CROSSMEDIA SERVICES ACQUIRES DS RETAIL TECHNOLOGIES


CHICAGO, January 27, 2004 - CrossMedia Services, Inc., today announced that it has acquired DS Retail Technologies, Inc., combining the two largest providers of localized online circular and catalog promotional services to create a single organization unrivaled in resources, experience and technology. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"This acquisition establishes CrossMedia Services as the dominant leader in this growing industry with nearly 100 of the nation's leading retailers and cataloguers," said Brian Hand, Chief Executive Officer of CrossMedia Services. "Our unparalleled technological leadership, operational efficiency and financial stability make us the only company with the resources to support continued innovation, while consistently delivering quality customer care."

CrossMedia Services, Inc. helps clients such as Target, Marshall Fields, Carson Pirie Scott, JC Penney, Bloomingdale's, Home Depot, Circuit City, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Office Depot, Staples, CVS, Winn Dixie and Whole Foods achieve true multi-channel commerce by supplying solutions that integrate online and offline advertising initiatives and extend the reach and life of localized and printed promotions through proprietary services, such as:

• SmartCircular: Transforms print promotions into a new format customizable down to the store level and specifically designed for the retailer's website.
  
• SmartCatalog: Online visitors can browse through the same rich product images seen in the print catalog, or search by product category or keyword.
  
• BroadReach: Provides a channel to communicate with tens of millions of local shoppers through CrossMedia Services' partners, such as Internet shopping portals, newspaper websites and the company's own website, www.shoppinglist.com, which was recently named a Codie Award finalist by the Software & Information Industry Association.

"Retailers currently spend more than $20 billion per year to advertise local store promotions via print, radio and television, and are increasingly looking to the Internet to more cost efficiently reach and influence local shoppers," said Brian Hand. "CrossMedia Services is well-positioned to capitalize on that surge in spending with clients across multiple industries and representing a broad cross-section of regional and national hard-line, soft-line and grocery retailers, cataloguers and industrial companies."

About CrossMedia Services, Inc.

CrossMedia Services, Inc. provides turnkey solutions for brick & mortar retailers, catalog retailers and industrial catalogers that enable the targeting of promotions to shoppers via the Internet. CrossMedia Services' solutions transform printed promotions (such as sales circulars, catalogs, run-of-press ads, direct mail, etc.) into an interactive Web format, versioned on variables such as location or type of shopper. These solutions leverage the creative layout in print promotions, incorporate feature rich functionality and integrate with extensive analytics about shopper pre-purchase behavior. For more information, visit http://www.CrossMediaServices.com.