Event bridges digital gap in neighbourhood shopping
experience between stores and shoppers
MONTREAL, Oct. 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Back for a
third year, Shop The Neighbourhood encourages support for small
businesses by promoting local shopping and offering free online and
mobile app advertising to participating stores and services.
Strategically sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the
event offers a local deals and savings alternative to capture and
drive digital consumer traffic to physical local shops during a
weekend notorious for cross-border and online shopping.
A free initiative of Yellow Pages (TSX: Y), a leading digital
media and marketing solutions company, Shop The Neighbourhood
encourages Canadians to save planned purchases and make them
locally, in their neighbourhoods on Saturday, November 28th.
"Stores and services are often what attracts us to the
neighbourhoods we treasure in the first place. Ensuring these
businesses thrive can have positive ripple effects in our
communities," said François Ramsay, Senior Vice-President,
Corporate Affairs of Yellow Pages. "With Shop The Neighbourhood,
we're not only emphasizing local shopping, but also building the
foundation for digitizing neighbourhood retail operations and
exposing local businesses to digital tools to keep pace with
consumer shopping habits."
Digital media adoption by small businesses is also encouraged by
Shop The Neighbourhood through integration in its free
participation process. Access to placement in YP Shopwise™, a
Yellow Pages mobile app dedicated to finding the best shopping
deals nearby, is free to all participating businesses offering
promotions exclusive to event day on November 28th. By downloading the YP
Shopwise app, Canadians will be able to instantly access all
exclusive Shop The Neighbourhood promotions available nearby at
local stores. Businesses participating in Shop The Neighbourhood
and offering exclusive event day deals, also benefit from free
additional visibility on YP.ca™, in addition to YP Shopwise.
This year, Shop The Neighbourhood is also hosting a Yellow Pages
pilot program involving the use of iBeacon technology. In
collaboration with pilot program participants, the Downtown
Burlington Business Improvement Association (BIA) in Burlington, Ontario, and the Plaza
Saint-Hubert business association in Montreal, Quebec, these small Bluetooth Low
Energy (BLE) devices will be placed in participating stores in each
of these neighbourhoods to send short-distance signals to nearby
smartphones. On November
28th, shoppers in these areas who have downloaded
the YP Shopwise app to an iOS or Android device, will receive
notifications on their phones from the app alerting them to the
proximity of a deal or promotion exclusive to Shop The
Neighbourhood, converting digital consumer traffic into in-store
shoppers for participating merchants.
"It's important for small businesses to master digital platforms
and marketing services. Our Shop The Neighbourhood event is another
opportunity, outside of our business operations, where we can help
bridge the digital gap that exists between consumers and local
businesses as well as study how new technology can best be
harnessed in support of neighbourhood-level retail," continued
Ramsay.
Last year's Shop The Neighbourhood event saw over 750,000
Canadian consumers spend $89 million
at local neighbourhood retailers. The event included the
participation of 8,000 neighbourhood businesses, in over 200
neighbourhoods, with over 6,000 exclusive promotions by small
businesses available on Yellow Pages digital platforms.
For more information on the event or to join, visit
www.shoptheneighbourhood.ca.
About Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages (TSX: Y) is a Canadian
digital media and marketing solutions company that supports
neighbourhood economies by helping local businesses reach new
customers and foster stronger relationships with existing clients
through its various media and products. Yellow Pages holds some of
Canada's leading local online
search properties including YP.ca™, RedFlagDeals.com™,
Canada411.ca™ the Comfree/DuProprio network, and YP NextHome, as
well as mobile applications YP, YP Shopwise, YP Dine, Comfree,
RedFlagDeals, Canada411 and 411.ca, as well as the Yellow Pages™
print directories. Yellow Pages is also a leader in national
digital advertising through Mediative, a division of Yellow Pages
devoted to digital marketing and performance media services for
national-scale agencies and customers. For more information, visit
www.corporate.yp.ca.
SOURCE Yellow Pages