ShopLocal Retail Index Up 45 Percent in March

CNNMoney.com – April 16, 2008 –

ShopLocal, the leader in multi-channel localized shopping and marketing services, today announced the ShopLocal Index was up a strong 45 percent for the month of March compared with the same period last year. The Index, at 201 for the month * (benchmarked at 100 for January 2006), reported 266 million page views and 21 million consumer visits to sites. Retailers increased their use of the Internet and gave more visibility to store promotions in response to their growing importance to shoppers looking for deals, according to ShopLocal CEO Vikram Sharma. Page views per visit were up 17 percent compared to last year reflecting a more cost-conscious and savvy shopper. Some leading retailers pushed the envelope on the trend by going without print circulars during Easter.

"The economy is driving shoppers to spend more time on the Internet to find current sales and deals so they can make more productive trips to the store," said Sharma. "Retailers see this as affirmation of their shift in strategy to place greater emphasis on the Internet to drive both online and in-store sales. Shoppers and retailers both appreciate the efficiency of the Internet in this tough economy."

The ShopLocal Index is the advertising industry's first market indicator designed to track the influence of the Internet on in-store shopping. Updated monthly, the Index is based on the online activity of an average of 20 million monthly consumer visits to store promotions that are presented on the sites of 50 major U.S. retailers, including such notable retailers as JCPenney, Best Buy, Walgreens and Home Depot. These retailers cover all major retail segments including computers, consumer electronics, office supplies, home improvement, department stores, mass merchants, grocery, drug and various specialty stores. Their online circular sites are powered by ShopLocal's SmartCircular technology.

About ShopLocal

ShopLocal, the leader in multi-channel localized shopping and advertising services, offers a complete suite of solutions that connect advertisers and consumers -- online and in-store. ShopLocal's industry leading SmartProduct business solutions (SmartCircular, SmartMedia, SmartDelivery and SmartCatalog) enable more than one hundred of the nation's top retailers, including Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS and Sears, to deliver highly interactive, targeted and localized promotions to shoppers anywhere on the Internet and in mobile applications.

The Company's consumer shopping site ShopLocal.com is the leading multi-channel marketplace on the Web, providing consumers with choice and control in their shopping experience by offering millions of timely online and in-store offers on one easy to use site. ShopLocal.com powers multi-channel shopping for hundreds of major newspaper, online yellow pages and shopping sites, including Los Angeles Times, Arizona Republic, Miami Herald, Superpages.com, Switchboard and Local.com. ShopLocal is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI). For more information, visit http://www.aboutshoplocal.com.

ShopLocal, ShopLocal.com, SmartCircular, SmartCatalog, SmartMedia and SmartDelivery are trademarks of ShopLocal. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE ShopLocal

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