January 12, 1999 17:09
infoUSA's New VideoYellowPagesUSA.com Takes Test Market by
Storm; Advertisers and Consumers Give Rave Reviews
OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 12, 1999--infoUSA Inc. (Nasdaq: IUSAA/IUSAB) announced today that its brand new proprietary Internet service VideoYellowPagesUSA.com, launched just two months ago in Omaha, Neb., has already signed up 400 area advertisers. The site also contains more than 4,000 storefront pictures of businesses. Initial response for this test market was excellent - within weeks of introduction, traffic to the site reached 3,000 page views per day.
"Goodbye printed yellow pages, make way for VideoYellowPagesUSA.com," commented Vinod Gupta, infoUSA chairman and chief executive officer. "VideoYellowPagesUSA.com gives small businesses a unique and affordable way to advertise over the Internet and will soon offer them the ability to conduct e-commerce directly from the VideoYellowPagesUSA.com site. In one transaction, customers will have the ability to select a business, view a multimedia tour and purchase products and services, all for the price of a phone call. This represents a significant time and cost saving to the consumer, and a tremendous opportunity for these businesses to increase their customer base and dramatically improve sales."
Gupta continued, "Consumers have been enthusiastic in embracing this product, due to its obvious advantages over traditional yellow pages as well as ease of access. During this test-marketing phase, infoUSA has distributed 50,000 promotional CD-ROMs which automatically download RealPlayer software and demonstrate the service. Our software and product development teams have done an incredible job in developing the required proprietary technology and bringing it to market within a very short time."
Mark Halula, VideoYellowPagesUSA.com advertiser and owner of David's Florist remarked, "Brand new customers we never had before are shopping with us and our local holiday business was up this year."
"More than 500 new customers have seen my video since I signed up for VideoYellowPagesUSA.com just two months ago," said Ahmad Nazaraghaie, VideoYellowPagesUSA.com advertiser and owner of Ahmad's Persian Cuisine.
Omahan Nancy Reese received a mail piece promoting the new service and thought it was too good to be true, so she tried it. "It's wonderful - I like seeing the owners and what the business is really like. I found places I never thought of before. I've been telling everyone about it."
infoUSA, www.infoUSA.com, is the leading provider of business information. infoUSA partners with the top traffic-generating Internet sites including InfoSpace (Nasdaq: INSP), GTE (NYSE: GTE), Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Netscapes (Nasdaq: NSCP), Network Solutions (Nasdaq: NSOL), and AOL (Nasdaq: AOL). Nearly two million customers use the products and services for direct marketing, telemarketing, marketing planning, lead generation, sales planning, customer analysis and credit reference. The company's headquarters are in Omaha, Neb., at 5711 South 86th Circle, PO Box 27347 Omaha, Neb., 68127-0347. infoUSA Inc. can be contacted at (402) 593-4500.
CONTACT: Shelly Vaughn - Director, Investor Relations
Phone: (402) 593-4511 Fax: (402) 537-6197
E-Mail: ir@infoUSA.com
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