Mercantec Press Release Contacts: Rachna Luthra Mercantec, Inc media@mercantec.com 630.305.3200, ext. 2111 Kristen Fundator Buzz divine 312-923-2060, ext. 37664 kristen.fundator@divineinterventures.com Mercantec® Answers Global Online Purchasing Challenges With SoftCart® 5.1 Enhanced features of comprehensive E-commerce solution enable international businesses to easily address global currency conversion and value added tax issues CHICAGO - Monday, April 10, 2000 - Mercantec Inc., a leading global provider of Internet commerce software products and services, today announced SoftCart 5.1, the newest version of its industry-leading e-commerce software that enables businesses to generate revenue via the Internet. SoftCart is a complete solution for building and maintaining an online storefront and gives a merchant the tools needed to create and manage a virtual shopping environment. With its new international functionality, SoftCart makes building and maintaining global online stores easier than ever before. According to Forrester Research, a leading technology research firm, the Internet has become a global channel for business, creating the immediate need to adapt e-commerce solutions such as distribution, payment and pricing systems.* SoftCart's newest features provide an encryption CD that supports multiple languages, and enables international businesses to easily determine value added tax rates and shipping zone charges and calculate multi-currency conversion. Mercantec SoftCart is already the leading e-commerce solution delivered through ISPs and web hosting providers and is available in more than 90 countries worldwide. "SoftCart's new international functionality will make a merchants tasks of building and maintaining an online store easier than ever. We are excited about launching the international version," said Richard Patterson, managing director of Merlin Information Systems. "SoftCart 5.1 will allow us to compete in the global marketplace." Mercantec SoftCart is a leading global e-commerce solution delivered through ISPs and web hosting providers. The comprehensive solution is endorsed by many of the world's leading Internet commerce service providers, including EarthLink, MindSpring, Interliant (Sage Networks) and Verio and is deployed by more than 15,000 merchants worldwide. SoftCart is a robust, easy-to-use electronic commerce solution that offers Internet service providers maximum performance and security, making it easy for them to deliver and support the electronic commerce demands of their customers. "This product expands our reach into the international market and also strengthens commerce service providers' e-commerce offerings for small- and medium-size businesses," said Andy Parker, president and CEO of Mercantec. "This is just the beginning of SoftCart's expansion into the worldwide market." About SoftCart The Mercantec SoftCart product line provides merchants a complete solution for building and maintaining an online storefront. SoftCart combines functionality such as ease of use, proven reliability, unparalleled security, open architecture to worldwide adaptability and more to create an award winning storefront application. Major enhancements in the SoftCart 5.1 release include: Value Added Tax (VAT) enables international merchants to display product prices within the store environment inclusive of the VAT amount and to assign VAT rates on both a product and shipping zone level. For merchants that sell primarily to a "reseller" client base, there is a configurable option to exclude VAT from the product price, but display the VAT amount within the shopping cart checkout page. International Formats enable both merchants and shoppers to support the numeric values, and date/time fields, in the format for their respective language. This setting is controlled through the language preference setting of the browser. Multi-language client CD with the encryption software pivotal to Mercantec's unparalleled secure store functionality is now supported in nine languages. The encryption software is distributed directly to merchants building an online store and is used to decrypt and download confidential order information stored on the commerce service provider server. Mercantec will distribute the encryption software in the following languages: English German Spanish Portuguese Italian Dutch Japanese Korean Traditional Chinese Pricing and Availability Mercantec SoftCart 5.1 is now available and is distributed through commerce service providers. About Mercantec, Inc. Established in 1995, Mercantec, Inc. is a leading global provider of software products and services that enable Internet commerce. Mercantec distributes complete e-commerce solutions through leveraged channels to small- to medium-sized businesses. Among those channels are service providers, financial organizations, and Internet content providers. Mercantec's Internet commerce solutions are used by more than 15,000 merchants worldwide through more than 200 industry leading Internet service providers, such as Verio/Hiway, EarthLink, MindSpring, Sprint, Interliant and Telephonica. Among those in the financial channel are American Express and DataPro Software. For additional company or product information, visit the Mercantec website, www.mercantec.com, or call 630-305-3200. # # # * June 1998, Forrester Research "Instant Global" Mercantec and SoftCart are registered trademarks of Mercantec, Inc. All other products mentioned may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.