Sears Holdings Selects The Viewpoints Technology Platform to Launch The MySears & MyKmart Online Communities

The Viewpoints Technology Platform Allows Sears and Kmart Shoppers to Create Social Profiles, Contribute Content and Engage Other Consumers, all to Make Smarter Purchase Decisions

Chicago May 7, 2009 – Viewpoints Network, a social technology and media company, announced today that Sears Holdings has chosen the Viewpoints Technology Platform to power its new online communities, MySears.com (www.mysears.com) and MyKmart.com (www.mykmart.com).

The introduction of the Viewpoints Technology Platform and its selection by Sears is evidence of the growing need among the nation’s leading brands to truly engage their customers in a meaningful dialogue and capitalize on the rise of the social web.

While the first generation of technologies designed for consumer engagement allowed retailers to solicit reviews from their customers, the Viewpoints Technology Platform allows retailers to foster an on-going dialogue with their customers that create a true online community well beyond the simple publishing of a static review.

The Viewpoints Technology Platform enables MySears and MyKmart members to identify and connect with other likeminded customers to make smarter purchase decisions. Through the platform, MySears and MyKmart members can create a social profile, upload photos, create user tags, connect with friends, write blog posts, track their readership stats and exchange private messages with other community members.

The Viewpoints Technology Platform also gives MyKmart and MySears community members the ability to write highly personalized reviews, post comments on others’ reviews, participate in discussion boards and post ideas that the community can vote on. The platform then organizes these contributions to make sure that 1) the content helps convert browsers into buyers and 2) the content is optimized so that it can easily be found through organic search.

The Viewpoints Technology Platform is a unique combination of a very social profile, which encourages community and leads to multiple types of contributions, and a structured and optimized platform which helps drive conversion and traffic.

"We are delighted Sears Holdings has chosen the Viewpoints Technology Platform to power its new online communities," commented Matt Moog, Founder and CEO of Viewpoints Network. “The Viewpoints Technology Platform was built from the ground up in recognition of a simple fact. Marketers and their partners need to think long and hard about how to better engage with their customers. Simply asking for someone to write a review and calling it a day is not enough.  At Viewpoints we view every interaction with a customer as a golden opportunity to begin a mutually beneficial relationship."

"Most so-called social commerce providers only offer the ability to write static product reviews, which misses the true social component so crucial to building a vibrant online community," added Moog.

"At Sears we believe engaging our shoppers and providing the tools for them to get advice before they buy are central to our future," said Rob Harles, Sears’ Vice President of Community. "The Viewpoints Technology Platform enables MyKmart and MySears to fulfill these goals and provides shoppers with a truly interactive experience to connect with likeminded individuals and have a say in Sears’ future by sharing their thoughts directly us."

The Viewpoints Technology Platform is highly integrated within Sears.com and Kmart.com to offer consumers a richer shopping experience. MySears and MyKmart members are also able to read product reviews and display their own reviews, browse MySears and MyKmart by Sears.com or Kmart.com categories and click through to the ecommerce sites to buy products, all from their respective community site.

"At Viewpoints, our goal is to help retailers achieve what we call the Triple Bottom Line impact of a strong online community,” said Moog. “With better consumer engagement, retailers can 1) achieve better insight into what their customers want 2) strengthen their brand and 3) drive more profitable sales."

About Viewpoints
Founded in 2006, Viewpoints Network is a social technology and media company focused on helping consumers make smarter decisions.  Viewpoints specializes in building communities and motivating "social influencers" to share their experiences by writing reviews, blogs, and how to guides while also participating in forums and contributing ideas that can be voted on.  The Viewpoints Technology Platform helps to organize and present those contributions to enable other consumers to make purchase decisions.  The Viewpoints Technology Platform powers Viewpoints.com and branded communities for customers like Sears Holdings (www.mysears.com).

Viewpoints Network, LLC is a privately held company headquartered in Chicago.

Comments

[Sears Holdings share price]

The company has been without a CEO for more than a year, and no candidates are coming forward. Sears Holdings has been quietly building up its Web presence as it closes stores: Early in 2008, it hired James Barr, who ran Microsoft shopping sites, to lead its online unit. It really a great creditable job and i think they should have huge amount of increase in Sears Holdings share price..