SHOPLOCAL REPORTS DRAMATIC INCREASE IN INTERNET USE FOR LOCAL SHOPPING

ShopLocal Finds 84% Growth in Consumer Visits to Retailers' Local, In-Store Promotions

Chicago - November 28, 2006 – ShopLocal, the leading multi-channel shopping resource, reports an 84 percent increase in visitors who use the Internet for local shopping in the three-day period ending Black Friday versus the same period in 2005. The peak hour was 9:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. CST on Thanksgiving Day as shoppers prepared for Black Friday, one of the retail industry’s busiest shopping days.

Driving this increase was the convenience of viewing retailer promotions, sales and specials online. Home and garden and consumer electronics retailers saw the largest growth in traffic, followed by mass merchants. ShopLocal also reported that consumers are spending more time engaged on the Internet, with page views increasing year-over-year and consumers staying online much longer, with an average of 14 page views per visit, as illustrated by the chart below.

“Surfing for in-store deals has become as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey, cranberry sauce and watching football. People are arming themselves with information obtained online to make offline purchase decisions,” said Vikram Sharma, chief executive officer for ShopLocal. “We find that shoppers are supplementing traditional means of locating in-store deals by using websites that give shoppers access to promotions for top brands such as Best Buy, CVS, Home Depot and Sears.”

“Even as e-commerce grows as a channel, the more profound development is the Internet's growing influence on local shopping,” said Greg Sterling, founding principal of Sterling Market Intelligence, a consulting and research firm focused on local consumer and advertiser behavior. “Because it combines local and online shopping information, ShopLocal accommodates a much broader range of consumer behavior than just online price comparisons.”

ShopLocal offers consumers and retailers a comprehensive marketplace for multi-channel shopping and advertising. With ShopLocal.com (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, Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company are partners in ShopLocal and other joint ventures to provide consumers online products such as CareerBuilder.com, Cars.com and Apartments.com.

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ShopLocal offers consumers and retailers a comprehensive marketplace for multi-channel shopping and advertising. With ShopLocal.com (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.