FreeShipping.com Reaches Key Growth Milestones

WETHERSFIELD, Conn. and PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarus Marketing Group, parent company of FreeShipping.com, today announced that it has reached key growth milestones:

• FreeShipping.com has grown its Premier Merchant Network to 225 stores. These stores provide their members with exclusive and instant free shipping at the point of checkout.
• The company has secured 50 new marketing partners in the last 12 months including Alibris, Amerimark, Carole Wright, Dr. Leonard's and Footsmart;
• Clarus Marketing Group has obtained a significant investment from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a leading global investment firm.

FreeShipping.com is a members-only program for online shoppers that want year-round free shipping, access to exclusive deals and shopping protection. Along with this investment, Clarus plans to grow the FreeShipping.com network and increase strategic partnerships.

"In the past few years, FreeShipping.com has experienced tremendous growth with more than one million visits per month. Merchant interest in FreeShipping.com is at a fever pitch and this investment will enable the company to expand further," said Jon Kossow, partner, NVP. "We are excited to work with this talented team and help develop new partnerships and opportunities to build on FreeShipping.com's success."

According to comScore Inc., e-commerce sales hit a record high this past holiday season. Consumers spent a record $32.6 billion online, up 12 percent from $29.1 billion a year ago. Overall online retail sales in the United States are also estimated to reach $248.7 billion by 2014, growing 60 percent from 2009, according to a study released by Forrester Research. E-commerce sales are also projected to represent eight percent of all retail sales in the U.S. by 2014. FreeShipping.com is in a unique position to convert these incumbent buyers with its best-in-breed service that empowers consumers with great offers, significant savings and complete price protection throughout their shopping experience.

FreeShipping.com is carving out a unique leadership position in the pre-paid shipping sector. With thousands of leading merchants in its network, of which 225 are premier merchants, FreeShipping.com has created an opportunity for members to have access to free shipping from their favorite merchants year round. Additionally, FreeShipping.com provides members with their free return shipping benefit, as well as a unique "complete price protection" program, which protects shoppers with a 90-day low price guarantee.  

"We are thrilled to be partnering with NVP. The team's experience in creating market leaders and access to strategic contacts will propel FreeShipping.com into the next phase of our growth," said Tom Caporaso, president and chief operating officer of Clarus Marketing Group. "After a strong 2010 online retail season, we see tremendous opportunities in 2011 and believe our partnership with NVP will put us in a great position to capitalize on them."

NVP's Jon Kossow, John Herr and David Su will join Clarus Marketing Group founder Vincent Villano on the company's board of directors. NVP has deep experience in the consumer retail and e-commerce sectors. The investment team has operational experience working with major brands such as Johnson & Johnson, BabyCenter, eBay, MySimon and PayPal. NVP is also an investor in several market leading companies like RetailMeNot (parent company, Whale Shark Media), MyYearbook.com,  Bookrenter, Lashou, Kayak, Playdom (recently acquired by The Walt Disney Company) and many more. NVP's e-commerce connections will help expand FreeShipping.com into new arenas.

NVP is a global fund dedicated to both domestic and international investments. NVP invests in both early stage disruptors and leading growth stage companies. The firm has been working with entrepreneurs to create market leaders for nearly 50 years. For more information visit, www.nvp.com.

FreeShipping.com is owned and operated by Clarus Marketing Group.  For more information on Clarus Marketing Group visit www.clarusmarketing.com

About Clarus Marketing Group

Clarus Marketing Group provides innovative loyalty based products which provide value to their membership base, merchant partners and large client base. Clarus Marketing Group is the parent company of FreeShipping.com, which was launched in 2002 as a members-only subscription service developed for avid online shoppers motivated by free shipping. FreeShipping is privately held and headquartered in Wethersfield, CT. For more information visit www.clarusmarketing.com

About Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a leading global investment firm that manages more than $3.7 billion in capital. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, NVP has subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S. and global companies across a wide range of sectors including: information technology, business services, financial services, infrastructure, technology enabled services and consumer. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 49 years and has funded nearly 500 companies since inception.

Notable investments include Actel Corporation, Airespace (acquired by Cisco Systems), Brocade, Cast Iron Systems (acquired by IBM), Cerent (acquired by Cisco Systems), Corio (acquired by IBM), Cray Research, Documentum (acquired by EMC), Extreme Networks, Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems), Jigsaw (acquired by Salesforce.com), Kace (acquired by Dell), LifeSize Communications (acquired by Logitech), NSE (National Stock Exchange of India), Omneon (acquired by Harmonic), Open-Silicon (acquired by Unicorn Investment Bank), PeopleSoft (acquired by Oracle), Persistent Systems (NSE: PERSISTEN.NS), Playdom (acquired by The Walt Disney Company), Polycom, Qumranet (acquired by Red Hat), Rackspace, Sadbhav Infrastructure Project Ltd (SIPL), Siara Systems (acquired by Redback Networks), SideStep (acquired by Kayak), Spinnaker Networks (acquired by Network Appliance), SPSS (acquired by IBM), Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM), Transaction Systems Architects, Verio (acquired by NTT), Winphoria Networks (acquired by Motorola), Yatra.com and Yipes (acquired by Reliance/Flag Telecom). For more information, please visit www.nvp.com

SOURCE Clarus Marketing Group