KSS Deliver RackPrice - A Unique Wholesale Fuels Pricing System

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.--May 1, 20050, 2005--KSS, the leading provider of pricing solutions to the petroleum, convenience, chain drug and grocery sectors is pleased to announce the availability of RackPrice, the most advanced pricing system available for supporting the needs of the wholesale fuels sector.

Benefits

RackPrice helps fuels wholesalers address three (3) key aspects of their pricing processes - (1) streamlining the pricing process to exert greater control over price volatility and improve consistency, (2) delivering unique insight into competitor pricing strategy, including predicting competitor price moves and (3) using price sensitivity modeling to segment customers, terminals and channels and applying optimization to meet volume plans at higher margin rates.

Modules

RackPrice has been developed in a truly modular fashion. The following modules will be available for deployment on the RackPrice Workbench individually or as an integrated suite:

RPdata

-- Automated import, validation, transforming and presentation of external data ready for use within pricing

RPpredict

-- Industry leading competitive tendency modeling and price prediction

RPauto

-- Pricing rule automation to eliminate errors, improve consistency and provide audit trail

RPelasticity

-- Advanced modeling and tracking of price sensitivity and demand segmentation

RPopt

-- Improved control of volumes and increased margins through price optimization

RPreport

-- Pre-configured, updated & auto-distributed reports on key pricing/sales indicators

RPolap

-- Slice/dice and ad-hoc querying of pricing data along consistent dimensions

RPsimulate

-- Leading-edge probabilistic compression of pricing history to identify competitive tendency and simulate competitor response under different market conditions

Additional modules under development and available later in 2005 include:

RPdiscount-manager

-- Improved control, allocation and management of rack allowances and rack allowance strategies

Technology

Developed in conjunction with leading operators in the US, RackPrice is a multi-tier J2EE web application delivering enterprise ready integration with a range of client technologies and database platforms and compatibility with hosted or in-house deployments. RackPrice delivers our proven demand modeling and price optimization technology in a platform-independent, open standards environment enabling quick modular integration of our pricing technology into the customer's workflow and ensuring rapid ROI.

"We're very excited about the potential for RackPrice to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of fuels wholesalers pricing operations. With price volatility reaching new highs and organizations having to cope with more pricing decisions than ever, there's a clear need for technologies that can streamline the process and support the development of optimal strategies and tactics," commented Iain Cockburn, CEO of KSS.

About KSS

KSS is the leading supplier of comprehensive pricing intelligence, optimization and execution solutions to the convenience retail, grocery, chain drug and petroleum industries, helping retailers manage in excess of $50bn annual revenue from over 14,000 outlets. Retailers use KSS solutions to add discipline to the pricing process, help make better-informed pricing and promotional decisions and implement decisions more efficiently, driving more profit to the bottom-line. KSS software is available as an on-site, fully integrated system configured by experienced consultants from US headquarters in Florham Park, NJ and European headquarters in Manchester, UK. For more information visit www.kssg.com