DemandTec Awards Scholarships to Winners of Third Annual Retail Challenge

November 21, 2008 2:05 PM EST

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Nov. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DemandTec, Inc. (Nasdaq: DMAN), a leading provider of on-demand optimization solutions for retailers and consumer products manufacturers, has announced the winners of the DemandTec third annual Retail Challenge. Each student winner will be awarded a scholarship for the 2009-10 school year to the college or university of their choice. The judges named the winning teams of Ellie Weyant and Miranda Bruno from Kiski Area High School in Leechburg, PA, Bron Malcolm and David Lurvey from Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis, and Karen Ladenheim and Colin Vasick from Mountain View High School in Mountain View, CA, during an awards ceremony held yesterday afternoon at DemandTec's headquarters. The event was attended by students, school faculty, parents, Safeway representatives, and DemandTec employees.

"Math is one of the critical points of competitive advantage for our company and our industry for the foreseeable future, so it is in all our best interest to make sure our students continue to develop their interest in math any way we can. Contests like the Retail Challenge help make learning about the practical applications of math fun and rewarding," said Dan Fishback, president and chief executive officer of DemandTec.

The 2008 Retail Challenge is a software-based business simulation, spanning a two-week period, with each day representing a week in real life. Contestants were provided with 20 weeks of retail sales data to analyze in order to make pricing and inventory decisions for the subsequent 12 weeks. The goal was to make as much profit as possible by the end of the challenge. Finalists gave presentations detailing their analysis and the insights that they obtained from the data.

"The Retail Challenge not only helps prepare high school students for college and beyond by illustrating how math impacts everyday decisions in the business world, but also gives them the opportunity to interact with potential role models or mentors in an analytical field," explained Suzanne Valentine, vice president of science & analytics at DemandTec and executive sponsor of the contest.

DemandTec employees are provided as mentors to support and assist the students as they worked to solve the problem. Judging was based on each team's understanding of the problem, the accuracy of their forecasts, their ability to articulate how they achieved their results and the collaboration and teamwork they demonstrated in presenting their findings.

The 2008 Retail Challenge was co-sponsored by DemandTec customers Safeway, Target and Giant Eagle as part of a community outreach program designed to foster awareness of the practical applications of math in a business environment.

"Safeway is proud to once again join DemandTec in sponsoring the 2008 Retail Challenge. Our company believes it is extremely important to encourage our children to explore the role math plays in their everyday life and to do it in a fun way, so they take a lifelong interest in learning. The Retail Challenge allows us to help with that process," said Espe Greenwood, director of public affairs and government relations for Safeway's Northern California Division.

The Retail Challenge is a flagship component of DemandTec's Corporate Citizenship program, which strives to integrate social responsibility into all business practices and engages a cross-functional and geographically diverse set of employees to identify specific initiatives where DemandTec employees can play a unique role, particularly in the areas of math and science education as well as youth development. More than $50,000 in scholarship money has been awarded since the inception of the Retail Challenge in 2005.

About Giant Eagle, Inc.

Giant Eagle Inc., ranked 33 on Forbes magazine's largest private corporations list and recipient of Grocery Headquarters' 2007 Retailer of the Year Award and the EPA's ENERGY STAR Retail Partner of the Year Award, is one of the nation's largest food retailers and food distributors with approximately $8 billion in annual sales. Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle, Inc. has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with 159 corporate and 61 independently owned and operated supermarkets in addition to 150 fuel and convenience stores throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia and Maryland.

About Safeway

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America based on sales. The company operates 1,738 stores in the United States and Canada. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.

About Target

Minneapolis-based Target serves guests at 1,684 stores in 48 states nationwide by delivering today's best retail trends at affordable prices. Target is committed to providing guests with great design through innovative products, in-store experiences and community partnerships. Whether visiting a Target store or shopping online at Target.com, guests enjoy a fun and convenient shopping experience with access to thousands of unique and highly differentiated items. Target (NYSE: TGT) gives more than $3 million a week to its local communities through grants and special programs. Since opening its first store in 1962, Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests and team members to help meet community needs.

About DemandTec

DemandTec (NASDAQ: DMAN) enables retailers and consumer products companies to optimize merchandising and marketing decisions, individually or collaboratively, to achieve their sales volume, revenue, and profitability objectives. DemandTec software services utilize DemandTec's science-based software platform to model and understand consumer behavior. DemandTec customers include more than 140 leading retail and consumer products manufacturers such as Advance Auto Parts, Best Buy, Circle K Stores, ConAgra Foods, Delhaize America, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, General Mills, Giant- Carlisle, H-E-B Grocery Co., Hormel Foods, Monoprix, Safeway and Sara Lee. Connected via the DemandTec TradePoint Network(TM), DemandTec customers have collaborated online on more than 1.8 million trade deals. For more information, please visit http://www.demandtec.com.

DemandTec Safe Harbor

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding DemandTec's expectations, hopes, plans, intentions or strategies. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties include those described in DemandTec's documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to DemandTec as of the date hereof, and DemandTec assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

     Media Contact:
     Cassandra Moren, DemandTec, Inc.
     (650) 226-4690
     cassandra.moren@demandtec.com

     DemandTec Investor Contact:
     Tim Shanahan, DemandTec, Inc.
     (650) 226-4603
     tim.shanahan@demandtec.com

DemandTec and the DemandTec logo are registered trademarks of DemandTec, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE DemandTec, Inc.

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