Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Sun-Times Media Launches New Online Auction Site Boocoo.com

Sun-Times Media, the Chicago region’s most trusted source of local news and information, has teamed up with Ranger Data Technologies, Inc. and joins nearly 300 local newspaper and broadcast partners in North America today to launch Boocoo.com, a national online auction house. Boocoo.com offers consumers a highly competitive, local alternative to eBay and other national e-commerce transaction sites, and is expected to generate revenue for Sun-Times Media and other news media companies.

“Sun-Times Media’s partnership with Ranger Data Technologies will help us to expand the ways we serve residents of the Chicago region,” said Hunt Kingsbury, Vice President and General Manager of Interactive Media for Sun-Times Media. “Boocoo is a great resource for people who want an auction site that is competitive in price and very local. We are excited to offer this to the areas we already serve.”

“Because of the explosive growth in Internet usage in the past decade, a new revenue opportunity has opened up for newspapers and other local media. Boocoo.com was designed in part to regain revenue lost to online classified advertising and auction sites while giving consumers a secure and competitive alternative rich in local content,” said George Willard Sr., the Chairman, CEO, and Founder of Ranger Data Technologies. The 11-year-old Royal Oak, Mich.-based company founded by the former newspaper publisher is best known for its classified advertising software systems.

“The massive audience produced by web users, loyal readers, and viewers of hundreds of trusted local media brands combined with Boocoo’s consumer centric site, will result in long term revenue growth for all our partners,” said Mr. Willard.

As a special promotion for today’s national site launch, fees will be waived for all consumers for a minimum of two weeks.

“Boocoo.com is an innovative and exciting approach for the local media to enter the e-commerce transactional marketplace,” said Kip Knight, a former Vice-President of Marketing for eBay North America who serves as a consultant to Ranger Data Technologies. “I also believe sellers should be attracted to the site because it is value priced relative to other online auctions,” he said.

About Sun-Times Media

Sun-Times Media (www.suntimesmediaholdings.com) is dedicated to being the premier source of local news and information for the greater Chicago area and in partnership with Yahoo! reaches a print and online monthly audience of more than 86 percent of the Chicago DMA. Its media properties serve more than 300 communities across the region and include the Chicago Sun-Times and suntimes.com; seven suburban daily newspapers, including the Beacon-News (Aurora), Courier-News (Elgin), Herald-News (Joliet), Lake County News-Sun, Naperville Sun, Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.) and the SouthtownStar; 39 weekly newspapers published by the Pioneer Press and 11 weekly Sun newspapers, as well as Web sites for those newspapers, SearchChicago.com, centerstagechicago.com, RogerEbert.com and YourSeason.com