and Europe. The holidays on offer range from action packed family breaks to sophisticated adults only hotels; from Butlins, catering for thousands of guests, to small caravan parks in quiet locations.

"We needed to get a clear picture of all the inventory within the business", explained Stuart Soloway Retail & Development Director of Rank Holidays Division. "We buy and sell a huge number of products, ranging from food and drinks sold in our catering outlets and bars, clothing and gift items sold through our shops, newspapers, confectionery, all sorts of different things. Some of our holiday destinations have a `mini high street' in them, so we must be stocking the right products in the right place, and in the right quantities. The introduction of our new system will coincide with the re-opening of Butlins Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness as Family Entertainment Resorts after a (pound)140m refurbishment program. The centerpiece will be the all-weather environment of the Skyline Pavilion. So our re-launch makes it even more important that we have an excellent in-stock position."

OpenRSA will provide the middle layer of a three tier architecture, interfacing with Oracle Financials at Rank Head Office, and the ICL ISS 300 and Checkout systems operating in the shops, catering outlets and bars. The OpenRSA Data Warehouse will be used to provide detailed analysis of sales, gross margin and stock on a daily basis. Customized reports will be generated overnight following each day's trading. The reports will be automatically emailed to the resort managers so that each morning they will have an accurate picture of their performance.

"This is a very important project for Rank Holidays and for us", said Mike Burge, Managing Director of Radius Retail Ltd. `The seasonality of Rank's business has dictated the project deadlines, and the predicted transaction volumes are considerable. Also, this is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week system. It will provide vital information to the Rank Holiday management teams, which has simply not been available before. We are extremely pleased that Rank has placed its confidence in our software and our people to help deliver their new system."

Further information about Radius Retail and OpenRSA can be found at Radius Retail's website "www.openrsa.com".