SHOPLOCAL INDEX FINDS CONSUMER RETAIL INTEREST REBOUNDS IN FEBRUARY FROM LAST MONTH’S LOW

Consumers Becoming more Price Sensitive; Discounted HD TVs Capture Interest

Chicago - March 11, 2008 - ShopLocal™, the leader in multi-channel shopping and marketing services, today announced the ShopLocal Index was up 31 percent for the month of February compared with the same period last year. The Index, at 167 for the month (benchmarked at 100 for January 2006), reported 238 million page views and 20 million consumer visits. The Index growth in February reflects consumer concerns about a slowing economy as it measures the increased activity in searching for deals before heading out to stores.

The consumer electronics and office supplies category rebounded with 32 percent page views growth year-over-year, recovering from a disappointing 17 percent increase in January. Consumer electronics categories occupied the top five spots for promotional activity, led by flat screen HD TVs. Shoppers have become increasingly price sensitive, showing the highest interest in promotions for LCD TVs from bargain brands. Upstart Olevia, ranked number one in promotional interest over the past four months, outpaced more established brands like Sony and Samsung, who have long led the category in sales.

“The resilient U.S. consumer is still shopping, but they are looking for deals and spending pragmatically,” said Vikram Sharma, CEO at ShopLocal. “The 2.2 percent growth* in February’s retail same store sales was clearly driven by value-seeking consumers.”

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 JCPenney, Best Buy, Walgreens and Home Depot. 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. Their online circular sites are powered by ShopLocal’s SmartCircular™ technology.

February 2008 ShopLocal Index highlights include:

• The ShopLocal Index recovered to 31 percent growth for February year-over-year, up from a low of 20 percent growth in January 2008. The Index showed 238 million page views in February, versus 181 million last year.

• Consumer page views per visit on a per retailer basis reached 11.8, a seven percent jump from last February.

• Department stores and mass merchandisers category showed the highest growth from last February at 49 percent, while consumer electronics grew at 32 percent.

• Home and Garden improved to a four percent decline from a decline of 23 percent in January.

* Thomson Financial Same Store Sales Index, March 2008

NOTE TO EDITORS: Indices available at www.aboutshoplocal.com/index.

About ShopLocal
ShopLocal, the leader in multi-channel shopping services, offers a complete suite of solutions connecting advertisers 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 industry leading SmartCircular, SmartMedia and SmartCatalog solutions are used by more than one hundred of the nation’s top retailers, including 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 and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI). For more information, visit www.aboutshoplocal.com.