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SHOPLOCAL.COM LAUNCHES NEW, EASY-TO-NAVIGATE
HOMEPAGE SHOWCASING LOCAL NEWSPAPER CIRCULARS, CATALOGS AND
INSERTS
Revised Web Design Improves Consumer Experience
for Comparing Prices of Millions of Items With Thousands of
Local, National and Online Retailers
Chicago - November 7, 2006 – ShopLocal, LLC.
today announced a major upgrade to its popular comparison-shopping
Web site, ShopLocal.com™ ( www.shoplocal.com ), that
offers consumers broader access to online and national retailers
and local merchants in an easy-to-navigate format. The three-column
Web redesign with enhanced graphics includes local store location
maps and more searchable retail circular ads. The new content
will feature Eva Yusa, shopping efficiency expert at ShopLocal
and author of the “Eva the Shopping Diva” blog
and videos.
ShopLocal.com, which includes more than 75 percent of the
top 50 retailers’ circulars on its site, gives bargain
shoppers access to top brands, fashion trends, shopping advice,
sale calendars, coupons and other helpful information. Visitors
to the Web site can quickly view all weekly circulars and
local print ads together in one location on the homepage,
which features more drop-down menus, requiring fewer clicks.
For products such as MP3 players and other electronics, users
can further refine queries to find deals on a specific exact
make, model and price. ShopLocal tested a range of page layouts
with its users, who expressed a preference for the new, modern,
simple, engaging design, offset by its distinctive green and
purple color variations.
“Best practices and user testing played a major role
in this retooling,” said Joe Przybyiski, chief designer
for ShopLocal.
By using geographically targeted technology, the redesigned
Web site gives consumers the ability to continually compare
timely local brick-and-mortar store product offerings, sales
alerts and promotions with e-commerce options. Users can change
their location either by expanding or reducing the radius
or entering a different ZIP code.
“Our new ShopLocal.com redesign allows consumers much
more interactivity, enabling them to streamline their searches,
view the entire local weekly and Sunday newspaper circulars
online, and even search them by product category,” said
Vikram Sharma, chief executive officer of ShopLocal. “The
added shopping advice and related content from ‘Eva
the Shopping Diva’ strengthens our Web site as a destination
for ideas as well as product offerings.”
A new “Gift Ideas” section will feature what’s
hot, trendy and seasonal, just in time for the holidays. “Our
gift list will show different price points for all audiences,”
said Eva, a merchandising expert who provides ideas via her
blog and online videos. “We want to take consumers directly
to the products they want or wish for while making their stay
at ShopLocal.com an enjoyable one.”
ShopLocal.com continues to produce and distribute its popular
series of free subscriber-based emails, including “Around
the House,” “The Runway,” “Digital
Life” and “Kid N’ Kaboodle,” along
with its many promotions and contests.
ShopLocal, LLC, offers consumers and retailers a comprehensive
marketplace for multi-channel shopping and advertising. With
ShopLocal.com (http://www.shoplocal.com) and The ShopLocal
Network – made up of more than 200 affiliate media,
search and shopping sites – consumers have access to
the only Web site with information on products from local
stores side-by-side with e-commerce options. With ShopLocal’s
SmartCircular™ , SmartCatalog™ , SmartMedia™
services and MyStore™ by ShopLocal, retailers can distribute
sales and promotional content on the ShopLocal site as well
as through their own Web sites, integrating e-commerce and
local in-store promotions.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB),
and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), are partners in ShopLocal
and other joint ventures to provide consumers online products
such as CareerBuilder.com, Cars.com and Apartments.com.
# # #
ShopLocal, ShopLocal.com, SmartCircular, SmartCatalog and
SmartMedia are trademarks and Eva the Shopping Diva is a service
mark of ShopLocal, LLC. Other company and product names may
be trademarks of their respective owners.
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