ShopLocal.com Saves Valentine's Day

"Date Night Cards" Help Cyber-Valentines Make All the Right Moves as More Shoppers Go Online for the Second-Largest Retail Holiday of the Year

CHICAGO – February 1, 2006 – Whether you’ve been married for 20 years or a solo-flying single, there’s no avoiding Valentine’s Day, now the second-largest retail holiday of the year behind Christmas.

But don’t worry, for ShopLocal.com, the leading provider of both in-store sale information and e-commerce options from the nation’s top retailers, is here to save Valentine’s Day, delivering “Date Night Cards” to help you find a great gift or plan the perfect date. Just visit ShopLocal’s Valentine’s Day page for suggestions in five categories: Romantic, Adventurer, Date on a Dime, Weekend Getaway, and For Singles Only. Just select which profile best describes your Valentine, and print it out and bring it to the store, or start shopping online immediately.

According to the National Retail Federation, retail spending on Valentine’s Day exceeded $13 billion in 2005 and now trails only Christmas in the race for the biggest-spending holiday of the year, topping Mother’s Day, Easter, and Father’s Day. Predictably, specialty Web sites have seen significant growth around Valentine’s Day, with greeting card sites and online jewelers experiencing 50 percent and 34 percent spending increases respectively in 2005*.

But the growing popularity of shopping comparison sites like ShopLocal.com, which added 60 percent more unique visitors during the 2005 Christmas shopping season, means it’s now easier than ever for cyber-Valentine’s to give something a little different, from a new digital camera to a box set of your hubby’s favorite movies.

More Consumers Using the Web To Research Valentine’s Day Gifts
ShopLocal.com data shows that more consumers are using the Web for Valentine’s Day research, as the number of unique visitors to the site per day grew by 11 percent during the two weeks prior to the holiday in 2005. And overall online spending associated with Valentine’s Day grew by 30 percent in 2005, from $3 billion in 2004 to $3.9 billion*.

“As Valentine’s Day has become more of a gift-giving holiday, people are heading online to get more creative with their gifts,” says ShopLocal.com Shopping Expert Eva Yusa, also known as “Eva the Shopping Diva” on her blog (http://evatheshoppingdiva.blogspot.com). “Now there’s no excuse for coming home with that same-old box o’ chocolates.”

* Online spending data from VeriSign, February 16, 2005.

About ShopLocal

ShopLocal, LLC (www.shoplocalllc.com) is the leading Web shopping company for consumers and retailers. With ShopLocal.com and The ShopLocal Network -- made up of more than 200 affiliate media, search, and shopping sites -- consumers have access to the only place on the Web with information on products from local stores side-by-side with e-commerce options. With ShopLocal’s SmartCircular and Smart Catalog services, retailers can distribute sales and promotional content through The ShopLocal Network as well as their own Web sites.