Introducing Cheep: Smart, Social Shopping

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Cheep, a smart, social shopping service brought to you by blinkx, today announced the opening of its site to all consumers in the United States, following a successful invitation-only beta period.

Through a small browser add-on, Cheep recognizes when you're looking at a specific product and helps you find the best deal, by showing you current, accurate price comparisons from around the Web, as well as reviews and ratings, unobtrusively and in real-time. We've indexed nearly 200 of the Web's biggest and best retailers, including Amazon, BestBuy and Walmart, so everything -- from batteries to trampolines -- is on there for your viewing, reviewing and shopping pleasure.

When you join Cheep, you also become part of a community. Cheep lets you share your shopping activity -- where you browsed, what you bought, whether you liked it and how much it cost -- with other members. The Cheep site, www.getcheep.com, shows a real-time stream of shopping activity - as you peruse and purchase products online, you can share that information with friends and like-minded shoppers in the Cheep community, and, in turn, view and comment on their shopping.

"Cheep capitalizes on the two greatest strengths of the Web -- the power to find and compare vast amounts of information, and the ability to connect people -- and combines them to reinvent the online shopping experience," said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. "Cheep offers price comparison, which is smart and efficient, and also community, because shopping is most fun when it's social. The Internet really came alive for people when it stopped being about connecting computers and started being about connecting people -- Cheep does both. Simply put, Cheep is a fun way to find out from your friends and others what to buy, and where, for the right price."

Get Cheep

To get Cheep, go to www.getcheep.com, create your user profile and download the browser add-on, which is currently available for Internet Explorer and Firefox for Mac and PC. Then start shopping! Once you're signed up, you can also connect and add friends through Facebook and Twitter.

See Cheep

Once you have the Cheep browser add-on, Cheep recognizes when you're looking at a specific product and helps you find the best deal by showing you current, accurate price comparisons from around the Web, as well as reviews and ratings -- unobtrusively and in real-time.

Cheep appears as a small bar at the top of your screen when you're looking at a product page, and also embedded into product search results pages as a highlighted link.

Be Cheep

Cheep is also a shopping community, built on the premise of sharing: if we all share a little bit, then together we can gather a whole load of really awesome information -- from who's got the best deals on the Playstation 3, to where to go for a really unique piece of jewelry.

If you choose to participate, Cheep makes it incredibly easy for you to share your shopping. You can shop online as usual while the add-on shares your browsing, purchases, likes and reviews with the community, and in turn, you can interact with other members and comment on their activity. We also understand that there might be some things you don't want to share, so we have simple, clear privacy controls built right into Cheep that allow you to turn your purchase broadcasts "on" or "off".

Cheep is a community for anyone who shops online, likes a good deal and enjoys interacting with friends. Bargain-hunters, social networking fiends and product experts will find themselves right at home on Cheep, along with consumers who just want to make sure they're getting the best deal. The service is free to join and open to all users in the United States. For more information, please visit www.getcheep.com, or contact us at [email protected]. Shop online? Get Cheep!

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge -- as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to -- and even see -- the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

SOURCE blinkx