L'Occitane USA Selects Mercent to Expand Online Sales

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - October 2, 2008) - Mercent™, a provider of online marketing technology and services for retail merchants, today announced that L'Occitane USA (usa.loccitane.com), a leading provider of natural beauty products, has selected Mercent's hosted marketing services to expand their online sales presence. L'Occitane joins the growing list of top retail brands that utilize Mercent's on-demand platform, Mercent Retail™, to maximize online sales, profits, and merchandising control through leading online marketing channels.

"Mercent offers L'Occitane industry-leading expertise in building successful ecommerce programs through online marketplaces like Amazon.com," said Matt Kritzer, Director of eCommerce at L'Occitane. "In addition, Mercent's technology allows L'Occitane to manage and grow our online sales through comparison shopping engines and other shopping destinations."

For over 30 years, L'Occitane has drawn inspiration from Mediterranean art de vivre and traditional Provençal techniques to create natural beauty products dedicated to the well-being of women and men alike. L'Occitane products are rich in active natural ingredients and essential oils, which are often organic and always of controlled origin. All products and boutiques reflect the company's core values of authenticity, simplicity, sensory pleasure and respect for people and the planet.

L'Occitane is internationally recognized for its premium natural beauty products, with stores in nearly 90 countries around the world. In the US alone, the company has more than 150 boutiques located in 30 states. Additionally, L'Occitane has a growing online presence with active ecommerce sites in 13 countries.

"Mercent is delighted to support online marketing and merchandising initiatives at L'Occitane," said Mercent CEO Eric Best. "We look forward to helping L'Occitane increase their online sales and profitability through the reach of The Mercent Shopping Network and the efficiency of the Mercent Retail campaign optimization platform."

Mercent helps leading retailers drive revenues and profits through more than 50 ecommerce channels, including comparison shopping engines, transactional marketplaces, paid inclusion programs, and affiliate networks. Through Mercent's on-demand marketing platform, Mercent Retail, merchants manage key aspects of online merchandising including automatically optimizing for profitability, inventory, and other business goals with substantially less time and effort.

Information regarding Mercent Retail shopping feed and paid inclusion management technology, Mercent Performance marketing services, and the complete list of online marketing channels in the Mercent Shopping Network is available at www.mercent.com.

About L'Occitane

For over 30 years, the fields of Provence and the traditions and techniques of this unspoiled land have been the secret and inspiration behind L'Occitane natural beauty products. All of our products are developed and produced in the small Provençal town of Manosque. L'Occitane has drawn inspiration from Mediterranean art de vivre and traditional Provençal techniques to create natural beauty products devoted to well-being and the pleasure of delighting and caring for oneself. Behind every L'Occitane product is a traceable origin and land, producers with exacting standards, and techniques inherited from the traditions of Provence -- or elsewhere. We use natural ingredients and essential oils, which are primarily organic and always of controlled origin.

About Mercent

Mercent provides online marketing technology and services to help retail merchants optimize performance across online marketing channels. Mercent's on-demand platform, Mercent Retail, connects existing retail management systems and The Mercent Shopping Network, a network of more than 50 online shopping destinations including transactional marketplaces such as Amazon.com and SHOP.COM, comparison shopping engines (CSEs) such as Shopping.com and Shopzilla, paid inclusion programs like Yahoo! Search Submit Pro, and affiliate marketing programs such as LinkShare and Performics. Mercent Retail makes it easy for merchants to increase revenue and gross margins by promoting the right products with the right merchandising offers and placement using optimized product data feeds to these key retail channels. Mercent customers include Brookstone, 1-800-Flowers, Bass Pro Shops, Benefit Cosmetics, Celebrate Express, GUESS?, Levenger, Redcats Group, REI, and other leading retailers. Mercent is an Amazon.com Certified System Integrator, Buy.com Gold Certified Partner, SHOP.COM Certified Data Feed Provider, certified Google Product Search Partner and Yahoo! Search Submit Pro certified feed provider. Founded by veterans of Amazon.com, Mercent is a venture-funded company based in Seattle, WA. For more information, visit www.mercent.com.