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YARDLEY, PA, October 28, 2009 -- For every product and for every customer, there is a price that produces an optimal gross margin. Until now, determining that price had been an extremely complex task. Activant has streamlined that process by adding strategic pricing functionality for the Activant® Prelude™ system.

"Activant formed an exclusive relationship with Strategic Pricing Associates, Inc. (SPA) to simplify the task of setting prices at optimal levels," said Kevin Roach, executive vice president and general manager of Activant's Wholesale Distribution Group. "SPA has spent more than 15 years and worked with hundreds of distributors to develop its Strategic Pricing solution, which we now offer for our leading software solutions for distributors."

The Strategic Pricing solution analyzes a distributor's database for customer and order information and then classifies customers by type and size. The module then recommends how to best price items for the customer base.

"With all the items and transactions going on in our business, optimizing margin is one of our biggest challenges," said John Wiborg, president of Stellar Industrial Supply. "The complexity of addressing many different markets and geographies is a huge job! The market is dynamic; the product mix is dynamic, so how do we optimize our pricing structures? We believe we need our ERP software to help us handle this data proactively to structure price optimization. With that kind of capability we know we can add margin without losing volume. Activant’s offering is a major game-changer for all distributors lucky enough to be on one of their platforms."

Rene Savage, vice president of technology at Stellar Industrial, agrees: "Pricing has always been difficult to manage. At Stellar Industrial, we find that many times we are competing against ourselves in the 'pricing-game'. We have never had the ability to proactively manage our pricing structure, nor have we had the ability to effectively analyze that structure. The new solution that Activant is offering, with the combined expertise of SPA, offers us that ability. The potential impact on the bottom line for our company is far greater than with any other software program we’ve previously implemented. We look forward to advancing our expertise and professionalism while earning a few extra bucks!"

Optional features, such as Pricing Structure and Customer SKU services, further enhance the pricing optimization functionality and help enable distributors to more tightly control pricing schedules. In addition to enabling optimal pricing, the Strategic Pricing solution allows distributors to incorporate freight charges into their prices to further ensure that they do not leave money on the table.

"According to SPA, implementing the Strategic Pricing module can increase a distributor's gross margins anywhere from two to four percentage points in the first year alone," reported Roach. "For many distributors, that would mean a quick return on their investment in the Strategic Pricing solution – perhaps in as little as three months."

David Bauders, president of Strategic Pricing Associates, added: "SPA's exclusive relationship with Activant offers customers on the Prophet 21®, Activant Eclipse™, and Prelude platforms the opportunity to dramatically increase their profitability. Historically, integration with ERP providers has been a primary constraint on the realization of this potential. With this exclusive arrangement, we believe Activant customers who implement the Strategic Pricing module will achieve significant advantages in optimizing the pricing potential in their businesses."

To find out more, visit distribution.activant.com, e-mail distribution@activant.com, or call 1-800-776-7438, press 1.

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