Leading Women's Specialty Apparel and Footwear Retailer to Use Oracle Retail Application to Better Manage Inventory In-Season and Improve Existing Store Sales Productivity REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jones Apparel Group has selected Oracle(R) Retail Price Optimization to help increase inventory turns and margins across its more than 970 retail and outlet stores, which include such leading retail brands as Nine West, Jones New York, Anne Klein, Bandolino and Easy Spirit, Oracle announced today. Oracle Retail will work with Jones Apparel Group to monitor and anticipate customer demand to make regional price adjustments in-season, to better manage product lifecycles and seasonal transitions, and to drive gross margin dollar growth. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO ) Jones Apparel Group's decision to implement Oracle Retail Price Optimization was driven by its desire to move merchandise through stores faster, and to introduce fresh styles and selections more often to its retail customers. The solution will also help reduce residual inventory and markdowns required. "Quicker inventory turnover and an improved pricing cadence present a significant opportunity for our retail stores, allowing us to provide our customers with the latest fashion trends while delivering a great brand experience at the store level," said William Tracy, Chief Operating Officer -- Nine West Footwear Corporation. "We are impressed with the ability of Oracle's retail solution to help make our operations more customer focused and efficient." "Innovative technology can have a profound impact on leading retail businesses like Jones Apparel Group," said Duncan Angove, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Retail. "Oracle Retail is singularly focused on helping retailers enhance customer relationships and improve the performance of their retail operations to directly impact bottom line results." About Oracle Retail Oracle is the number one provider of innovative and comprehensive industry software solutions for retailers -- enabling organizations to serve their customers better by applying insight into daily business decisions for more profitable results. With software that provides supply chain, operations, merchandising, store systems, optimization and information technology solutions, Oracle partners with the world's leading retail companies, including 17 of the top 20 retailers worldwide, to transform the economics of their businesses. About Oracle Oracle (Nasdaq GS: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com/ . Trademarks Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Oracle Corporation CONTACT: Kevin Ruane of Oracle, +1-617-621-5593, or ; or Mary Ellen Amodeo of Amodeo Associates, +1-612-963-5797, or Web site: http://www.oracle.com/

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