Sears Selects JDA Software for Strategic Merchandise Management; JDA Portfolio Financial to Floor Solutions to Help Sears Better Serve Customers

Business Wire, Oct 18, 2004

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- JDA(R) Software Group Inc. (Nasdaq:JDAS) announced that Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE:S) signed a license agreement in third quarter 2004 for several JDA Portfolio(R) Strategic Merchandise Management solutions. The retail giant will use JDA's Portfolio Planning and Forecasting(TM) and Business Intelligence(TM) applications to better manage the wide range of home merchandise, apparel and hard goods that it sells through more than 2,300 Sears-branded and affiliated stores.

"As we move to grow our business aggressively on all fronts, we needed strategic business software that would help us carry out initiatives from enhancing our position in apparel with new store concepts to supporting hardlines across our multiple formats," stated Steve Poplawski, vice president of merchant operations for Sears.

"We conducted an extensive market analysis of vendor solutions and concluded that JDA had the ability to improve the execution of our merchandise financial planning down to the floor level. JDA Portfolio solutions will help us consistently provide the merchandise that our customers want, when they want it," continued Poplawski.

Sears to Better Manage Inventory with JDA's Financial to Floor Planning

Sears also selected JDA's Strategic Merchandise Management solutions to unify its planning processes and simultaneously perform bottom-up and top-down planning to support its various formats. Combined with the ability to create and manage coherent, finer-grained financial, merchandise, unit, store and space plans, JDA Portfolio will support Sears in its goal to improve selling space effectiveness, enhance store-specific shelf sets with best sellers and optimize assortment breadth.

Remarking on the significance of this license agreement, JDA's Peter Charness, senior vice president of global marketing and chief product officer, stated, "We are pleased to add Sears to our list of tier one retailers who rely on our Portfolio solutions for the scalability and flexibility to meet their demanding requirements, improve operational efficiencies and ensure best practice processes.

"It's extremely challenging for a broadline company the size of Sears to offer merchandise that meets customers' demand for fashion, quality, value and selection. Our advanced Arthur applications in conjunction with Intactix space and floor planning will enable Sears to more quickly and effectively improve its bottom line through optimized planning techniques," added Charness.

Sears will implement the following JDA Portfolio applications: Merchandise Planning by Arthur(TM), Assortment Planning by Arthur(TM), Performance Analysis by Arthur(TM), Performance Analysis Web(TM), Space Planning by Intactix(TM), Floor Planning by Intactix(TM), Space Automation by Intactix(TM), Arthur Knowledge Base(TM), RAPID Packages by Arthur(TM), Intactix Knowledge Base(TM), Web Publisher by Intactix(TM) and Planogram Converter by Intactix(TM).

About Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. With revenues in 2003 of $41.1 billion, the company offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,300 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada, including approximately 870 full-line stores and 1,100 specialty stores in the United States. Sears also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs. Sears is the only retailer where consumers can find each of the Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Lands' End brands together -- among the most trusted and preferred brands in the United States. The company is the largest provider of product repair services with more than 14 million service calls made annually.

About JDA Software Group Inc.

With approximately 4,600 retail, manufacturing and wholesale clients in 60 countries, JDA Software Group Inc. is a global leader in delivering integrated software and professional services for the retail demand chain. By capitalizing on its market position and financial strength, JDA commits significant resources to advancing JDA Portfolio(R), the industry's leading suite of best-in-class products that manage and optimize demand chain processes from finished goods to customer checkout. Portfolio solutions are proven to help retailers and their suppliers improve top- and bottom-line results, operational and supply chain efficiencies and customer relations. Founded in 1985, JDA is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., and employs more than 1,300 associates operating from 27 offices in major cities throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more details, visit www.jda.com, call 480-308-3555 or e-mail info@jda.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include our belief that Sears will successfully implement our Portfolio solutions, and our belief that our solutions will enable Sears to quickly and effectively improve its bottom line. Future events may involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, uncertainties related to the implementation of complex products at tier one retailers, the ability of such products to produce a rapid return on investment, and other risks detailed from time to time in the "Risk Factors" section of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of these and other risks, actual results may differ materially from those predicted. We undertake no obligation to update information in this release.