SARASOTA, FL - Arkona, Inc. (OTCBB: ARKN - News), one of the three largest dealer management system providers in the United States, the leader in on-demand solutions for new car franchise, independent and powersports dealerships, and the number one ranked dealer management solution provider as awarded by Auto Dealer Monthly www.AutoDealerMonthly.com/2007DCA_winners.pdf, has endorsed AskPatty.com, Inc., one of the top automotive web sites for women. Ask Patty provides a turn-key sales and marketing certification program to dealerships in order to attract, sell, retain and keep loyal women consumers.
The agreement between Ask Patty and Arkona will provide dealerships with more comprehensive sales and marketing packages and an improved method of reaching out to female consumers.
"We recognize the important role that the Internet plays in the purchasing process, and we want to provide a new and innovative tool to help our dealers be more successful and complement their existing web sites," commented Dave Jenkins, Vice-President Marketing, Arkona, Inc. "The Ask Patty program not only increases a dealership's exposure but will also help improve its web site positioning in the search engines."
As part of the agreement, Ask Patty will make available its full marketing program, dealership training, and certification to Arkona dealers. The Ask Patty agreement further augments Arkona's line of marketing tools for dealers which already includes Arkona's CRM and eMailSync products and the Arkona Allegiance customer loyalty solution.
"Ask Patty is very excited for the opportunity to partner with Arkona because they are one of the top DMS providers, and the feedback we've received from their clients is phenomenal," stated Peter Martin, CEO, AskPatty.com, Inc. "We are thoroughly impressed with their customer service and their relationship with their client dealers. Their initiation of this partnership shows a true commitment to providing great products to their clients to improve their dealers' business."
On the Ask Patty web site (http://www.askpatty.com), women can get advice on car purchases, maintenance, and other automotive related topics. Ask Patty is the most useful web site for women car buyers and, with the new Chrome features, Ask Patty will provide women with even more tools to assist them in the shopping and buying process.
About AskPatty.com, Inc.
Ask Patty provides women consumers an opportunity to send questions about car buying, selling, repair and maintenance to a panel of expert automotive women and is a safe online place to share and discuss their car buying experiences. Women can submit posts directly to the Ask Patty website by going to http://www.askpatty.com. Women can ask questions through the Ask Patty site or blog (http://askpatty.typepad.com). All questions are answered by the Ask Patty advisory panel of automotive expert women, which is headed up by Deborah Renshaw -- professional NASCAR driver, and is comprised of women who hold various leadership positions in the automotive industry.
Women purchase over 50 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States each year and influence 85 percent of the buying decisions, spending over $80 billion. Yet, shopping for and buying a car can be a challenge for women who are first-time car buyers or for women who had a bad experience in the past with a car salesman or dealership.
AskPatty.com is a member and 2006 corporate sponsor of the Women's Automotive Association International based in Detroit, MI, (http://www.waai.com), on the Women's Board of the Car Care Council, (http://carcare.org), a SEMA member (http://www.SEMA.org) and a member of the SEMA Business Women's Networking Group.
About Arkona, Inc.
Founded in 1996, Arkona is a public company and a leader in on-demand automotive and powersports management solutions. Arkona's dealer management system also leads the market in technologically superior e-business solutions for automotive dealers that fully integrate back office systems with a retail Web presence. In this market Arkona is the premier Application Service Provider (ASP). For more information, visit the Arkona Web site at www.arkona.com
Arkona's web-based Dealer Management Solution (DMS) provides automation of all aspects of a car dealership including finance & insurance, parts, service, accounting and back office functions including payroll and sales management.
This release may contain forward-looking statements as well as historical information. Forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, may involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results and performance in future periods to be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. The company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any changes in company expectations or results or any change in events.
