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Spencer's (www.spencersonline.com) and its sister Web site Spirit Halloween (www.spirithalloween.com) see huge increases in site traffic around key holidays: Christmas and Halloween. To make the most of these windows of opportunity to drive revenue -- and to make it easier for customers to find the items they want year-round -- parent company Spencer Gifts chose SLI Systems' hosted site search and user-generated SEO products.

In addition to its e-commerce sites Spencer Gifts will operate over 1,100 combined Spencer's and Spirit brick-and-mortar stores in 2008. When Jay Greenberg joined Spencer's as director of e-commerce in July 2007, he saw the chance to maximize the search function for the company's online operations.

"Spencer's had opportunities to improve the customer experience," said Greenberg. "Implementing SLI's hosted search solution immediately delivered relevant search results (www.sli- systems.com) and enhanced the customer experience. The team was planning marketing campaigns and Web site improvements as the Halloween season quickly approached. We leveraged SLI technology to assist in driving sales, while improving the site's conversion rate."

At a previous e-commerce company, Greenberg had used SLI's Learning Search site search service and knew how effective the product was in delivering the most relevant search results and turning browsers into loyal customers -- resulting in increased revenues. Greenberg also knew that with a hosted solution, there would be a quick implementation with minimal training needed for his staff.

"We had minimal time to deal with a search solution that would increase the workload of our IT department," said Greenberg. "SLI was the only search vendor that met my requirements."

Relevant Search Results Lead to Higher Conversion Rates

The implementation of Leaning Search and Site Champion in August 2007 was painless and the impact of the switch to SLI was immediate. "Our customers viewed more relevant search results and an improved visual display of merchandise," Greenberg said. "That led to an improved customer experience and a higher conversion rate."

Site Champion, a user-generated SEO product that takes terms that visitors use in site search to bring more traffic from search engines, has also proved to be a boon for Spencer's and Spirit. "Site Champion utilizes user-generated content and optimizes for many key search phrases that we do not necessarily focus on," Greenberg said.

About Learning Search and Site Champion

Based on SLI's patented "Learning Search" intelligent search technology, the company's hosted site search and user-generated SEO solutions "learn" from user behavior by tracking the search terms people use on a retailer's site and the resulting items they click on. SLI's solutions improve the user experience for Web site visitors and ensure the products people are searching for show up in the right searches -- whether those searches are conducted on their own sites or on a Web search engine like Google.

Learning Search is a hosted site search solution that continually "learns" from visitors' search behavior to deliver search results based on popularity. For example, if someone searches on "leprechaun outfit," Learning Search automatically ranks the items so that those with historically higher click-rates are listed at the top.

Site Champion is an automated search engine optimization service that integrates with Learning Search, and uses visitors' search terms to increase the traffic a site receives from Web search engines like Google and Yahoo!.

About SLI Systems

SLI Systems is the developer of learning-based search technology for corporate Internet sites, e-commerce destinations and consumer Internet portals that Searches, Learns and Improves the user experience. SLI Systems' hosted site search (http://www.sli-systems.com/site-search.php) and user-generated SEO (http://www.sli-systems.com/site_champion.php) and automated SEM (http://www.sli- systems.com/ad_champion.php) solutions empower businesses to enhance customer satisfaction while increasing sales, reducing costs and yielding valuable customer information. Unlike traditional search software, SLI Systems' patented technology continuously "learns" from the behavior of visitors over time to deliver more relevant results. More than 250 sites use SLI Systems' hosted search offerings including ULTA, Tupperware, Harry and David, Smith & Hawken, NRS (Northwest River Supplies), FTD and Etronics.com, among others. SLI Systems is a privately held company, with offices in Silicon Valley, London, and Christchurch, New Zealand. For more information, visit www.sli-systems.com.

About Spencer Gifts

Spencer Gifts LLC is a lifestyle retail company that operates two unique, national brands -- Spencer's and Spirit Halloween -- throughout the United States, Canada and online.

Spencer's (www.spencersonline.com) has been focused on delivering humor and enjoyment to people's lives for over 60 years. Specializing in innovative, humorous and unique merchandise, Spencer's is the mall destination for entertainment, excitement and irreverent fun for its core Generation Y guest. Spencer's operates over 550 stores throughout the United States, Canada and online.

Spirit Halloween (www.spirithalloween.com) is rapidly growing as the national destination for everything you can imagine for Halloween. Specializing in unique, entertaining and exciting merchandise for Halloween enthusiasts, and celebrating its 25th anniversary, Spirit has been offering one-stop shopping for all your Halloween needs. Spirit Halloween will operate over 600 locations in strip centers and malls across the United States and online for the 2008 season.

The Haunted Attraction Industry joins the fight against breast cancer. Some of the most prominent names that make “Scary” their business are pulling every skeleton out of the ground to raise money for Nancy Allen, a fellow Haunter/pervious Haunt Owner.  Allen, who is also known as “Elmyra, the Hearse Chic”, was misdiagnosed in August 2008 with doctors stating “only a Cyst”.  On December 25th, Allen was diagnosed with Stage 3 Cancer, causing her to have one breast removed with no insurance.

The Official Drive,“Haunters for Hooters”, will take place at Midwest Haunters Convention in Columbus, Ohio June 13-15th.   Included in the sponsor list are BIG names like “Midnight Syndicate Films and Soundtracks”, “IAHA”, “Haunted Attraction Magazine”, “Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando”, The Ghoulish Gallery”, Dee Snider from Twisted Sister,  Pat Priest from “The Munsters” and Camden Toy from “Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer” just to name a few.

More information will be available on the Haunters for Hooters website www.hauntersforhooters.com , hosted by Sinister Visions, The Premier web designer for the Haunted Attraction Industry.

HAUNTERS FOR HOOTER EVENTS AT MIDWEST HAUNTERS CONVENTION INCLUDE:
*FRIDAY, JUNE 13th 2008: Friday Night Party Fundraiser with walk through inflatable Haunted House sponsored by Bad Boys Scenic Design and Midnight Syndicate.
*SATURDAY, JUNE 14TH, 2008: HAUNTERS FOR HOOTERS BOOTH.  Selling T-shirts and Haunters for Hooters memorabilia  AND Appearance by the “Hooters Girls”.
-ALSO-
*SATURDAY, JUNE 14th,2008: Raffle tickets will be sold to yet to be announced Movie Items. 100% of Raffle tickets profits will go to Kathryn Dessault of Lafitte’s Landing. Kathyrn, a Haunt owner from Texas, will receive 100% of the profits.
*SUNDAY, JUNE 15th, 2008: HAUNTERS FOR HOOTERS BOOTH AND SILENT AUCTION. Auction will take place from 10am-12pm.
 
*HAUNTERS FOR HOOTERS IS A NON-PROFIT FUNDRAISER WITH 100% OF PROFITS GOING TO BRAVE BREAST CANCER FIGHTERS NANCY ALLEN AND KATHYRN DESSAULT.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:  CONTACT Jen Sharlow 651-592-1585/hauntersforhooters@yahoo.com
MIDWEST HAUNTERS CONVENTION:  www.midwesthauntersconvention
HAUNTERS FOR HOOTERS:  www.hauntersforhooters.com