SpatialNews Press Release
Vicinity Corp. and the International Franchise
Association Launch Retail Locator on www.franchise.org
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 26, 2001--Vicinity Corp. (Nasdaq:VCNT), a leading
provider of Internet-based marketing infrastructure services, and the International Franchise
Association (IFA) announced today the launch of a Web-based IFA/Vicinity Retail Locator(SM)
during the IFA's 41st Annual International Franchise Convention.
IFA members, like 7-Eleven, Merle Norman and Holiday Inn, use Vicinity's Web, wireless and
speech-enabled solutions to direct customers into their nearest locations.
Visitors to www.franchise.org's Resource Center can search for the nearest IFA member retailers,
restaurants, hotels, and more. By entering an address, zip code or city, the visitor will receive the
closest location on a map, and detailed turn-by-turn directions that allow the user to easily drive to the
location.
"Many IFA members are also customers of Vicinity's, so we wanted to showcase the innovative
ways our members are using Vicinity's technology to reach new audiences," said IFA President Don
DeBolt. "Vicinity's innovative multi-channel marketing solutions across Web, wireless, speech and
broadband television platforms are great tools to help drive traffic into multi-location companies by
allowing consumers to search by location, or more granularly for product- or service-level information,
hours, and other attributes."
Vicinity and IFA will introduce Franchise Finder in the next few months that will allow entrepreneurs
interested in acquiring a franchise to search by location, cost range and business attributes for franchise
locations worldwide. This service will be provided as a customized add-on to Vicinity's Business
Finder service, and will be marketed to franchise companies for private-label implementation on their
corporate Web site.
"Our continued relationship with the IFA has helped open new doors to reaching our potential
customers. The IFA has a tremendous impact on the lives of its more than 30,000 members worldwide
helping them understand and grow their businesses and we truly value our relationship with this worthy
organization," said Emerick Woods, president and CEO of Vicinity Corp. "The Retail Locator is yet
another example of how the IFA is helping its members drive more customers to their locations through
our services."
IFA is the world's oldest and largest trade organization representing the unique business strategy. Its
30,000 members are franchisees, franchisors and suppliers doing business in some 75 industries and
more than 100 countries. As the Voice of Franchising, IFA speaks for the more than 300,000
franchised small businesses in the U.S., which pump an estimated $1 trillion into the economy each
year and provide jobs for some eight million Americans.
Vicinity Corp. is a leading provider of Internet-based infrastructure marketing services for
brand-name Global 2000 companies. The company's solutions, available in 18 countries and in 10
languages, enable its clients to direct their customers searching for a specific product or service to the
nearest brick-and-mortar store that carries that product or service. Vicinity's customers include FedEx,
Ford, GM, Hilton Hotels Corp., Marriott, McDonald's, NEC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Starwood
Hotels, Taco Bell, Toyota, Levi Strauss & Co. and UPS. Its suite of private-label and co-branded
content and services -- available via the Internet, landline telephone, cellular phones, WAP phones and
other wireless devices -- includes Vicinity Business Finder(SM), Speech Business Finder(SM),
BrandFinder(SM), SiteMaker(SM), MapBlast!(R) Mapping Services, GeoSearch(R) and Business
Directory.
Search GeoCommunity for Related Stories
Return to Today's News Index
|
