Independent retailers in New Jersey and elsewhere now have a smarter way of sharing war stories and best practices, and trading information through a revamped social networking portal designed for them.

Melity, LLC, a Somerset-based software services firm, today announced that its technology is used to power the social networking platform of Retailer Networks Inc. of New York City, at GiftandHomeChannel.com and GHCTV.com. The community has about 30,000 independent retailers as members globally, according to Retailer Networks.

Matthew Elefant, managing partner of Melity, said his firm designed the social networking portal for sharing of information through video posts and blogs, among other methods.

The majority of the site’s members specialize in home décor, health care and baby clothing, said Anjula Duggal, vice president of marketing and site operations at Retailer Networks. She said her company hired Melity to revamp its portal, which was launched in September.

“Most companies are responding more and more to the increasing popularity of all the social networks from MySpaces to Twitters,” said John Holub, president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, a 3,500-member organization in Trenton. He said social networking sites provide new opportunities in the current tough economy for retailers to connect with industry colleagues and their customers.

The retail spending outlook is getting better by the day, according to Holub. Although “March Madness did leave some retailers mad,” it was better than February, which in turn was a better month than the previous four or five months, Holub said. In March, a handful of retailers saw small increases in sales with discount retailers doing better than other types of stores, he added.

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