For Immediate Release
Kathy Grannis (202) 783-7971 or grannisk@nrf.com
Video: What Americans think about chain restaurants

Washington, March 18, 2009 – In an effort to gain more insight into what consumers are feeling, why they make certain decisions, and how the economy has changed them, the National Retail Federation and Shop.org are partnering with ExpoTV on a series of quarterly videos to dig deeper into understanding Americans’ opinions and behaviors. In each video, ExpoTV, a community created for real people to share unbiased opinions, will compile feedback on specific issues and products to give retailers a better understanding of today’s shoppers.

“Listening to what customers are saying allows retailers to make faster, more educated decisions about merchandise, marketing and shoppers’ experiences,” said Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO. “NRF’s partnership with ExpoTV will provide the retail community with a firsthand look at what’s behind the decisions made by American shoppers.”

Earlier this month, NRF released its first ExpoTV video about Americans’ perception of the chain restaurant industry. The video, which asked Expo members to provide insight on their opinions of chain restaurants, provided more clarity into why Americans dine out. A recent Shop.org video produced by ExpoTV asked which online offers resonated with shoppers this past holiday season. The quarterly videos will be available for viewing and download on NRF and Shop.org websites.

“Our community of passionate consumers loves to share their shopping experiences, especially when they know their voice is being heard by company executives,” said David Rubinstein, Expo’s Senior Vice President. “Expo is able to harness consumer voices to provide NRF and Shop.org members with timely, authentic consumer insight on topics of importance to growing their businesses.”

Expo is the first video-based community specifically created for consumers to share their unbiased opinion about the products they buy and celebrate the brands they are passionate about. This community has created the world's largest catalog of nearly 300,000 video product reviews covering everything from shampoo to cell phones to hybrid cars. Expo provides marketers with a turn-key, end-to-end solution to safely harness the power of user-generated video by engaging with brand fanatics in an authentic conversation. Expo’s proprietary technology platform enables brands to expand their video reach onto their own websites as well as blogs, and other social media platforms. Videos are available at www.expotv.com and are distributed through partnerships with the world's largest portals including Yahoo! Video, AOL, Google and YouTube; to leading ecommerce destinations like Smarter.com.

Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, is the world's leading membership community for digital retail. Founded in 1996, Shop.org's 700 members include the 10 largest retailers in the U.S. and more than 60 percent of the Internet Retailer Top 100 E-Retailers. It's where the best retail minds come together to gain the insight, knowledge and intelligence to make smarter, more informed decisions in the evolving world of the Internet and multichannel retailing. Shop.org programs and activities include benchmarking research, events and networking communities.

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2008 sales of $4.6 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com.

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