PowerReviews(R) Accelerates Expansion into Broad-based Social Commerce Solutions; Appoints Pehr Luedtke CEO

Luedtke brings a unique combination of brand marketing, retail merchandising, and consumer internet experience to the CEO position. Most recently, Luedtke was the General Manager at Epinions, the largest user-generated product reviews site on the Internet. Prior to Epinions, Luedtke held senior strategy and sales roles at Levi Strauss and Company, where he helped launch Levi Strauss into the mass retail channel.

"Retailers and brands are adopting social commerce tools at an extraordinary rate," says Co-Founder Andy Chen. "Pehr brings an integrated marketing, sales and retailer perspective, and the operational experience we need in order to harness this significant opportunity. I look forward to working closely with Pehr to build on our leadership position as the structured content leader and to accelerate our growth."

The recently published "2009 Community and Social Media Study," conducted by the e-tailing group, found that more than half of retailers and brands have adopted at least 5 Social Media tools: Customer Reviews, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, Blogs and Viral Videos. The Study also found that Social Listening and Facebook Connect are the top two Social Media tools retailers and brands will adopt in the next 12 months. In late September, PowerReviews announced new products to address these needs -- BrandConnect(TM) and Social Megaphone(TM), respectively -- building on its core product line of Customer Reviews, In-Line SEO and AnswerBox. Going forward, PowerReviews will leverage its structured content and SEO advantages to expand its suite of Social Commerce and CRM solutions and help retailers and brands drive customer engagement, connection and sales.

"It is clear that social commerce is quickly transforming the way retailers and manufacturers do business. In addition to improving in-season retail metrics, social commerce creates fundamentally new ways of developing, marketing and selling products. And it opens new avenues for better long term customer engagement," says Luedtke. "I am excited to join the PowerReviews team. The company, with its innovative product offerings and deep retailer relationships, is uniquely positioned to become the essential partner for brands and retailers to capitalize on this sea change."

About PowerReviews(R)

PowerReviews is the leading provider of customer reviews and social commerce solutions to retailers and brands. The company's innovative tag-based approach to collecting, organizing, structuring and analyzing user-generated content significantly boosts product sales and customer engagement. Recognized as the customer reviews Solution Leader in the Internet Retailer Top 500 survey, PowerReviews works with over 850 retailers and brands on over 2700 websites, including Staples, REI, Drugstore.com, Gardener's Supply, Diapers.com, Callaway and Jockey. In addition to its Enterprise solution, PowerReviews offers an on-demand solution for small- and medium-sized businesses called PowerReviews Express (www.powerreviewsexpress.com). PowerReviews also operates a product reviews and recommendation site for consumers, called Buzzillions.com (www.buzzillions.com).

SOURCE: PowerReviews

TidalWave PR 
Lisa Tarter, 415-203-2462 
lisa@tidalwavepr.com