Schedulicity Unites With the TheGiftCardCafe.com to Help Small Businesses Bolster Sales With Online Gift Cards

BOZEMAN, MT and WILMINGTON, DE--(Marketwire - Nov 16, 2011) - Just in time for the holiday season, Schedulicity (www.schedulicity.com), the leader in online appointment scheduling for small businesses, today announced a strategic alliance with TheGiftCardCafe.com (www.thegiftcardcafe.com), a leading provider of online gift card solutions for small businesses both in physical and digital formatting. TheGiftCardCafe.com's "Instant Gift Certificates" capabilities will now be accessible to Schedulicity's ever-expanding list of service professionals.

According to the National Retail Federation (www.nrf.com), 57.7% of shoppers want to receive a gift card this holiday season, the highest percentage in the survey's history. Nearly half of those surveyed will make up to 36% of their total purchases online.

"Schedulicity works diligently to identify companies that share our passion and dedication to bettering today's small businesses," said Jerry Nettuno, founder and CEO of Schedulicity. "Joining forces with TheGiftCardCafe.com offers our small businesses yet another way to successfully market themselves with online tools, strengthening their business and developing their loyal consumer base."

Through this ongoing alliance, Schedulicity service professionals will be able to offer Instant Gift Certificates to its clients, allowing patrons to purchase Gift Certificates online 24/7 via TheGiftCardCafe.com platform. Certificate recipients are then able to schedule an appointment with that service professional from the certificate's "Schedule Now" button, directing them to the Schedulicity portal.

"We developed TheGiftCardCafe.com after realizing there was a deficit in the online sales strategy of most small businesses," said Gregg Gottschling, co-founder of TheGiftCardCafe.com. "Teaming up with Schedulicity, the first scheduling provider to be integrated with our platform gives our customers the best tools needed to successfully manage their business."

The "Buy Now" gift certificate button will be promoted both on the service professional's scheduling page, as well as on Schedulicity's directory of appointment-dependent small businesses at no additional charge.

About Schedulicity

Schedulicity is the leading online appointment scheduling solution for small businesses. To date, more than 6 million appointments have been booked through Schedulicity (an appointment is booked every four seconds) in more than 1,900 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Schedulicity currently facilitates over $450 million in appointment-based commerce per year. Schedulicity earned a prestigious DEMOgod Award at DEMO Fall 2011 for exceptional potential to thrive in the market, and was also honored by Tech Awards Circle 2011 for Best SMB Service, recognizing small to mid-sized companies that have created truly outstanding technology services. To sign up for the service or to find a service provider near you, please visit http://www.schedulicity.com or Schedulicity's Facebook page.

About The TheGiftCardCafe.com

The TheGiftCardCafe.com makes it easy for business owners to start selling "Instant Gift Certificates" and "Special Deals" online by providing a stand along, turn-key, secure, professional shopping cart system branded with the merchants' company logo. It is easily added to their existing website with a simple link or "Buy Now" button.