Keynote and RIS News Team Up to Share Expertise on How Retailers Can Prepare Their Online Channel for the Holiday Season

Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), the global leader in on-demand mobile and Internet test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience, and RIS (Retail Info Systems) News, a leading retail publication devoted to providing business and technology insights to retailers, today announced a FREE webinar for retailers entitled, "Holiday Primer – Prepare Your Online Channel to Maximize Profits,” to be held on Thursday, August 20^th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. The webinar is being held at the precise moment retailers move into high gear to prepare their online channels for the upcoming 2009 holiday shopping season. While retail brick and mortar store sales have trended down in the past year, online sales are holding steady while site volumes increase. This holiday season is the most anticipated in a decade, making it vital that retailers not miss this opportunity to maximize revenue.

In this highly informative webinar, Steve Rowen, managing partner at Retail Systems Research and Paul Kohler, product marketing manager at Keynote will be joined by Phil Kenney, vice president of information systems at Hot Topic, one of the country’s fastest growing retailers. The event will be moderated by Joseph Skorupa, group editor-in-chief at RIS News. The panelists will share knowledge and experience regarding the critical steps retailers must take to ensure their Web site applications, transactions and pages are equipped to attract and retain peak load during the end of year holiday shopping season. Retailers attending the free webinar will learn the details about today’s leading edge tools that empower Web and mobile channels to ensure maximum productivity and profitability across the retail enterprise.

"Last year's holiday season dropped a big chunk of anthracite into the stockings of most retailers. Fortunately, economic indicators have improved since then. Or have they?” said Joseph Skorupa. "The buzz I hear from retailers is the 2009 holiday season is one of the most anticipated and uncertain sales cycles they have faced in decades. As a result, they want to know if growth will return with Santa or if it will skip Christmas and arrive after the New Year in 2010? By attending this joint RIS/Keynote Systems webinar retailers will hear first-hand how to prepare their online channels for maximum success this holiday season. This is a not to be missed free event!”

Despite the recession, Web traffic has increased this year as people flock to the Web to comparison-shop for the best online deals and to save money at the gas pump. And while industry analysts’ end of year predictions for 2009 online shopping varies, there is little doubt that optimizing a site for the best possible end user experience separates winners from losers each and every online holiday shopping season. Web sites cannot sit on past laurels. Based upon numerous studies, it is clear that when consumers have a bad online shopping experience they frequently don’t return to the site and any trust built up lays wasted.

"Every year popular and leading retail sites take unexpected performance tumbles when they struggle to respond to the surge in site visitors during the holiday shopping season,” said Paul Kohler. "If you’re responsible for online sales this year, be sure your team has the best practices and tools for getting your Web site ready. Keynote’s holiday primer webinar will draw on Keynote’s years of experience helping companies optimize their site performance during peak traffic periods.”

To register for the Keynote/RIS News webinar please view: http://www.keynote.com/retailer/

About Keynote

Keynote Systems (Nasdaq "KEYN”) is the global leader in on-demand test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience. For over a decade, Keynote has been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that allow companies to understand and improve their customers’ online and mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer experience/UX.

Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote has a market-leading infrastructure of over 3,000 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 240 locations around the world. Keynote’s 2,800 customers represent top Internet and mobile companies including American Express, Dell, Disney, eBay, E*TRADE, Expedia, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Vodafone and YouTube.

Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at 1-800-KEYNOTE.

Keynote®, DataPulse®, CustomerScope®, Keynote CE Rankings®, Keynote Customer Experience Rankings®, Perspective®, Keynote Red Alert®, Keynote Traffic Perspective®, Keynote WebEffective®, The Internet Performance Authority®, MyKeynote® , SIGOS®, SITE®, Keynote™, The Mobile & Internet Performance Authority™ and Keynote FlexUse™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2009 Keynote Systems, Inc.