April 18, 2005

CityXpress announces it has signed agreements with three major newspaper groups in the UK to conduct B2B event auctions and has expanded its relationship with Northcliffe Newspapers to include online marketplace solutions.

CityXpress will conduct initial event auctions this spring with the South Wales Echo of Cardiff, May 12-22, published by Trinity Mirror, the UK's largest newspaper publisher; the Southern Daily Echo of Southampton, published by Newsquest Media Group, May 19-29; and the Edinburgh Evening News, published by Barclay Brothers, June 16-26.

The Bristol Evening Post and the Hull Daily Mail, both published by Northcliffe, completed the first UK auctions with CityXpress in 2004, securing 40 new advertisers for the Evening Post, and 41 for the Daily Mail.

To date, Northcliffe newspapers have conducted seven event auctions with CityXpress, and are currently scheduled to conduct 14 more over the coming four months.

"We have seen great success with newspaper event auctions throughout North America and Europe, and the UK has been no exception," said Phil Dubois, president and CEO of CityXpress Corp.

"Based on this success, we are looking forward to expanding the offerings beyond the event auctions, and getting UK newspaper groups ahead of the curve when it comes to online marketplaces, and e-commerce enabled classified ads."

Northcliffe plans to launch eMerchantXpress, CityXpress' platform for continuous online auctions with several small-market papers this summer.

Continuous auctions offer newspapers a new and cost-effective way to connect local businesses and consumers online, while generating incremental revenue and recruiting new advertisers. In addition, the Hull Daily Mail will be the first UK newspaper to transaction enable its online classified ads using the eClassifiedXpress product.

"Event auctions have been a huge success for our newspapers, especially in generating new advertisers and offering new promotional opportunities to independent local retailers, which are our chief goals," said Steve Hollingsworth, deputy advertisement director of Northcliffe Newspapers Group.

"Based on this success, we are expanding our relationship with CityXpress, and believe that e-commerce enabled classifieds and online marketplaces offer another effective way for us to connect with our communities."

Newspaper auctions are online events staged by newspapers with goods and services provided by local retailers in exchange for exposure through the auction and advertising credits that are earned if the retailer's items sell.

Auctions typically take place during a 10-day period. They help newspapers attract new advertisers and generate incremental revenue from existing advertisers, while boosting in-store traffic for vendors and producing good deals for consumers.

Source: BC Technology.com