PowerReviews Welcomes Paul Gaffney, Former Office Depot and Staples Retail and eCommerce Pioneer, to Its Board of Directors

Business Wire, Jan 23, 2007

MILLBRAE, Calif. -- PowerReviews[TM] (www.PowerReviews.com), the leader in customer reviews and customer-guided merchandising solutions for online retailers, today announced that retail industry veteran Paul Gaffney has joined its Board of Directors. Gaffney is an eCommerce and operations executive who has created substantial market value at some of the world's most admired retail and online consumer companies including Staples, Office Depot and Charles Schwab.

Gaffney built Office Depot's first Internet business, turning his initial idea of integrated multi-channel Internet commerce into a platform for a multi-billion-dollar eCommerce giant. His vision led Office Depot to be among the very first traditional retailers to establish a dominant position on the web. As CIO at Staples, Gaffney oversaw Staples' fast-growing eCommerce business, and later as EVP he transformed Staples' supply chain into a lean, synchronized operation that delivers materially better sales and margin results.

Whether leading several thousand marketing and customer service associates, delivering 600,000 packages each business day, managing several billion dollars in goods-for-resale inventory, or building the world's leading eCommerce and financial services web businesses, Gaffney has consistently improved sales and service while increasing operating profit and capital efficiency.

"Customers on the Web love authentic input, and they know the best place to get that is from other Web-savvy customers," said Gaffney. "PowerReviews provides an eco-system that fosters the kind of customer feedback community that even the largest retailers could never hope to develop on their own. I'm excited by how Andy and his team have brought Web 2.0 capabilities to the enterprise to create best-of-breed review capabilities that every CIO should seriously consider. I look forward to helping them create the next generation of Web commerce."

"We are fortunate to have Paul join our board as we gain significant momentum and mindshare with retailers in the online product reviews space," said Andy Chen, CEO of PowerReviews. "His understanding of multi-channel retailing and online merchandising will help us expand the ways customer feedback is utilized to increase sales and improve customer experience."

PowerReviews Board of Directors

Gaffney joins Andy Chen (PowerReviews' Chairman and CEO), Robert Chea (COO of PowerReviews) and John Jarve (Managing Director at Menlo Ventures) on the Board of Directors.

About PowerReviews([TM])

PowerReviews is a consumer technology company that provides best-in-class customer review services and customer-guided merchandising solutions to multi-channel retailers, driving higher conversion and attracting new shoppers to their online stores. PowerReviews' patent-pending PowerTags([TM]) technology captures customer opinions in their own vernacular, making reviews more relatable and impactful for other shoppers. PowerReviews offers its unique customer reviews service on a fully managed basis, with no downtime risk of a traditional ASP. Its customers include TicketsNow, Ritz Camera, Abt Electronics, Journeys and Mountain Gear. Based in Millbrae, California, PowerReviews is a privately held company with funding from leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms Menlo Ventures and Draper Richards. For more information, visit www.PowerReviews.com.