Bazaarvoice Extends Leadership With Explosive Growth in Q1 and Q2 2008

Worldwide Leader in Social Commerce Doubles Client Base in Six Months; Adds Key Executives and New Offices to Keep Pace With Demand for User-Generated Content and Word of Mouth Marketing

Bazaarvoice, the worldwide leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that it has posted record growth in the first half of 2008 as momentum continues to build among marketers for user-generated content and social marketing. The company, which launched in January 2006, doubled its clients in the first half of 2008 and currently serves over 200 industry leaders including Bath & Body Works, Borders, Dell, FAO Schwartz, LEGO, Macy’s, Office Depot, Inc., Proctor & Gamble, QVC, Scholastic, Sears, and Zales. To date, Bazaarvoice has delivered more than 13 billion user-generated product reviews in 20 languages for its clients.

The past six months have also marked a period of unprecedented company growth as Bazaarvoice continues to deliver extraordinary products and services to its top-tier client base. The company, which recently added its 205th employee, has doubled employee count from a year ago and will double its office space in Austin by the end of the year. Bazaarvoice also operates regional offices in the UK, France, and Singapore, and has expanded its executive team to better serve key vertical markets around the globe. At the same time, Bazaarvoice continues to deliver new features and functionality every six to eight weeks, and recently launched Bazaarvoice Radius, a breakthrough program designed to accelerate the strategic adoption of social commerce, at www.bazaarvoice.com/radius.

“Research from comScore, Nielsen, and many other leading research firms consistently shows that consumers prefer peer recommendations over expert opinions and traditional marketing messages,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “As a result, companies that have incorporated user-generated content into the shopping experience have achieved positive business impact such as an increase in sales and a decrease in returns, as well as improved customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and trust. These measurable benefits are fueling a huge surge in adoption of Bazaarvoice’s social commerce solutions by companies in over 15 vertical industries worldwide.”

Expanded Team

Explosive sales growth combined with a laser focus on vertical market requirements have led Bazaarvoice to promote several executives, including:
Michael Osborne, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales
Greg Brown, Vice President of Retail and Travel, Americas
Chad Bockius, Vice President of Manufacturing, Americas
Justin Crandall, Managing Director, United Kingdom

“Since I joined Bazaarvoice, our sales team has grown 500% to meet the demand for Bazaarvoice’s superior technology and services,” said Osborne. “Our new executives are experts in their fields and are leading fantastic teams with unparalleled knowledge of the needs, goals, and best practices for their vertical markets.”

Global Growth

As the demand for Ratings & Reviews™ and Ask & Answer™ increases worldwide, Bazaarvoice continues to expand its international operations to support client success. Bazaarvoice’s London office, established in August 2007, has doubled its staff in the last six months. Clients include Boden, Clerk & Teller, Early Learning Centre, figleaves.com, Goldsmiths, Screwfix, and many other major brands that will be announced this summer. Recent research from Bazaarvoice and JupiterResearch shows that UK consumers rate online product ratings and reviews the most helpful feature when deciding what to buy.

In addition, Bazaarvoice has added new regional offices in Paris and Singapore to provide the best possible service to its growing worldwide client base. To support its continued global expansion, Bazaarvoice recently received $7.1 million in a significant up-round of venture funding from investors including Austin Ventures, Battery Ventures, European Founders Fund, and First Round Capital. Bazaarvoice will use the new capital to increase global marketing and sales efforts, support accelerated research and development innovation, and support clients in multiple vertical industries worldwide, including increased regional services in Europe and Asia.

Product Innovations

Since its launch, Bazaarvoice has introduced new product innovations every six to eight weeks. Most updates are immediately available at no additional cost or upgrade fee. Key enhancements in the past 12 months include:
Shout It!™: A service that allows consumers to publish product reviews on leading social networking sites Facebook, Digg and del.icio.us with a single click, enabling Bazaarvoice clients to extend their brands onto popular social networking sites and generate additional sales through true, authentic word of mouth marketing.
SearchVoice Answers: A powerful search engine-optimized microsite combining all Q&A content to influence buying decisions to increase natural search, enhance the user experience, and position Bazaarvoice clients as sources for in-depth product and category information.
Bazaarvoice ReStyle: A highly flexible content styling tool that allows marketers to quickly and easily customize the look-and-feel of online Ratings & Reviews™ and Ask & Answer™ content.

“Taking a spin from a quote from Richard Edelman, marketing today is about becoming masters of reality, not masters of spin or hype,” said Sam Decker, CMO of Bazaarvoice. “Our goal at Bazaarvoice is to help marketers harness the power of consumer word of mouth and place the authentic and credible voice of their customers at the center of the shopping experience. To that end, we continually enrich our product offerings with new features and functionality that engage consumers, encourage contributions, and deliver new insight that can be used to increase sales, decrease returns, improve satisfaction, and build brand value.”

About Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice offers outsourced technology, services, analytics, and expertise to help companies enhance the online shopping experience with social commerce applications that drive sales. Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews™ and Ask & Answer™ deliver immediate success by minimizing implementation risk and maximizing the strategic impact of user-generated review content through complete customization, deep integration, community management, advanced analytics, search engine optimization, and syndication across the Web and to offline channels.

Bazaarvoice was named to the 2007 Red Herring Global 100 and 2006 Red Herring Top 100 lists and received the 2006 ClickZ Marketing Innovation of the Year award. Bazaarvoice currently serves over 200 eCommerce leaders including Bass Pro Shops, Dell, Macy’s, Office Depot, Inc., Overstock.com, PETCO, QVC, Sears, and ZipRealty. The company has headquarters in Austin, TX and offices in London, Paris, and Singapore. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at www.bazaarblog.com, or email info {at} bazaarvoice(.)com.

Contacts

Bazaarvoice
Renee Newby, 757-651-6554
renee {at} bradypr(.)com