MerchantCircle is going international. The local business social network, which gets nearly six million unique monthly visitors (according to Compete data), should be increasing that number greatly as it expands into Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
We recently looked at a partnership between MerchantCircle and Demand Media’s AnswerBag that presented some interesting opportunities for local businesses. However, a representative for MerchantCircle tells WebProNews the AnswerBag partnership "will not be live with international releases at this time. We need to build up our network of merchants internationally to help answer consumer questions."
Still, MerchantCircle was already getting a great deal of use before that partnership came along, and it will be interesting to see how it does in new territory.
"Our long term vision is to provide as many small businesses as possible worldwide, the same tools that millions of U.S. based merchants have been able to leverage," says chairman and co-founder Ben Smith. "Mom and pop businesses in other countries struggle with online marketing and its associated costs the same way American small business owners do. We have received a number of requests to expand MerchantCircle’s offering internationally, and we see significant potential to form partnerships in each country."
MerchantCircle helps small businesses network with one another and market their businesses with various tools. They must be doing something right, because they’re the largest local business social network in the U.S.