An official ICv2 release.  GCO, LLC President Milton Griepp announced that ICv2, the site with news and information for pop culture retailers, has reached its one-year anniversary.  The site was launched on February 1, 2001 with approximately fifty articles and its first Top 10 Cool lists.  Since then, over 1000 articles have been published, and its monthly Top 10 Cool lists have become a standard for understanding what products are actually selling through in stores.  

According to Griepp, the response to the site has exceeded his expectations.  'We had an expectation of how many retailers would find us from our marketing, and those expectations were largely correct,' he said.  'What we underestimated was the number of retailers that would find us by word of mouth, or by hearing about a story that we'd broken.  In that sense, our news publishing operation has been our best marketing.' 

Traffic on ICv2 has grown from about 10 visits that first day to an average of about 2000 visits per day in January 2002.  In addition to the fresh news every business day, the news archive has also become a valued research tool for retailers looking for information on products, properties, or industry events. 

Griepp thanked the retailers that have used the site, and also focused on the site's 'charter sponsors,' that supported the site during its first year.  'The retailers that use our site have been amazingly supportive,' he said, 'and I want to thank them not only for using the site but for telling their friends.  I also want to thank the sponsors that supported us during our first year, starting with Topps, our first and most frequent advertiser, and continuing with Dark Horse, Comic Images, Inkworks, Pioneer, Viz, WizKids, Tokyopop, and FUNimation, many of whom advertised more than once.'