Gannett Projects Black Friday Boost
NEW YORK (
) --
Gannett
(GCI) - Get Report
is reporting that its ShopLocal initiative will bolster its parent company's digital revenue this year, after it reported a 19% increase, over last year, in Web visitors leading up to Black Friday.
ShopLocal is intended to enable major national retailers, such as
Target
(TGT) - Get Report
,
Best Buy
(BBY) - Get Report
and
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Report
, to deliver localized promotions to shoppers. This year, the marketing service has seen a 22% increase in Black Friday discounts, a company high-water mark for the highest number of deal offers on a single day.
>>Gannett Results Rise on Political Spending
Retailers promoted their Holiday specials heavily this year and consumers responded. The site saw a 19% increase in visits and a 26% increase in page views over last year.
"The 2009 holiday shopping season was promotion intensive, and this year is even more so, as retailers have pulled out all of the stops for Black Friday," ShopLocal CEO Vikram Sharma said. "Consumers are finding a lot to choose from as they plan their visits to local stores."
The site saw the biggest surge of activity on Thanksgiving evening with over 15.4 million page views in a single hour.
ShopLocal, the retail division of PointRoll, is owned and operated by Gannett. The division is a major component of the media company's digital segment, which also includes CareerBuilder, Planet Discover, Schedule Star and Ripple6.
For the third quarter the company reported a 10.3% increase in digital operating revenue to $157.7 million from $143 million in 2009, reflecting double-digit revenue growth at PointRoll. Digital revenue accounted for over 19% of its total operating revenue, up from about 10% in 2009.
According to the company's 2009 annual report, its fiscal year digital revenue more than doubled to $586.1 million from $262 million in 2008.
This year, management expects its digital segment revenue and profit to grow with improved results at most of its digital businesses.
-- Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.
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