We are proud to be among such respected companies. One of the reasons Knight Ridder attributes to this high ranking is a significant increase in e-commerce initiatives such as online advertising and sponsorships. With the Real Cities Marketplace product, users benefit by being able to go to a single site to find what they need whether they want to shop on or off-line. For example, users can get gift ideas for last-minute online specials or they can find out what' s on sale at a mall near home.
Users also can search from national vendors as well as from merchants in their local communities.
Similarly, merchants benefit by gaining access both to a deep local audience and to the large national Internet population. Whether through setting up an online store or using products such as online coupons to drive sales locally, Real Cities allows merchants to tap into e-commerce revenues by using the Internet to drive sales. It's going to be like a telephone number. And with that, the demand for a regional Web presence is going to explode. And the demand to assist local merchants on the Web is time-sensitive.