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Mar

28

Reply.com Introduces Merchant Scoring on MerchantCircle

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under MerchantCircle, Newsletter, Online Marketing, Press Releases, Reply! News, Research, Search | 11 Comments

New service makes it even easier for consumers to find the best local merchants in their community; merchants can now monitor and improve their online perception and local influence

SAN RAMON, CA – March 28, 2013 — Reply.com, the leading marketplace for local advertisers and owner of one of the nation’s largest local directories, MerchantCircle, announced today Merchant Scoring, a new service that empowers consumers to quickly identify the top service providers in their area based on a patent-pending scoring algorithm. Merchant Scoring simplifies a consumer’s search process by eliminating the need to sift through many reviews on multiple sites and helps merchants better understand and improve their presence and local influence on MerchantCircle and across the Internet.

“Until now there hasn’t been a simple and comprehensive platform for consumers to identify the best service providers and merchants in their community,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply.com. “Merchant Scoring will become the universal language for consumers and organizations of all sizes to identify and select the best local merchants. Likewise, the Merchant
Scoring solution will act as a tool offering business owners insightful data and simple prompts on ways to improve their online presence.”

Merchant Scoring

How it works
MerchantCircle’s new patent-pending technology dynamically scores merchants based on the quality and quantity of reviews and ratings, awarding a score between zero and 100. It also calculates measures such as local influence, a merchant’s presence and engagement across multiple social and online channels and other social and reputation factors.

Merchant Scoring

Businesses can opt-in their social network accounts to provide additional data points and means for customers to connect with them. Scores are updated in real-time and monitored via a dashboard that also offers merchants feedback, suggestions and prompts to help them improve their scores and increase engagement within their community.

Merchant Scoring features include:
Merchant Dashboard: MerchantCircle.com users interact with a unique dashboard that features score information, engagement history, and other data. Engagement Recommendations: The merchant dashboard offers suggestions for merchants to boost their scores, improve their presence and local reputation. Weekly Top 10 List: A list of top 10 merchants is published weekly on MerchantCircle.com highlighting the best merchants by area and category. Virtual Badges: Merchants can easily download virtual badges from the dashboard and post their Merchant Score on their company websites, social profiles, and more. To learn more about Merchant Scoring, visit: MerchantCircle.com

Merchant Scoring

About Reply.com, Inc.
Reply.com, Inc. operates the leading marketplace for locally-targeted advertisers. Reply.com’s platform provides advertisers of all sizes with a simple and scalable solution for locally-targeted marketing. Reply.com owns and operates many destination sites including iMotors.com, Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com, which is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with over 1.4 million member merchants and 17 million monthly local consumer visits. To learn more about Reply.com, please visit www.reply.com

Media Contact
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply.com
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Feb

25

Reply.com Names David Wittenkamp Chief Financial Officer

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Newsletter, Online Marketing, Press Releases, Reply! News | 4 Comments

Financial executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience joins the leading marketplace for local advertisers

SAN RAMON, CA – February 25, 2013 – Reply.com, the leading marketplace for local advertisers, today announced that David Wittenkamp has joined the company as chief financial officer. Wittenkamp has more than 25 years’ experience as a financial executive at rapid growth technology firms and also public companies. “David is an experienced CFO with decades of experience with high-growth technology companies,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply.com. “He is also an entrepreneur at heart, so his expertise will be highly valuable to Reply.com as we further establish ourselves as the marketplace of choice for local marketing. We’re thrilled to have David join the executive team.” Prior to joining Reply.com, Wittenkamp was CFO of Greenplum, a division of EMC, where he played a key role in the acquisition of Pivotal Labs. He also served as CFO of Merced Systems, which was sold to Nice Systems in 2011 and Dealix Corporation, which merged with The Cobalt Group in 2004. Previously, Wittenkamp successfully co-founded two companies, TouchWave, which was acquired by LM Ericsson of Sweden in 1999, and PhaseOne. He also served in the Danish Armed Forces as a Major, finishing as Battalion Deputy Commander. He earned a Master of Science in Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Reply.com is one of the most innovative advertising companies in the industry, and its unique approach to help locally-targeted businesses reach the right audiences for their products and services is further proof that the company is well positioned in the marketplace,” said Wittenkamp. “I’m excited to join such an innovative company and work with the talented executive team at Reply.com.”

In January, the company hired Chris Mancini as chief marketing officer, and also announced that it has reached one million auctions per day and 26 million local consumer visits per month across all of its properties, including MerchantCircle.com, Contractors.com, iMotors.com among others. These increases point to the success of Reply.com’s marketplace as the most effective way for local advertisers to reach their target consumers.

About Reply.com, Inc.
Reply.com, Inc. operates the leading marketplace for locally targeted advertisers. Reply.com’s platform provides advertisers of all sizes with a simple and scalable solution for locally targeted marketing. Reply.com owns and operates many destination sites including iMotors.com, Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com, which is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with over 1.4 million member merchants and 17 million monthly local consumer visits. To learn more about Reply.com, please visit www.reply.com.

Media Contacts
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply.com
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Feb

4

Reply.com Announces the Acquisition of HomeGain

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Mortgage, Online Marketing, Press Releases, Real Estate, Real Estate Newsletter, Reply! News, Reply! Real Estate Newsletter | 6 Comments

Acquisition of HomeGain further strengthens Reply.com’s local advertising marketplace and will provide HomeGain advertisers access to significantly more consumer traffic

SAN RAMON, CA – FEBRUARY 4, 2013 – Reply.com, the leading online marketplace for local advertisers, today announced that it has acquired HomeGain. HomeGain has been one of the top visited real estate websites for over a decade and has thousands of real estate agents and brokers as its advertisers. Reply.com, which currently serves over 25 million locally targeted consumer visits per month (more than 20% of which are real estate consumers), will provide the current HomeGain advertisers with access to significantly more prospective buyers and sellers.

“We are thrilled to be adding HomeGain advertisers and consumers to our marketplace,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply.com. “Their brand is well-known in the real estate industry, they have long-standing relationships with many publishers, and they have a loyal following of real estate agents and brokers. We look forward to building on that foundation and growing HomeGain significantly in the future.”

“In my opinion, Reply.com is the perfect place for HomeGain to thrive in the future,” said Dan Jauernig, Chairman of HomeGain, Inc. and CEO of Classified Ventures. “This combination will certainly have a significant impact on the real estate market.”

Last month Reply.com announced that it reached over one million advertising auctions per day and hired Chris Mancini as Chief Marketing Officer to support the company’s rapid growth.

About HomeGain
HomeGain is a leading provider of online marketing solutions that connect real estate agents and brokers with home buyers and sellers. HomeGain offers free services to find and compare real estate agents, research home values, and view homes for sale. Since 1999 REALTORS® have used HomeGain’s real estate marketing programs to connect with consumers, promote their services and grow their business. HomeGain.com has been a top visited real estate website since 1999.

About C.W. Downer & Co.
C.W. Downer & Co. is an independent, global investment bank offering middle-market clients a high level of personal attention coupled with 38 years of international execution experience. We provide insight, not just information. We generate value, not just transactions. With nine fully integrated offices on four continents, we consistently identify the most appropriate strategic buyer and uncover “hidden” acquisition targets. C.W. Downer & Co. delivers the reach of a bulge-bracket investment bank with the senior level focus of a boutique. For more information, visit http://www.cwdowner.com. C.W. Downer & Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to HomeGain.com, Inc. on its sale to Reply! Inc.

About Reply.com, Inc.
Reply.com, Inc. operates the leading marketplace for locally-targeted advertisers. Reply.com’s platform provides advertisers of all sizes with a simple and scalable solution for locally targeted marketing. Reply.com owns and operates many destination sites including iMotors.com, Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com, which is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with over 1.4 million member merchants and 17 million monthly local consumer visits. To learn more about Reply.com, please visit www.reply.com.

Media Contact
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply.com
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Jan

14

Reply.com Hires Chris Mancini as Chief Marketing Officer

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Press Releases, Reply! News | 9 Comments

The leading marketplace for local advertisers reaches 1 million auctions per day and 26 million local consumer visits per month

San Ramon, Calif. – January 15, 2013 – Reply.com, the leading marketplace for local advertisers, today announced that Chris Mancini has joined the company as its chief marketing officer. Reply.com also announced that it has reached 1 million auctions per day and 26 million local consumer visits per month across all of its properties. These increases point to the success of Reply.com’s marketplace for local advertisers, which is recognized as the most effective way for local advertisers to reach their target consumers.

Mancini brings over 12 years’ experience in performance-based online marketing operations and management. Prior to joining Reply.com, Mancini spent two years as EVP and General Manager at QualityHealth, where he was responsible for consumer experience, client marketing, operations, media, client services and analytics. Before that, Mancini spent more than 10 years at QuinStreet, where he was instrumental in helping the company grow to over $300M in revenue and complete an IPO. As SVP and GM at QuinStreet, Mancini launched the company into new verticals and spearheaded efforts to form partnerships with Fortune 1000 companies and leading industry partners.

“We’re thrilled to have Chris join the Reply.com team. We have seen significant increase in budgets from advertisers using our marketplace, and we anticipate this trend to continue in 2013 and beyond. Reaching 1 million auctions per day is just another proof point that local advertising offered in proper format is essential in bringing local advertisers to the internet in a meaningful way,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply.com. “I am confident that Chris’ expertise in online advertising and strategic partnerships will be instrumental as we accelerate the growth of our traffic and meet the needs of our advertisers.”

Reply.com also announced today that it is now supporting more than 1 million advertising auctions per day in the company’s real-time auction marketplace and hosts 26 million local consumer visits per month across all of its properties including MerchantCircle.com, Contractors.com, iMotors.com among others. An auction represents the process through which a consumer is matched with a local service provider for their given inquiry. For example, when a request to be matched with a roofing contractor in a specific zip code on Contractors.com is made, the consumer’s request on a realtime basis is auctioned to determine its value if distributed as a “lead” or an Enhanced Click™ (a consumer generated click including consumers service need and zip code where service needs to be rendered). This is a format that is supported by the Reply.com marketplace and is necessary for local advertisers. Within milliseconds the marketplace matches the consumer with their requested service provider and the auction is completed.

“Reply.com is at a very exciting and interesting point in time, especially as the market is shifting dollars to local online advertising as a more cost-effective way to reach the right audiences,” said Mancini. “Advertisers and publishers in the Reply.com marketplace are realizing profits and reaching audiences in ways only dreamed of 10 years ago. I’m truly thrilled to be joining such a talented team and am hopeful I can add tremendous value from day one.”

Media Contacts
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply.com
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Oct

24

Reply.com Opens Silicon Valley’s Season of Giving Benefitting the FEED Foundation and Mona Foundation

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Newsletter, Press Releases, Reply! News | 1 Comment

December 4th luncheon benefit will promote universal philanthropy among the Valley’s tech companies

San Ramon, Calif. – October 24, 2012 – Reply!, the leading marketplace for locally-targeted advertisers, is kicking off Silicon Valley’s season of giving by hosting its second annual invitation-only event, “Holidays with a Purpose,” which will benefit the FEED Foundation and the Mona Foundation. The event will be held on December 4th at 12pm PST at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park, CA.

“The event has two key purposes – support the valuable work of these great foundations and promote the idea of universal philanthropy. The hope is that every company and every professional in Silicon Valley and elsewhere will incorporate philanthropic giving into their holiday activities. Regardless of the amount, the act of giving shows that we collectively care,” said Payam Zamani, Founder and CEO of Reply.com. “Silicon Valley creates technologies that have dramatically changed the world. There’s so much more we in the community can do with the resources and clout that we have to better the world. We are excited that ‘Holidays with a Purpose’ will bring us together to help provide for basic needs such as food and education.”

Co-founded by Lauren Bush Lauren, the FEED Foundation is dedicated to supporting programs and organizations that are effectively working to fight hunger and eliminate malnutrition throughout the world. As of 2011, the FEED Foundation and its retail partner FEED Projects have provided 60 million free, nutritious school meals to children in 62 countries.

“Silicon Valley produces some of the world’s most innovative technologies, and as a community it has the tremendous ability to have an impact on societies in every corner of the globe,” said Lauren Bush Lauren, Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of the FEED Foundation. “We are excited to engage with the Valley’s movers and thinkers and reach our goal of providing one million meals to under-privileged schoolchildren as a result of this event.”

The FEED Foundation is a new beneficiary of Reply.com’s annual giving event. Contributions at last year’s event supported the Mona Foundation, whose main objectives are to provide quality education to all children, raise the status of women and girls, and build community capacity in areas where its partner projects are located. The Seattle-based organization supports many projects around the world, including the New Horizon School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the Association of the Cohesive Development of the Amazon in Brazil, and the Digital Study Hall in India.

“A society’s future depends a great deal on the educational opportunities it provides to its children,” said Rainn Wilson, a long-time Mona Foundation supporter, and an actor and comedian best-known for his role as “Dwight” in NBC’s hit television show, The Office. “My personal visits to several of the Mona Foundation’s projects have shown me the impact of contributions, no matter how small, in enabling grassroots organizations around the world to provide a better and sustainable education to their future generation.”

Reply.com’s benefit last year raised $100,000 for the Mona Foundation, which helped expand the New Horizon School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This year’s event aims to match last year’s donations to the Mona Foundation as well as raise another $100,000 to fund one million school meals through the FEED Foundation. One hundred percent of contributions to the Mona Foundation and the FEED Foundation will go directly to sponsored programs, with no donations going to administrative or overhead fees.

To join this event as a sponsor and support “Holidays with a Purpose,” please contact the Reply! team at philanthropy@reply.com.

About Reply.com, Inc.
Reply.com, Inc. operates the leading marketplace for locally-targeted advertisers. Reply!’s platform provides advertisers of all sizes with a simple and scalable solution for locally-targeted marketing. Reply! owns and operates many destination sites including iMotors.com, Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com, which is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with over 1.4 million member merchants and 17 million monthly local consumer visits. To learn more about Reply!, please visit www.reply.com.

About the Mona Foundation
Founded in 1999, the Mona Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots educational initiatives across the world. Its main objectives are to provide quality education to all children, to raise the status of women and girls, and to build community capacity in areas where its partner projects are located. The Mona Foundation achieves these objectives by giving 100% of designated funds, and 97% of general funds, directly to its projects. For more information about Mona Foundation and the projects it supports visit www.monafoundation.org.

About the FEED Foundation
Co-founded by Lauren Bush Lauren, the FEED Foundation is dedicated to supporting programs and organizations that are effectively working to fight hunger and eliminate malnutrition throughout the world. The FEED Foundation partners with organizations such as the United Nations World Food Programme, UNICEF, Robin Hood Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, and local food banks in the United States to provide meals, nutritional supplements, and education. As of 2011, the FEED Foundation and FEED Projects have provided nearly 60 million free, nutritious school meals to children around the globe. To learn more about the FEED Foundation, please visit www.thefeedfoundation.org.

Media Contacts
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply!
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Jenny Johns
FEED Foundation
jenny@thefeedfoundation.org
(917) 388-2402 ext. 107

Oct

17

Small Business Owners Split on Perceptions of Economic Recovery

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Economy, MerchantCircle, Press Releases, Reply! News | Leave a Comment

With Economic Concerns Still Paramount, Reply! Survey Reveals Largest Growth Opportunities in Advertising Services Are in Mobile; Small Businesses Favor Mitt Romney Over Barack Obama by 2 to 1 Margin

SAN RAMON, CA, Oct 17, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Reply!, the leading marketplace for locally-targeted advertisers, today issued the results of its eighth Merchant Confidence Index, a survey of local business owners across the country sharing their confidence levels about the current economy, their expectations of future revenue and their assessment of marketing services. The data shows that economic concerns are still weighing heavily on small businesses, with nearly 60 percent of respondents stating that they believe the U.S. economy was better off four years ago than it is today. With these concerns front of mind, SMB investment in many paid marketing services has stagnated, with very little growth seen in adoption of daily deals and several other paid services. However, mobile marketing is the one channel that is heating up in the small business community.

“Our data shows that American small businesses are still struggling to recover from the recession,” said Payam Zamani, CEO of Reply.com, Inc. “As a result, small business owners have turned to free social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as marketing vehicles. In turn, they have slowed their investment in paid marketing services such as daily deals, though there are still many opportunities for growth within certain segments of service offerings.”

Key findings include:

1. Small business owners are split on perceptions of economic recovery.

Economic concerns continue to be widespread among small business owners. Nearly 60 percent of respondents believe that the US economy was better off four years ago than it is today; only 22 percent of small business owners believe the economy is better off now, and 21 percent believe there have been no changes. Similarly, small business owners are split on their perceptions of future economic recovery. More than one-third of respondents (37 percent) believe that the economy will be better off a year from now; while 36 percent believe it will be worse and 28 percent believe the economy will remain the same.

However, there is a bright spot. Small business owners plan to do their part to stimulate the economy. More than 23 percent of small business owners plan to increase their headcount in the next six months, up from 21 percent in Q4 of 2011. Meanwhile, 50 percent plan to maintain their current headcount, while only eight percent plan to reduce their number of employees in the next six months, down from 13 percent last year.

2. SMBs slow to adopt paid marketing services, including daily deals and online reviews.

When asked what free social media platforms they use to promote their business, nearly 70 percent of respondents state they use Facebook and 33 percent are using Twitter. However, when asked which platforms they are paying for promotions, only seven percent are tapping into paid promotions on Facebook and only one percent on Twitter.

Likewise, there has been slow growth of other paid marketing services such as daily deals and review sites. Only 11 percent of respondents have run a daily deal over the last six months — the same percentage as in Q4 2011 — and only 11 percent say that it is likely they will run a daily deal in the next 3-6 months.

With regards to online reviews, while 46 percent of respondents see online reviews as helpful to their business, only 10 percent are using paid services and 90 percent have no plans to start using paid review services.

3. Mobile marketing is heating up in the small business community.

Small business owners are turning to mobile to support their business needs. Mobile marketing is on the rise with 8 percent of respondents currently purchasing mobile ads and 15 percent planning to in the next 3-6 months. Likewise, when asked how likely they are to explore building a mobile website or mobile app for their business in the next 3-6 months, 16 percent of small business owners stated that they are very likely to explore this marketing channel. Meanwhile, 17 percent state that they already have an active mobile app or website.

The survey also reveals that SMBs are more likely to use mobile services that facilitate transactions such as Square and PayPal, with 14 percent and 20 percent noting their usage, respectively. An additional 11 percent are planning to start using a mobile transaction service in the next 3-6 months.

4. SMBs unphased by recent high-profile IPOs.

While many SMBs remain pessimistic about economic recovery, these concerns have not translated into negative perceptions about recent high-profile IPOs in the social and marketing sectors. When asked about their perceptions of Facebook as a company after it went public in May, nearly 70 percent of small business owners said their opinion about the company did not change.

Likewise, when asked about their perceptions of Groupon as a company after it went public, the majority (72 percent) of small business owners stated no change to their perception.

5. Republicans have been more effective at positioning the party as supportive of small business interests.

Mitt Romney is favored 2-1 over Barack Obama as an advocate for growing small businesses in the United States. Similarly, 52 percent said Romney was better equipped to lead the US in an economic recovery, compared to 28 percent who said Obama was better equipped; meanwhile, nearly 20 percent of small business owners stated that neither candidate is equipped for the job.

There is also limited favorability for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) within the SMB community. 63 percent of respondents stated that the Act would negatively impact small businesses, while only one quarter (23 percent) said that the Act would positively impact small businesses. Only 6 percent stated that they believe there will be no impact, and 9 percent are unsure.

About the Merchant Confidence Index The Merchant Confidence Index is an annual survey conducted by MerchantCircle.com, a division of Reply.com, Inc. The Index is designed to track trends in small business sentiment over time and is derived from four key questions designed to synopsize the prevailing trends among local business owners.

This eighth Merchant Confidence Index survey was fielded online, between September 17, 2012 and September 30, 2012, and sent to a random sample of MerchantCircle’s member base of about 1.4 million local business owners. There were 3,434 total responses from local business owners across the United States. Responding businesses classified themselves as legal and home services, automotive, health and beauty, entertainment, travel and more. The survey data can be broken out by state, business type or business size (by headcount) upon request. No incentive was offered to complete the survey.

Reply.com, Inc. is not affiliated with any political party. The results of this survey in no way represent the views of the company.

Survey Summary
Survey

Media Contacts
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply!
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Sep

13

Reply! Introduces Branded Profiles on MerchantCircle.com

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under MerchantCircle, Press Releases, Reply! News | 1 Comment

New product enables large national brands to build a robust local online presence

San Ramon, Calif. – September 13, 2012 – Reply!, Inc. today announced the launch of MerchantCircle Branded Profiles, a new product that enables large, national brands and organizations to build locally-targeted pages for their members on MerchantCircle.com, the nation’s largest online network of local business owners.

By building their locally-targeted online presence with MerchantCircle Branded Profiles, national brands offering local services can build a more robust online presence and more efficiently reach local customers. As one of the top six destinations for local searches, MerchantCircle.com can dramatically increase new customer acquisition for its members. For example, an insurance company can launch profiles for each one of their local agents, and have customer inquiries direct either to each individual agent or to a central corporate location.

“With MerchantCircle Branded Profiles, national brands have an efficient way to enhance their local presence,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply!, Inc. “It’s our mission to make locally-targeted marketing more profitable, targeted and scalable for advertisers of all sizes. Branded Profiles offers national brands a unique way to reach their local customers in every state and every city in the country.”

Branded Profiles offer:

Customizable Branding: companies have the ability to control their image and messaging, so they can bring localized branding to the individual communities where their customers are located.
Tools to communicate with consumers: brands can insert customized solutions allowing them to efficiently interact with their customers.
Request a Quote Button: brands have the ability to direct consumers to their website or directly to their local representatives who can serve them.
Call Tracking: merchants can drive calls into a call center or direct consumers to a local service provider via a trackable number on their Branded Profiles.

About Reply!, Inc.
Reply! Inc. operates the leading marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted online consumer traffic. Reply!’s platform provides advertisers of all sizes with a simple and scalable solution for locally-targeted marketing. Reply! owns and operates many destination sites including iMotors.com, Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com, which is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with over 1.2 million member merchants and 15 million monthly local consumer visits. To learn more about Reply!, please visit www.reply.com.

Media Contact
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply!
rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

May

31

Reply! Acquires QualitySmith, A Leading Online Marketing Company in The Home Improvement Category

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Press Releases, Reply! News | 2 Comments

San Ramon, Calif. – May 31, 2012 – Reply! Inc., the leading marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted consumer traffic, today announced it has acquired QualitySmith. Launched in 2001, QualitySmith provides an online service that connects homeowners with contractors in their local area. The company has a network of hundreds of member contractors throughout the United States that provide homeowners with immediate access to competitive local estimates.

“The highly entrepreneurial team at QualitySmith has done a great job building one of the leading online businesses in the home improvement category,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply!, Inc. “The addition of QualitySmith’s high-quality consumer traffic and their network of local advertisers will immediately and significantly increase liquidity within the segment of Reply!’s auction marketplace focused on the home improvement industry.”

Reply!’s marketplace for locally targeted consumer traffic is designed to enable seamless integration of relevant acquisitions into a single platform. Acquisitions such as QualitySmith enhance the liquidity within the marketplace and as a result accelerate the company’s organic growth.

“The acquisition presents exciting opportunities for the QualitySmith team. We can now plug into Reply!’s patented and highly scalable platform, and together can establish one of the largest online marketing businesses in the home improvement category,” said Mike Wienick, President of QualitySmith. “The combination will increase consumer access to competitive estimates from local service providers, and strengthen the overall value we can deliver to the local contractors who rely on us for an easy-to-use, profitable and time-efficient marketing solution.”

San Francisco-based investment bank Vista Point Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to QualitySmith.

About Reply!, Inc.
Reply.com operates the leading auction marketplace that enables advertisers to acquire locally-targeted and category-specific customer prospects on a cost-per-Enhanced Click™ or cost-per-lead basis. By eliminating the need for advertisers to develop and maintain complex, expensive online marketing infrastructures and teams of experts to source online consumer traffic from many different channels, Reply.com simplifies online locally targeted marketing for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about Reply!, visit www.reply.com. Additional information is available at blog.reply.com.

Apr

24

Reply.com’s CEO and Founder Payam Zamani named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2012 semifinalist in Northern California

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Press Releases, Reply! News | 2 Comments

San Ramon, Calif.—April 24, 2012—Ernst & Young LLP today announced that Payam Zamani, Founder and CEO of Reply.com, the leading marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted consumer traffic, was named a semifinalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2012 program in the Northern California region. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Finalists will be named in May, with awards being presented at a special gala on June 2nd at the Fairmont San Francisco.

Now in its 26th year, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® Program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, and many more.

Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year^® Awards are nationally sponsored in the United States by SAP America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In Northern California sponsors include ManpowerGroup, The Big Picture, Smart Business Network, Inc., ADP, RoseRyan, Scherzer International, Orrick and Barney & Barney.

About Reply!, Inc.
Reply.com operates the leading auction marketplace that enables advertisers to acquire locally-targeted and category-specific customer prospects on a cost-per-Enhanced Click™ or cost-per-lead basis. By eliminating the need for advertisers to develop and maintain complex, expensive online marketing infrastructures and teams of experts to source online consumer traffic from many different channels, Reply.com simplifies online locally-targeted marketing for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about Reply!, visit www.reply.com. Additional information is available at blog.reply.com.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^®
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a US client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited.

Contact
Kevin Cheng
Sparkpr on behalf of Reply.com
(415) 321-1879
reply@sparkpr.com

Feb

28

New MerchantCircle.com Takes Consumers from Search to Transaction

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under MerchantCircle, Press Releases, Reply! News | 3 Comments

Redesigned site allows consumers to find qualified providers in their local area, receive competitive quotes and find expert advice, while giving merchants the ideal tools for servicing their local markets

San Ramon, Calif.—February 28, 2012—Reply! Inc., the leading marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted consumer traffic, today announced the relaunch of its MerchantCircle.com property as a consumer destination that helps busy consumers quickly move from local search to transaction and gives merchants the ideal tools for servicing their local markets. Unlike sites that primarily offer directory listings and reviews, the new MerchantCircle.com allows consumers to find and engage with qualified providers in their local area, while giving merchants the ability to easily and cost-effectively market their business and acquire new customers.

“The new solutions we’re introducing today represent a significant integration of Reply!’s patented marketplace technology with MerchantCircle.com following our acquisition of the company in 2011. We’re taking the category way beyond providing reviews and contact information of local merchants to actually facilitate meaningful connections between consumers and local businesses,” said Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of Reply!, Inc. “While MerchantCircle.com is the first major media property to integrate the Reply! platform to connect consumers directly with merchants, this solution will soon be available to any media site on a white-label basis.”

The new MerchantCircle.com allows consumers to immediately connect with qualified providers in their local area, get access to deals and coupons, find expert advice and receive free competitive quotes for real-life tasks. Consumers can find providers across all business categories, including home repair and improvement; health and beauty; financial and professional services; construction and real estate services; restaurants; and many others. With more than 1.2 million active member merchants, MerchantCircle.com offers consumers the largest network of local business owners on the Internet and has one of the most engaged business-to-consumer communities online today.

Key features for consumers in the new MerchantCircle.com include:

Request a Quote: this new feature, powered by the Reply! Marketplace, enables consumers to submit inquiries and receive immediate responses from interested providers.
Reading, Ratings & Reviews: from ratings and reviews to photos and blogs, MerchantCircle.com has over 6 million pieces of user generated content to help consumers find the best local businesses.
Answers: consumers can get questions answered across all categories by the MerchantCircle.com community of experts, made up of 1.2 million member merchants.
Deals: consumers can find discounts and special offers from local merchants, with over 500,000 offers generated and distributed to date.

Unlike many other local sites primarily focused on offering directory listings and reviews, MerchantCircle.com complements these features by also allowing consumers to easily and quickly move from search to transaction. For example, consumers searching for “roof repair” in their local area will be presented with the option to connect to the best local roofers and/or “request quotes” from multiple local providers. These inquiries are serviced by the relevant subset of member service providers within the extended Reply! network. MerchantCircle.com will also introduce new functionality in the coming months that will let consumers see which vendors have received their request and manage their responses.

With today’s launch, MerchantCircle.com also introduced several powerful ways for merchants to acquire new customers, including “LeadStore”, a service that gives local merchants the ability to purchase qualified, relevant local leads for their business on an on-demand basis. LeadStore presents leads across a wide range of business categories – everything from roof repair to wedding DJs – and sources customer inquiries both from consumers searching for services on MerchantCircle.com as well as the entire Reply! network.

Key features for merchants in the new MerchantCircle.com include:

LeadStore: a Twitter-like feed for leads, LeadsStore allows merchants to pick and choose leads from a real-time list of relevant consumers directly from their merchant dashboard.
DealStore: a new service that increases the visibility of merchants’ deals, coupons and other promotions with premium placement on City pages, emails and the MerchantCircle.com category page.
Local sponsorships: offers merchants premium placement of their listing in city/category-specific search results.
Preferred badges: provides an exclusive opportunity to post an official MerchantCircle.com Preferred business badge to merchant listing pages to provide transparency to searching customers.
Lead management: allows merchants to review and manage all customers via the dashboard, or set up the system to deliver new customer leads directly to their inbox or mobile device.

About MerchantCircle.com
With over 1.2 million member merchants, MerchantCircle.com is the largest online network of its kind in the nation. With MerchantCircle.com, local business owners gain access to marketing tools to boost their online visibility and find customers. When online reviews aren’t enough, consumers rely on MerchantCircle.com to find the best merchants and deals, get expert advice and secure competitive quotes on local goods and services. In June 2011, MerchantCircle.com was acquired by Reply! Inc., the leading marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted and category-specific consumer traffic.

About Reply!, Inc.
Reply.com operates the leading auction marketplace that enables advertisers to acquire locally-targeted and category-specific customer prospects on a cost-per-Enhanced Click™ or cost-per-lead basis. By eliminating the need for advertisers to develop and maintain complex, expensive online marketing infrastructures and teams of experts to source online consumer traffic from many different channels, Reply.com simplifies online locally-targeted marketing for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about Reply!, visit www.reply.com. Additional information is available at blog.reply.com.

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For Media inquiries, please contact:
Kevin Cheng
Kevin@sparkpr.com
415.321.1879

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