Strands and DollarDays to Offer Product Recommender Subscriptions to 1.1 Million Members

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Strands today announced that DollarDays International, LLC has selected Strands Social Recommender™ to power personalized product recommendations on its Website, http://www.dollardays.com. Also, in an unprecedented partnership between the two companies, DollarDays’ 1.1 million members are eligible for a limited-time trial of Strands Social Recommender™, Strands’ premier social recommendation and personalization technology, for implementation on their own online retail sites.

“DollarDays is focused on passing along maximum value to our fast-growing customer network of over one million small business and local retailers”

Starting October 1, 2008, DollarDays’ 1.1 million members will be able to register for a free 30-day trial of Strands Social Recommender™ through www.dollardays.com. Once the trial expires, members will only pay $149 per month for the service. DollarDays members will not be charged any setup fees or implementation costs, saving members thousands of dollars while increasing their potential to boost overall purchases and order size.

“DollarDays is focused on passing along maximum value to our fast-growing customer network of over one million small business and local retailers,” said Marc Joseph, CEO of DollarDays International. “Our members will be able to add the exact recommendation and personalization technology powering www.dollardays.com but at a heavily discounted and affordable rate. We are seeing immediate results in the short time since Strands Social Recommender™ went live on www.dollardays.com and we want to pass along the same opportunity to our members to help them compete.”

With e-commerce sales reaching $220 billion last year and industry analysts predicting that number will grow to $335 billion within the next four years, online retail sites are searching for new ways to win customers through differentiation of what their shoppers experience. Social recommendations and personalization are having a profound impact on online sales and according to Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, recommendation systems can account for 10 to 30 percent of an online retailer's sales. And in a recent Avenue A / Razorfish study, 62 percent of online shoppers surveyed have purchased an item as a result of a personalized recommendation.

“In today’s competitive market and uncertain economy, industry statistics have proven that personalized recommendations can fuel sales for online retailers,” said Francisco J. Martin, PhD., CEO and founder of Strands. “Through our partnership with DollarDays, members have the opportunity to tap into a powerful resource that will drive sales and capture customer loyalty by providing a personalized experience for each visitor that comes to their site. With the free trial, members can try out the service with absolutely no risk or upfront costs and feel confident that the same robust features that are driving DollarDays’ product recommendations will also be driving their online retail site.”

About DollarDays International, LLC

DollarDays International is a Web-based virtual warehouse, where small business owners and charities can find great deals on small business-sized orders for more than 30,000 consumer products, from toys and household décor to apparel, electronics and seasonal merchandise. Due to its innovative business model, DollarDays prices are not only often far below those which most small business are accustomed to, but the offerings include many name-brand products as well as rock bottom pricing on overstocked and closeout items. DollarDays International helps its customers to select those items, both seasonal and everyday, which sell quickly to promote both a higher inventory turn and better margins. In 2006, DollarDays made its debut at number 158 on Inc. Magazine 500 list of fastest growing private companies and recently was named one-of-50 second-stage Arizona “Companies to Watch” by the Arizona Small Business Association. DollarDays’ prices are among the lowest available to small businesses. Membership is free and any small business is eligible to shop at www.dollardays.com.

About Strands

Founded in 2003 with the sole purpose of developing a recommender system that would understand people’s behavior and intent, Strands gathers both implicit and explicit behavior through thousands of user touchpoints to deliver real-time, relevant suggestions via computers, mobile phones and Internet-connected devices. The company provides these services across three verticals including personal finance (money.strands.com), social media (lifestreaming site strands.com) and business solutions (Strands Business Recommender™). Through Strands Social Recommender™, an easy-to-use advanced social recommendation and personalization technology, online retail and media sites can deliver high-quality individualized discovery and community features to help their users discover things they like and did not know about. Strands operates in 11 countries with over 150 employees to provide global high profile clients such as BBVA, MTV, Footwearetc, AppliedSB, FurnitureBlue.com, and ShowClix.com with real-time recommendations of products and services. Visit www.strands.com for further information.