CLEVELAND, Ohio, December 1, 2000 – Locality.com, inc., an e-commerce and web site services provider to small businesses, today announced plans to add additional community news portals in both Aurora and Twinsburg.
This expansion is supported by the marketing research and strategic planning efforts of Deloitte & Touche, one of the nation’s leading professional services firms.
Dennis Barba Jr., Locality.com President and CEO, said, "We want these communities to have sites that are something special. We provide them with an online community newspaper. Local news, sports, school activities, community activities, and a complete local business directory are just a few of our site's components." Barba added this his content managers work closely with each community to gather and deploy local information, while searching available online media to consolidate all local coverage into one easy-to-use portal.
Locality.com also offers small business services such as web site hosting and management tools, integrated industry portals, and an advertising presence on its community news network.
Barba credited much of his organization’s growth to the business services of Deloite & Touche. “Deloite’s team provided us with strategic direction from day one,” Barba said. “They became deeply involved in the entire scope of the project and continue to be a major participant as we roll into these new markets.”
Ken Hawkinson, Deloitte & Touche manager, said, “Our collaborative style has been an excellent match for Locality.com’s evolution. We provided initial marketing research and assisted in developing the organization’s original business plan. As Locality.com continues to move into new communities, we’re focused on deploying a highly-efficient back-office operation for its entire aggregate network.”
Using the interactive properties of the web, Locality.com works with local businesses to provide customers with an enhanced shopping experience. Visitors can schedule appointments online, download special discounts and coupons, review complete movie schedules, and buy products and gift certificates. With its high-end business packages, Locality.com facilitates secure credit card and electronic check transactions online.
"By building the best community news sites available, we can provide an instant media that reconnects businesses with their local consumers on the net," Barba said. "These online 'local newspapers' will drive customers to local business web sites."
Small business subscribers also enjoy complete web site design, mangement and monitoring tools through its e-site buildersm development system. Subscribers also have access to a customized eMarketWindowsm that provides specialized business information and professional discounts through a vertically-integrated portal.
The entire Locality.com system, developed with Deloitte & Touche for both business and consumer needs, was built to serve as the backbone for a powerful national network. Barba added, “Our expansion will continue into over 470 communities over the next 24 months. 2003 will place us in 900 communities and 2004 will have us exceeding 1500 communities.”
About Locality.com
Locality.com provides online enabling services to small, local businesses and the communities they serve. The company focuses its services on 'micro' businesses (typically those with under ten employees and annual revenues under $500,000), in rural and suburban communities with populations between 10,000 and 50,000. Locality.com's provides its professional subscribers with an instant web presence, consolidated access to online services, web site management tools, vertical market portals, national partnership purchasing network and e-commerce services. To enable interaction between small business owners and their local customers, Locality.com provides each community with a premier online information source for local news, school information, and community events and activities. More information is available at http://www.e2grow.com.
Contacts:
Dennis P. Barba Jr.
President & CEO
Locality.com
440-729-1774
dbarbajr@e2grow.com
Robert W. Craig Jr.
President
Craig Advertising/The Craig Creative Companies
440-338-1572
craigcreative@att.net
