Belk, Inc. Discusses Collaborative Assortment Planning Best Practices at Retail Systems

Chicago, Illinois - May 22, 2006 - Belk Inc., the nation's largest privately owned department store company, discussed collaborative assortment planning best practices today at the Retail Systems 2006 Conference in Chicago.

During the session, Bill Keith, VP Merchandise Allocation at Belk, Inc., discussed how to leverage next generation collaborative merchandising business processes and technology to drive better assortments on the selling floor - style/color/size by store.  Mr. Keith also discussed Belk's usage of 7thOnline COLLABORATE and their decision to implement 7thOnline ASSORTMENT PLANNER across the entire buying organization.  7thOnline is a leading provider of assortment planning and optimization solutions to the apparel, footwear, and accessories industries.

The benefits of implementing collaboration and technology cited by Belk include:

• Improved planning, better product assortments on the selling floor, and ultimately higher sales
• Better internal collaboration and streamlined processes drive more accurate plans, increasing effectiveness of external collaboration
• Cross organizational access and visibility, 365, 24/7
• Corporate objectives immersed in collaborative process
• Actionable data for more effective decision making
• One version of the truth: All involved parties access real-time product information and plans
• Pre-market collaboration empowers buyers to focus on product during market
• Collaboration offers both visual and quantitative assortment planning - Style/Color/Size by store
• Eliminates much of the clerical activity involved in ordering

About Belk, Inc.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk, Inc. is the nation's largest privately owned department store company with 277 stores, including 18 Proffitt's stores and 25 McRae's stores, located in 15 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.  It was founded in Monroe, N.C. in 1888 by William Henry Belk and is in the third generation of Belk family leadership.

About 7thOnline, Inc.
7thOnline is the premiere provider of web-centric assortment planning and optimization solutions targeted to the global apparel, footwear, and accessories community.  7thOnline's offerings encompass visual and quantitative top-down and bottom-up assortment planning tools, powerful analytical and optimization engines, and automatic order transmission capabilities in multiple formats.  7thOnline's user community currently includes Belk, Dillard's, Federated Department Stores, Jones Apparel Group, Kellwood, Kohl's, Liz Claiborne, Saks Inc., and many others.