PowerReviews and Endeca Partner to Deliver Customer-Guided Shopping Experiences Based on User Generated Content

Tag-based Reviews and Guided Navigation Experience Drive Social Navigation of Shopping Sites

http://www.powerreviews.com/social-shopping/news/press_endeca_partner_08212007.html

Cambridge, Mass. & Millbrae, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PowerReviews™ (www.powerreviews.com), a leader in customer reviews and social merchandising solutions for online retailers, and Endeca Technologies, Inc. (www.endeca.com), an enterprise information access software company, today announced a partnership to enhance the online shopping experience by extending Guided Navigation®, search and dynamic merchandising capabilities through the use of “tag-based” customer reviews. Endeca’s signature Guided Navigation experience combined with PowerReviews’ tag-based customer reviews gives shoppers first-of-their kind abilities to explore, find and compare products by uniquely relevant criteria and peer recommendations. Shoppers can narrow product selection based on their specific lifestyles, intended uses and desired “pros” and “cons” in the product. The resulting experience offers a preview of the next generation storefront, and is designed to boost conversion rates, increase customer satisfaction and provide competitive differentiation over sites that simply offer product page level reviews.

Customer reviews and ratings have become an integral part of online shopping decisions – 71% of online shoppers read reviews before they purchase a product online, based on a recent Forrester Research study. In addition, customer reviews and ratings are rated the #1 most helpful website feature in making informed product decisions, with 92% of customers finding them extremely or very helpful in making online shopping decisions, according to an April 2006 study by the eTailing group and J.C. Williams Consultancy.

“Customer reviews have long played an important role informing the purchase of new products both on and off line. By working with pioneers like PowerReviews -- and combining the best of both technologies -- we’re now able to inject this valuable information seamlessly into the user’s shopping experience in ways that were not previously possible,” said Matt Eichner, SVP Strategic Marketing and Development, Endeca. “Our early work with PowerReviews highlights the extensibility of the Endeca platform and foreshadows innovations to come in the very near future.”

Social navigation is an emerging capability that leverages user generated content – reviews, opinions, recommendations, posts – to create new ways to explore, find and analyze information. In the case of Endeca and PowerReviews, this is achieved by leveraging user-generated tags (pros, cons, and best uses of products reviewed using PowerReviews) combined with product characteristics (price, brand, specifications) to present a cohesive and comprehensive collection of refinements and navigation options. This is made possible using Endeca’s core MDEX Engine™ technology, which takes PowerReviews’ ever-changing user-review content and displays dynamic refinements with the speed and flexibility to allow shoppers to choose the path that suits them best.

The first live example of this “tag-based” approach to social navigation can be seen on PowerReviews’ shopping research portal -- Buzzillions.com. Buzzillions demonstrates the ease and power of customer-guided shopping, utilizing the combined capabilities of PowerReviews and Endeca. For instance, the Digital Camera page on Buzzillions.com (www.Buzzillions.com/digitalcameras) illustrates how a consumer can find a digital camera that is ideally suited to him based on his photography lifestyle, interests and intended camera uses. With just a few clicks, the consumer answers questions relating to his affinity group (people like him), intended uses, pros he is seeking and cons he would like to avoid, and narrows the product selection from 536 digital cameras to a handful to look at more closely.

“As both a client and a partner, we have seen first hand the incredible opportunities this partnership creates with the use of social navigation on our shopping research portal Buzzillions.com,” said CEO Andy Chen. “And as we see it, we provide the “social” and Endeca provides the “navigation,” and together we provide the opportunity for any retailer to experience the customer satisfaction, trust and sales benefits first hand.”

About Endeca™
Endeca is a next-generation information access company, uniting the ease of search with the analytical power of business intelligence. Combining patented intellectual property, breakthrough science and a deep focus on user experience, the Endeca Information Access Platform helps people find, analyze and understand information in ways never before possible. Leading global organizations like ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Boeing, Cox Newspapers, Dice, The (US) Defense Intelligence Agency, The Home Depot, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, The Library of Congress, Nike, and Walmart.com rely on Endeca to power business-critical applications that increase revenue, reduce costs and streamline operations. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, USA, Endeca is a private company with worldwide operations. For more information: www.endeca.com or info@endeca.com.

About PowerReviews
PowerReviews is an enterprise solutions company that provides customer reviews and social merchandising solutions to multi-channel retailers, driving higher conversion and increased purchase satisfaction. PowerReviews’ patent-pending PowerTags™ technology captures customer opinions in their own words, making reviews more useful for shoppers, empowering them to make more informed and confident purchase decisions. Its customers include Staples, ToysRus, Ace Hardware, Ritz Camera, The Sports Authority, over 100 more. With the introduction of Buzzillions.com, the company has entered the consumer shopping portal market, leveraging its tag-based technology to introduce social navigation and affinity recommendations into the shopping research process for consumers. Based in Millbrae, California, PowerReviews is a privately held company with funding from leading venture capital firms Menlo Ventures and Draper Richards. For more information on the company, visit www.PowerReviews.com To experience the shopping benefits from Buzzillions, visit www.Buzzillions.com.

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Editor's Contact:

Lisa Tarter
TidalWave PR
415-440-4278
lisatarter@yahoo.com

Online Shoppers Listen to Word-of-Mouth

AUGUST 9, 2007


Debra Aho Williamson, Senior Analyst

While it is common knowledge that consumers use their ears to help make purchase decisions — by listening to the advice of others — they continue to regularly use their eyes, according to BIGresearch's "Simultaneous Media Usage Study 10" report.

More than half of consumers surveyed (51.6%) said something they saw in a magazine prompted them to conduct an online search. Nearly the same number (47.7%) said reading an article led to a search. Broadcast TV, newspapers and cable TV rounded out the top five, while face-to-face communication was sixth, at 35.3%.

The words of others ring loud when it comes to influencing electronics purchases, the survey found. Word-of-mouth was cited by 45.1% of respondents. However, the eyes still have it here as well: 37.8% said reading an article was influential and about 29% cited either magazines or newspaper inserts. About 24% said online advertising was influential.

The BIGresearch study did not separate out whether the word-of-mouth came online (in the form of reviews, blogs, etc.) or from offline means, nor did it say whether a person read an article online or in traditional media. In the consumer electronics category, the Internet is an especially strong source of information, according to a study conducted by Fabrizio, MacLaughlin & Associates for the Lumin Collaborative: 50% of people cited it, vs. 15% who said the Internet was a source of food and beverage information.

The one-two punch of word-of-mouth and the Internet in electronics purchases was also evident in a study by Ketchum and the USC Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center. One-third of respondents said they got their advice from family and friends, and 29.9% indicated a consumer electronics company Web site provided information.

Much has been made in the past few years about the benefits of word-of-mouth and the rapid rise of online word-of-mouth, in particular. eMarketer estimates that 66 million US adults, or about 29% of the population, regularly give advice about products or services.

Of those offering advice, 26.8 million are influential online — amounting to 17.5% of US adult Internet users.

The Rising Roar of Word-of-Mouth

JUNE 29, 2007

'I tried it and... '

More and more, consumers are relying on advice from friends, family and even strangers to make purchase decisions, select physicians, choose travel destinations and pick politicians to vote for.

And many of them are giving — and getting — that advice online.

By eMarketer's latest estimates, over 25 million US adults regularly share advice on products or services online.

"For as long as humans have been talking, information has spread by word-of-mouth. But it is only recently that word-of-mouth has become an actual marketing discipline," says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer Senior Analyst and the author of the new report, Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Winning Friends and Influencing Customers.

According to a BIGresearch study, 91% of US adults regularly or occasionally seek advice about products or services.

In the same study, 94.1% of US adults regularly or occasionally give advice to others about products or services.

"Obviously, nearly everyone is talking," says Ms. Williamson.

And their friends are listening — and being influenced.

Adult Internet users surveyed by DoubleClick chose recommendations from friends as the one type of promotion they consider most worthwhile.

"However, at a time when consumers have more ways to wield their influence and opinion than ever before," says Ms. Williamson, "word-of-mouth represents a double-edged sword for marketers."

Survey after survey reports that consumers consider word-of-mouth more credible than nearly any other kind of marketing, but the more that companies try to control it, the greater the risk of failure.

To learn how to get your product or services talked about, in a good way, read the new eMarketer report, Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Winning Friends and Influencing Customers.