Constant Contact Acquires Digital Storefront Provider SinglePlatform
Constant Contact today announced its acquisition of privately owned SinglePlatform, which helps small businesses get discovered through Web and mobile searches. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SinglePlatform gives small business a single place to update their critical business information and delivers that information across a publishing network that reaches more than 200 million consumers per month. This network includes sites like Foursquare, The New York Times, YP, and UrbanSpoon, as well as the business' social media profiles, Web site, and mobile site. SinglePlatform lets small businesses distribute rich content so consumers can find it at the very moment they are looking to make a purchase decision.
The SinglePlatform offering complements the current Constant Contact suite of online engagement marketing tools by helping small businesses reach and engage their next customer even earlier in the customer lifecycle.
As part of the acquisition, Constant Contact will make it free for small businesses to create basic listings that will be delivered through SinglePlatform's publishing partners. In addition, SinglePlatform will continue to offer its paid-for Digital Storefront product, allowing small businesses to add rich content, such as menus, products and services, photos, and pricing, to give consumers the information they need when they are making purchase decisions.
"The Internet is shifting from a listing directory to a discovery engine," said Wiley Cerilli, CEO of SinglePlatform, in the statement. "The first step is making sure your listing is available wherever people are searching. The real magic happens when rich business information—menus, product photos, videos—is delivered at the moment that people are making a purchase decision. SinglePlatform's Digital Storefront is designed to do just that, getting small businesses in front of more people with the type of information that drives new customers and increased sales."
SinglePlatform will continue to operate out of its New York offices. All of SinglePlatform's employees will join the Constant Contact team, and Cerilli will join the Constant Contact executive team as vice president and general manager of SinglePlatform, reporting directly to Goodman.
"We're thrilled to have the talented SinglePlatform team join Constant Contact. SinglePlatform is just as passionate about small business success as we have always been," Goodman said. "I look forward to introducing our half a million small business customers to their offering and sharing the benefits of our suite of engagement marketing tools with SinglePlatform's rapidly growing user base."