Topix Selects Krillion to Connect Local News Fans with Great Deals on In-Stock Products from Local Retailers

Partnership with Web’s top online newspaper destination underscores Krillion’s prominence as the go-to partner for portals and web publishers looking to enhance their content with hyper-local product shopping information and offers 

Mountain View, CA – January 15, 2009 – Effective today, news fans who visit Topix (www.topix.com), the leading local news community on the Web, will have instant access to ‘local deals’ from local retailers looking to promote in-stock merchandise. The ability to connect millions of local Topix viewers across the U.S. with inventory-aware offers from major retailers is made possible by technology provided by Krillion™ (www.krillion.com), the product-centric local shopping search engine.

By offering its readers a dynamic, real-time display of products that are available and on sale at local brick-and-mortar retailers, Topix shortens their path to purchase and helps them quickly determine which local stores currently have inventory of the product they’re looking for, without calling or visiting several stores.

The Krillion feed highlights featured products from national retailers in dozens of local markets, and now appears on all of the city-specific Topix forum pages. Such as:
http://www.topix.com/forum/boston
http://www.topix.com/forum/sf

“By presenting Topix viewers – who are primarily interested in local news and events – with relevant product promotions from local retailers, Topix can enhance its local content and the value proposition for local advertisers,” said Joel Toledano, co-founder and CEO of Krillion. “We believe that local news portals represent a huge opportunity for Krillion’s real-time, local product search and we see Topix as the perfect partner to showcase this potential.”

“Topix has grown to become a large national footprint of local consumers – all of whom are looking to buy products near where they live and work,” said David Galvan, Topix VP of business development. “Topix is pleased to partner with companies like Krillion to add local value in the tens of thousands of communities we serve.”

Topix is using Krillion’s Localization Engine™ technology, which provides a real-time feed of in-stock products from more than 40,000 retail locations across the country, including Home Depot, Sears, Target, Wal-Mart, and others. For each retailer, the enhanced listing displays a selection of popular products currently in stock at that particular store, along with its location and store-specific information.

As website publishers look to monetize the buying power of their readers, Krillion’s product-centric datafeed has emerged as the most cost-effective way for manufacturers, shopping engines and Internet Yellow Pages providers to integrate in-stock product from local retailers into their websites. For Topix, this means that it can quickly populate local news markets with local shopping options for all its readers (currently 6.5 million unique visitors [comScore, Nov. 08] or 16 million unique visitors [Google Analytics, Nov. 08], covering 40,000 + U.S. ZIP codes).

About Topix

Topix is the leading news community on the Web, connecting people to the information and discussions that matter to them in every U.S. town and city. A Top 10 online newspaper destination (comScore, November 2008), the company links news from 50,000 sources to 360,000 lively user-generated forums. Topix also works with the nation’s major media companies to grow and engage their online audiences through forums, publishing platforms and RSS feeds. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Topix LLC is a privately held company with investment from Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Company. For more, visit www.topix.com.

About Krillion

Krillion is the leading local shopping search engine that provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on where specific branded products are sold, and which retailer has them in stock right now. Krillion aggregates information from partner companies and websites to create an index of products, retailers, locations and in-store stock availability for 40,000 cities across the United States. The powerful combination of Krillion’s patent-pending Krillion Localization Engine™ and its real-time StockCheck™ tool enables web-savvy shoppers to quickly find, compare and buy products near them, speeding their path to purchase and helping them take advantage of in-store pickup and other convenience services offered by multi-channel retailers. Krillion’s local product index and search engine power manufacturer and publisher websites, providing a dynamic local product search platform that helps them connect their customers with in-stock products at local retailers. Krillion was founded in February 2006 and is funded by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Leapfrog Ventures. For more information, visit www.krillion.com.

Krillion™, Krillion Product Locator™ and Krillion Localization Engine™ and Krillion StockCheck™ are trademarks of Krillion, Inc. All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts:

Tim Cox | ZingPR tim@zingpr.com, 650-369-7784