[November 17, 2014]

Disruptive New Digital Social Commerce Retailer Joinem Launches Beta Site

Joinem (http://www.joinem.com/), the first community-powered digital retailer that enables savvy shoppers to buy together and lock in guaranteed savings off the lowest online prices on thousands of leading brands, today announced the launch of its beta site. A select group of consumers will be invited to preview Joinem's easy, fun and secure group buying and savings experience.

Joinem's core proposition is WePower™ group savings - the special guaranteed savings of up to 25 percent off the lowest online prices, when the target number of shoppers buy together. Orders are shipped directly to Joinem customers, and products over $50 are shipped free within continental U.S.

By analyzing product mix, consumer demand, inventory, retail price and margin, Joinem's patent-pending technology delivers guaranteed savings for each transaction in real-time. Partnering with some of the leading vendors in retail, Joinem offers savings below the lowest online unit price of the identical item sold by trusted online mega retailers such as Amazon, Walmart.com, Target (News - Alert).com, and BestBuy.com.

The concept for Joinem was born from the trends shaping the emerging social commerce market. Driven by a convergence of widespread connectivity of social media and the rise of mobile as the dominant transaction medium, social commerce is the next phase of retail and social networking, but has yet to be fully realized by a single business. With smartphones anticipated to reach 81 percent of the mobile market share by 2015, the mobile phone is now being viewed as a buying device. According to data from comScore (News - Alert) MobiLens, two-thirds (65 percent) of smartphone owners use their phones for shopping activities.

Similarly, social media has shifted from a social networking service for friends to a consumer research tool to find the best products and prices. The most recent Nielsen State of the Media social media report reveals that 65 percent of social media users learn more about brands or products via social media, and, eviencing the power of peer influence, 75 percent indicated they would be more likely to purchase a product or service recommended by a friend via social media. These social and mobile drivers have set the stage for Joinem's business model and the WePower group buying dynamic. By launching a platform for collaborative buying powered by social networking, Joinem has created a unique opportunity to monetize the evolution of social connections into an unprecedented driver of mass influence and a burgeoning marketplace.

To further validate its value proposition, Joinem conducted extensive proprietary research among its primary target consumers of Millennials and GenX, and confirmed the strong appeal of the WePower proposition, as well as the power of social media connections in influencing purchase decisions. The research also validated that, within the immense social network user base (projected to reach +2B by 2016 by eMarketer (News - Alert)), a sizable segment would share Joinem Buys with their connections, as long as they and their friends will receive discernible value in return, and their privacy is protected.

With the survey, Joinem uncovered the following valuable insights about the company's market opportunity:

• 25 percent of online and mobile shoppers said they definitely/probably would sign up with Joinem ("Acceptors"). Joinem Acceptors represents a huge base projected at 30-50MM shoppers.
• 35 percent of those who use Facebook (News - Alert) have bought a product or service based on learning from a friend's post or tweet.
• Among Joinem Acceptors:
  • 57 percent will "like" or share Joinem with their social connections.
  • Around 70 percent perceive Joinem to deliver excellent/very good value.
• Among Acceptors who use Facebook:
  • 79 percent said they would refer Joinem to their friends. (Mean number of friends is 165.)
  • 62 percent have bought a product or service that they first learned about from a friend's post or tweet.

In addition to confirming market appetite, Joinem has already raised private money to fund the first phase of its expansion, and backers include principals of six hedge/venture funds. The business is fully staffed for rapid expansion, and is led by Executive Chairman Rick Braddock - former chairman/CEO of priceline.com, former global president of Citicorp, and chairman of several high-growth businesses in the social commerce, Big Data and mobile analytics space.

"Our extensive consumer research confirmed that Joinem's WePower proposition - buy together for guaranteed savings off the lowest online prices on leading brands - will attract a large number of users," said Rick Braddock (News - Alert), executive chairman of Joinem. "The company's proposition advances the monetization potential of social commerce. We are excited to enter and, I predict, will be a leader in the evolution of the social commerce market."

Mr. Braddock continued, "Since leaving the corporate world, my attention has been focused on enabling high-growth businesses with unique propositions to scale. Joinem represents the perfect convergence of large addressable markets of online and mobile shoppers, the growing influence of social networks on purchase decisions, as well as advances in smart data technology to enable the company to delight customers with relevant products at guaranteed savings. To bring shoppers the products they want at the prices they want, Joinem's expert merchants are partnering with leading distributors and brands to deliver the right product mix at the right price."

About Joinem

Joinem is the first community-powered digital retailer that enables savvy shoppers to buy together and lock in guaranteed savings off the lowest online prices on thousands of leading brands. Joinem's core proposition is WePower™ group savings - the special guaranteed savings of up to 25 percent off the lowest online prices, when the target number of shoppers buy together. Through this platform, Joinem is the first company to monetize the potential of social commerce. To learn more please visit www.joinem.com.

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