Contact Information: Contact: Todd Sherman Communications Mercent 206-832-3900
Brookstone Selects Mercent for Data-Driven Online Marketing, Generates 20% Holiday Revenue Growth Through the Mercent Shopping Network
| Source: Mercent
SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - March 5, 2009) - Mercent™, a provider of online marketing
software and services for retail merchants, today announced that leading
specialty retailer Brookstone™, ranked #131 in the Internet Retailer Top
500 Guide, joins the growing list of top retail brands that utilize
Mercent's on-demand platform Mercent Retail™, to maximize online sales,
profits, and merchandising control through leading online marketplaces and
comparison shopping engines. During Brookstone's holiday season 2008,
Mercent generated a 20% year-over-year lift in managed revenues.
"The Mercent team has created a high-performance online marketing solution
built on a deep understanding of ecommerce best-practices," said Steve
August, Operational Vice-President of Customer Marketing. "The tools and
insight provided by the Mercent Retail platform have enhanced Brookstone's
performance across several online shopping channels and delivered material
performance improvements."
Brookstone is a multi-channel retailer with more than 300 stores across the
United States. The company's functional yet unique product categories
include health and fitness, home and office, outdoor living, and travel and
auto. In 2007, Brookstone reported $562.8 million in total sales revenue,
and grew web sales to $89 million, representing a 31% increase in online
sales revenue over 2006.
"Mercent welcomes Brookstone to our growing portfolio of successful leading
retail brands," said Mercent CEO Eric Best. "We're excited with the
preliminary results we delivered in 2008, and look forward to Brookstone's
online success in 2009 and beyond."
Mercent helps leading retailers drive revenues and profits through more
than 50 ecommerce channels including comparison shopping engines,
transactional marketplaces, paid inclusion programs, and affiliate
networks. Through the on-demand marketing platform Mercent Retail,
retailers can manage key aspects of their online merchandising, including
automatically optimizing for profitability, inventory, and other business
goals with substantially less time and effort.
Information regarding Mercent Retail shopping
feed and paid inclusion management technology, Mercent
Performance marketing services, and the complete list of online marketing channels in
the Mercent Shopping Network is available at www.mercent.com.
About Brookstone
Brookstone, Inc. is an innovative product development and specialty
lifestyle retail company that operates 318 Brookstone Brand stores
nationwide and in Puerto Rico. Typically located in high-traffic regional
shopping malls and airports, the stores feature unique and innovative
consumer products. The Company also operates a Direct Marketing business
that includes an ecommerce website at http://www.brookstone.com.
About Mercent
Mercent provides online marketing
technology and services to help retail merchants optimize performance
across online marketing channels. Mercent's on-demand platform, Mercent
Retail, connects existing retail management systems and The Mercent
Shopping Network, a network of more than 50 online shopping destinations
including transactional
marketplaces such as Amazon.com and eBay
Large Merchant Services, comparison shopping
engines (CSEs) such as Shopping.com and Shopzilla, paid
inclusion programs like Yahoo! Search Submit Pro, and affiliate marketing
programs such as LinkShare and the Google Affiliate Network. Mercent Retail
makes it easy for merchants to increase revenue and gross margins by
promoting the right products with the right merchandising offers and
placement using optimized product data feeds to these key retail channels.
Mercent customers include 1-800-Flowers, Bass Pro Shops, Brookstone,
GUESS?, L'Occitane USA, Redcats Group, REI, and other leading retailers.
Mercent is an Amazon.com Certified System Integrator, Buy.com Gold
Certified Partner, SHOP.COM Certified Data Feed Provider, certified Google
Product Search Partner and Yahoo! Search Submit Pro certified feed
provider. Founded by veterans of Amazon.com, Mercent is a venture-funded
company based in Seattle, WA. For more information, visit www.mercent.com.