MONTREAL – Transcontinental Inc. (TSX:TCL.A) has launched a website that will enable its newspaper advertisers to auction goods and services to local bidders.
The Montreal-based printer and publisher says BidGO.ca was developed by its New Media and Digital Solutions group as a local online auction site.
“Because it is based on an exclusive barter concept, the BidGO business model has enormous growth potential,” said Stephane Gagne, a Transcontinental vice-president responsible for local digital solutions.
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Traditional newspaper publishers have been looking for innovative ways to use Internet-based technologies, which have contributed to a long-term decline in readership and put pressure on their advertising revenue.
Transcontinental describes BidGO as a virtual marketplace that lets its advertisers receive advertising space in exchange for goods and services of equal value. The bartered items are then put up for auction.
BidGO.ca will officially replace the auction page of merkado.ca, originally developed by Transcontinental’s Quebec community newspaper group.
Transcontinental has community and daily newspapers in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan. It also has a network of more than 1,000 websites.
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