Press Release
Top Sporting Goods and Outdoor Retailers Choose PowerReviews' High-impact, Tag-based Approach to Online Customer Reviews
Lifestyle-based PowerTags™ Resonate with Shoppers and Merchandisers Alike
Millbrae, Calif. October 2, 2006 - Several leading outdoor and sporting goods retailers have selected PowerReviews (www.powerreviews.com) as their online customer reviews and ratings service, attracted by its unique PowerTags™ feature that allows customers to add descriptors to reviews that are unique to their lifestyles and interests.
These searchable, relatable descriptors are summarized in the reviews by "Pros," "Cons" and "Best Uses" to give shoppers a high-impact and efficient way to help them make their final purchase decision.
Mountain Gear (www.mountaingear.com), Paragon Sports (www.paragonsports.com), Eastern Mountain Sports (www.ems.com), Performance Bicycle (www.performancebike.com) and Evogear (www.evogear.com) are among the retailers touting the benefits of this feature available only from PowerReviews.
"We've seen customers call out features of a product that we didn't actually identify in the product description itself," said Nathan Decker, director of e-commerce for Evogear, a skiing, wakeboarding and snowboarding site that recently added PowerReviews. "It's very helpful for shoppers to hear from other shoppers in their own vernacular to help them make informed purchase decisions."
On Evogear, customer JJNautique of Wisconsin added the tag "big pop," a common term among surf riders, to the Pros section for the Liquid Force Shane Wakeboard. Other tags Evogear reviewers used for Best Uses with various products included "big air," "crud," "park and pipe" and, for an overnight bag, "avoiding baggage claim."
"One of the main reasons we chose PowerReviews after comparing it with other services is their understanding of online merchandising and their commitment to the specific needs of our company," said Whitney Parsons, internet marketing manager for Mountain Gear. "They are continually working on new functionality that we need, and PowerTags is an important example that really matters to our customers."
One Mt. Gear customer, J.D. of Cascade, Colorado, in a review of NX21 ski bindings, added to the Pros field that they are "easy to put on and adjust" and "stiff enough to push 8800," referring to Dynastar Legend 8800 skis. Other Mt. Gear tags included "nice gate action" for a carabiner, "windproof," "great fit," "stylish," "breathable" and "comfy." "These are authentic terms from verified customers with real knowledge of the sports and the products," said Parsons. "Other customers who read them will connect right away."
Performance Bike customers have also populated reviews with their own unique descriptive tags. "Clyde the big Fat Rider" from St. Louis, for instance, added the following Pros to his review of the Forte Carve mountain bike pedals: "easy engagement," "easy release," "highly compatible" and "shed mud."
"Unlike free-form text reviews, PowerTags automatically tabulates customer-generated descriptors in our reviews," said PowerReviews CEO Andy Chen. "This generates simple-to-read review summaries and enables descriptors to be searchable on the site. This way, shoppers can make decisions based on more meaningful and quantifiable information, driving greater conversion than traditional, free-form customer review engines."
Chen and PowerReviews co-founder and COO Robert Chea are e-commerce pioneers who established early standards for online shopping best practices as co-founders of public online retailer Fogdog.com and later as executives with Yahoo! Shopping and e-commerce platform leader GSI Commerce, respectively.
About PowerReviews™
PowerReviews is a consumer technology company that provides best-in-class customer reviews services to multi-channel retailers to help convert more shoppers and attract new shoppers through high-impact, peer-level reviews. PowerReviews' patent-pending PowerTags™ technology captures customer opinions in their own vernacular, making reviews more relatable and impactful for other shoppers. PowerReviews offers its unique customer reviews service on a fully managed basis, with no downtime risk of a traditional ASP. Its customers include TicketsNow, Adorama, Abt Electronics, Sam Ash, and Mountain Gear. Based in Millbrae, California, PowerReviews is a privately held company with funding from leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms Menlo Ventures and Draper Richards. For more information visit www.powerreviews.com.
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Contacts:
Duffy Jennings
PowerReviews
650-888-7787
duffy@powerreviews.com
Lisa Tarter
TidalWave PR
415-440-4278
lisatarter@yahoo.com