ShopLocal Introduces Multi-Channel Retail Index

Consumer Activity on Top Retailer Sites Reflects 29% Growth of Internet-Influenced In-Store Shopping

Chicago, IL - September 14, 2007 - ShopLocal™, the leader in multi-channel shopping and marketing services, today introduced The ShopLocal Index, the retail industry’s first market indicator designed to track the influence of the Internet on in-store shopping. The Index, updated monthly, is based on an average of 20 million monthly consumer visits to store promotions that are presented on the sites of 50 major U.S. retailers.These retailers cover major retail segments such as Computers, Consumer Electronics, Office Supplies, Home Improvement, Department Stores, Mass Merchants, Grocery, Drug and various specialty stores.

The ShopLocal Index includes hundreds of millions of aggregated monthly page views, and, initially benchmarked at 100 for January 2006, reached a seasonal peak of 300 in November 2006. The Index continued to show strong growth in 2007 and, on a cumulative basis, is up 29 percent year-to-date through August versus the same period last year.

ShopLocal found a strong link between shoppers’ pre-purchase activity and in-store purchases. A ShopLocal July 2007 survey of 23,600 shoppers on these sites found that 65 percent made an in-store purchase within a week after visiting a site and another 23 percent within three weeks.

“ShopLocal has a unique vantage point for observing how the Internet is being used to influence in-store shopping,” said Vikram Sharma, CEO of ShopLocal “The ShopLocal Index reflects that an increasing number of shoppers are using the Internet across a wide range of categories to decide what products to buy and where to buy them in their local stores.”

“Shoppers are increasingly turning to the Internet as a research tool prior to purchasing in-store,” said Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Intelligence. “The ShopLocal Index is a helpful new barometer and scorecard for online-influenced offline shopping.”

The Internet’s impact on multi-channel shopping is a rapidly growing phenomenon, according to Forrester Research. The company estimates that a quarter of all retail sales (over 500 billion) are directly or indirectly influenced by the Web.* Additionally, Forrester predicts that online-influenced, offline sales will eclipse $1 trillion in 2011, accounting for nearly half of all retail sales.

* Forrester Research U.S. eCommerce: Five-Year Forecast, 10/06

About ShopLocal

ShopLocal, the leader in multi-channel shopping services, offers a complete suite of solutions connecting retailers and consumers online and in-store. The company’s consumer Web site, ShopLocal.com, provides users with choice and control in their shopping experience by offering the most comprehensive selection of timely online and in-store offers on one easy-to-use site. With ShopLocal.com, consumers can find millions of products and up-to-date weekly sales, deals, and coupons for consumer electronics, apparel, groceries and more. 

ShopLocal’s customers include Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS and Sears. ShopLocal powers multi-channel shopping for hundreds of newspaper Web sites and other leading local and shopping sites, such as Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Arizona Republic, Google and SuperPages.com. ShopLocal is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB), and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI). For more information, visit www.aboutshoplocal.com.