MCLEAN, Va.-- BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE), one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms, ESRI, the world leader in geographic information systems (GIS) technology, and SAS, a leader in business intelligence, announced today the availability of a unique, integrated market-planning solution for commercial retailers called Market Planning and Portfolio Optimization (MPPO).

Commercial retailers are constantly faced with critical decisions on where to locate new stores, close underperforming stores or remodel stores to increase revenues. The MPPO solution is a leading-edge tool that combines best-in-class consulting, GIS, business intelligence and predictive analysis services and software solutions to provide retailers with detailed insight into the planning process. This insight helps them forecast sales of new locations, estimate impact on existing stores, model optimal return on invested capital, and improve visibility and control over every aspect of the corporation’s combined retail real-estate activities.

The integrated market-planning solution will reduce cycle times for new store development and help retailers with strategic planning by providing increased insight into market drivers and conditions. This insight will not only help retailers ensure that new stores achieve higher sales levels and existing stores experience lower sales transfer, but help them increase overall market share. In addition, the solution provides significant increases in efficiency over other planning tools by lowering costs associated with existing portfolios and allowing retailers to manage more sites with fewer resources.

“BearingPoint has a dedicated consulting practice focused on helping commercial retail clients develop great sites fast, and this solution is best-in-class,” said Jack Thompson, a managing director in the BearingPoint consumer markets practice.

“This solution establishes a new benchmark in market analytics by combining proven best practices in real-estate decision-making with leading technology for predictive statistical analysis and advanced spatial analysis,” said Mike Johnson, director of commercial sales at ESRI. "Results from this solution will provide new insights that will undoubtedly impact market-planning and site-location decisions."

According to Alexi Sarnevitz, SAS senior director of global retail strategy, “With the demise of the mass market, today's most successful retailers are pursuing a consumer-centric approach to all elements of their business. Assortments, pricing, inventory, service offerings and even store designs and layout are being tailored to best serve dominant local-market consumer segments.

"The 'secret sauce' within our MPPO solution is provided by detailed analytics that assess local market potential across specific consumer segments and shopping occasions across all neighborhood types. These analytics allow the assessment of each consumer segment to be tailored based on the importance of that segment to each client’s specific retail concept. Competing solutions that typically look only at raw demographic data do not provide this capability,” Sarnevitz continued.

About BearingPoint, Inc.

BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE) is one of the world's largest providers of management and technology consulting services to Global 2000 companies and government organizations in 60 countries worldwide. Based in McLean, Va., the firm has over 17,000 employees and major practice areas focusing on the Public Services, Financial Services and Commercial Services markets. For nearly 100 years, BearingPoint professionals have built a reputation for knowing what it takes to help clients achieve their goals, and working closely with them to get the job done. For more information, visit the Company's website for more information about retail planning solutions at www.bearingpoint.com/retail_solutions.

Some of the statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections. Words such as “will,” “expects,” “believes” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and as such are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events or our future financial performance that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. As a result, these statements speak only as of the date they were made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.