Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The eCommerce
Almanac:
Profiles from the Internet economy
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Books and Music/Videos, Consumer
Electronics, Computer Hardware and Software, Toys and
Sporting Goods, General Merchandise
Founded: July 1994
Employees: 7,600
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Seattle, WA headquarters
• Seattle, WA distribution facility
• New Castle, DE distribution facility
• Fernley, NV distribution facility
• Coffeyville, KS distribution facility
• Campbellsville, KY distribution facility
• Lexington, KY distribution facility
• McDonough, GA distribution facility
• Grand Forks, ND distribution facility
• Marston Gate, UK distribution facility
• Bad Hersfeld, Germany distribution facility
Telecenter: In-house call centers located in Seattle and
Tacoma, WA; Huntington, WV; Grand Forks, ND; Slough,
England; The Hague, Netherlands; and Regensburg, Germany
-- Continued on page 5 --
The eCommerce Almanac
Table of Contents
Company Profiles Merisel, Inc. ................................................113
Amazon.com................................................ 1 MVP.com, Inc. ............................................114
Ameritrade ................................................... 8 NetB@nk ....................................................116
AMP Electronic Commerce.......................... 10 NetGrocer Inc..............................................118
Art.com Inc. .................................................. 11 NextCard, Inc..............................................119
Ashford.com, Inc. ......................................... 13 OfficeDepot.com.........................................122
autobytel.com inc.......................................... 15 OfficeMax.com ...........................................124
autoweb.com................................................. 17 1-800-FLOWERS, Inc. ...............................125
BabyCenter Inc. ............................................ 19 OneCore.com ..............................................128
BarnesandNoble.com Inc.............................. 21 Outpost.com ................................................130
Beyond.com Corp. ........................................ 24 Peapod, Inc..................................................132
Biztravel.com, Inc......................................... 26 Pets.com, Inc. ..............................................134
Bluefly, Inc. .................................................. 28 PETsMART.com, Inc. ................................136
Bolt, Inc. ....................................................... 30 PlanetRx.com Inc. .......................................138
BUY.COM, Inc............................................. 32 Priceline.com Inc. .......................................141
CarsDirect.com Inc. ...................................... 34 Quicken Loans Inc. .....................................143
CDnow, Inc................................................... 37 Recreational Equipment Inc........................145
CDW Computer Centers, Inc........................ 39 Reel.com, Inc. .............................................147
CompUSA Inc. ............................................. 41 Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. .........................149
Crutchfield New Media LLC ........................ 43 Sharper Image Corp. ...................................151
Dell Online.................................................... 44 SportsLine.com, Inc. ...................................153
drugstore.com, inc. ....................................... 45 Staples.com .................................................156
eBay Inc. ....................................................... 48 Tower Records ............................................158
Eddie Bauer, Inc. .......................................... 50 Toysrus.com, Inc.........................................160
Egghead.com, Inc. ........................................ 52 Travelocity.com Inc. ...................................162
800.com Inc. ................................................. 54 Wal-Mart.com Inc.......................................164
E-LOAN Inc. ................................................ 56 Webvan Group, Inc. ....................................166
eToys Inc. ..................................................... 59 Wells Fargo & Company ............................169
E*TRADE Group, Inc. ................................. 61 Wine.com ....................................................171
Expedia, Inc. ................................................. 65 Analysis of Profiled Companies
FastParts.com................................................ 67 Profiled companies at a glance....................177
FirstAuction .................................................. 68 Measuring the size of
Fogdog Inc. ................................................... 70 profiled companies .................................179
Food.com Inc. ............................................... 72 Offline presence of profiled companies ......182
FTD.com....................................................... 74 Profiled websites at a glance .......................183
Furniture.com Inc. ........................................ 76 Technologies deployed by
Gap Inc. Direct.............................................. 78 profiled websites ....................................188
Garden.com, Inc............................................ 80 Driving traffic to profiled websites .............193
Gateway, Inc. ................................................ 82 Customer support infrastructure..................196
Grainger.com ................................................ 84 Financial performance of
HomeGrocer.com, Inc................................... 86 profiled companies .................................197
HomePoint Corp. .......................................... 88 eCommerce Market Briefing
IMX Exchange.............................................. 90 The Internet user .........................................209
Ingram Micro Inc.......................................... 92 Internet user activities .................................214
InsWeb Corp................................................. 94 Leading Internet sites and brands................218
International Business Machines .................. 96 Sizing B-to-C Internet commerce ...............221
iOwn ............................................................. 97 Internet shopper/purchaser behavior ...........227
iPrint.com, inc............................................... 99 Sizing B-to-B Internet commerce ...............230
iQVC........................................................... 101 Trends in managing Internet
J. Crew Group Inc....................................... 103 commerce initiatives ...................................233
JCP Internet Commerce Solutions, Inc. ...... 105 Internet Commerce
KBkids.com LLC........................................ 107 executive compensation ..............................238
Lands’ End, Inc........................................... 109 Online advertising overview .......................245
L.L. Bean, Inc. ............................................ 111
List of Charts and Tables 8.06 Revenue Per Pageview by Sector (Q1 2000)......... 200
Section 2 8.07 Customer Acquisition Cost (1999) ........................ 200
1.01 Types of Companies...............................................177 8.08 Marketing Expenditures (1998 - Q1 2000)............ 201
1.02 Ownership of All Profiled Companies ...................177 8.09 Marketing Budget as a Percentage
1.03 Ownership of Pure-Play Internet Companies .........178 of Revenue (Q1 2000) .......................................... 202
1.04 Most Active Investors ............................................178 8.10 Revenue From Repeat Customers (1999).............. 202
2.01 Online Revenue (1999) ..........................................179 8.11 Average Order Value (1999) ................................. 203
2.02 Online Revenue Growth (1999 vs. 1998)...............179 8.12 Profitability of Profiled Companies (1999) ........... 203
2.03 Annualized Online Revenue (Q1 2000) .................180 8.13 Net Margins of Profiled Companies (1999) .......... 204
2.04 Internet Employees per Company ..........................180
2.05 Customers and Registered Users per Profiled Section 3
Website (1999)......................................................181 1.01 U.S. Internet Population (1999/2000).................... 209
2.06 Customers and Registered Users per Profiled 1.02 Top 5 Markets by Internet Access (1999) ............. 210
Website (1998 vs. 1999)........................................181 1.03 U.S. Internet Population Growth (1995-2003) ..... 210
2.07 Growth in Customers and Registered 1.04 Gender of Internet Users (2000)............................ 211
Users (1998 vs. 1999) ...........................................182 1.05 Education Level of Internet Users (2000) ............. 211
3.01 Hardcopy Catalog Circulation................................182 1.06 Household Income of Internet Users (2000).......... 211
3.02 Storefront Locations of Profiled Companies ..........183 1.07 Age of Internet Users (2000)................................. 212
4.01 Audience of Websites.............................................183 1.08 Number of Years Online (2000)............................ 212
4.02 Age of Profiled Websites .......................................184 1.09 PC Penetration Rates at Home and
4.03 Size of Profiled Websites .......................................184 at Work (1998-1999) ............................................ 213
4.04 Features in Profiled Websites.................................185 1.10 Top 10 Markets by PC Penetration (1999) ............ 213
4.05 Website Back-end Integration ................................185 2.01 Where Users Access the Internet (1999) ............... 214
4.06 Advertising on Profiled Websites...........................186 2.02 Total Time Spent Online (1999-2000) .................. 215
4.07 Unique Visitors to Profiled 2.03 Time Spent Online by Metro Area (1999)............. 215
Websites (March 2000) .........................................186 2.04 Time Spent Online by Age Group (1999) ............. 216
4.08 Growth in Unique Visitors to Profiled 2.05 Time Spent Online and
Websites (March 1999 vs. March 2000) ...............187 Pages Viewed (1999-2000) .................................. 216
5.01 Hosting Practices of Profiled Websites ..................187 2.06 Time Spent Online per Session (1999-2000)......... 217
5.02 Number of Hosts & Connectivity Providers 2.07 Leading Online Activities (2000) .......................... 217
Used by Profiled Websites ....................................188 3.01 Leading Internet Commerce Sites
5.03 Connectivity Solution Providers Used by by Visitor Traffic (2000) ...................................... 218
Profiled Websites ..................................................188 3.02 Leading Financial Services Sites
5.04 Use of Mirrored Sites by Profiled Websites ...........188 by Visitor Traffic (2000) ...................................... 219
5.05 Hardware Platforms of Profiled Websites ..............187 3.03 Leading Travel Services Sites
5.06 Operating Systems Deployed by by Visitor Traffic (2000) ...................................... 219
Profiled Websites ..................................................189 3.04 Leading Portal Sites by Visitor Traffic (2000) ...... 220
5.07 Webserver Software Deployed by 3.05 Brand Recognition of Internet
Profiled Websites ..................................................190 Commerce Sites (1998-1999)............................... 220
5.08 Commerce Platforms Deployed by 4.01 U.S. Population of Online Buyers (1999/2000)..... 221
Profiled Websites ..................................................190 4.02 Total U.S. Consumer Internet
5.09 Profiled Websites Employing Personalization .......191 Commerce (1999-2003) ....................................... 221
5.10 Personalization Solutions Deployed by 4.03 Consumer Internet Commerce Spending
Profiled Websites ..................................................191 by Category (Q1-2000) ........................................ 222
5.11 Database Platforms Deployed by Profiled 4.04 Top Consumer Internet Commerce
Websites ................................................................192 Categories (Q1-2000) ........................................... 223
5.12 Payment Processing Applications Deployed 4.05 Online Purchasing Penetration
by Profiled Websites .............................................192 by Category (1999)............................................... 223
5.13 Affiliate Management Technology Deployed 4.06 Number of Online Purchases per Buyer (1999)..... 224
by Profiled Websites .............................................193 4.07 Total Spending per Online Buyer (1999) .............. 224
6.01 Partnerships With Web Portals...............................193 4.08 Average Transaction Value
6.02 Partnerships With Leading Web Destinations by Category (Q1 2000)......................................... 225
and Services ..........................................................194 4.09 Total Online Holiday Spending (1998/1999) ........ 226
6.03 Offline Media Employed by Profiled Websites......194 4.10 Weekly Online Holiday Spending (1999) ............. 226
6.04 Size of Profiled Websites’ Affiliate Programs .......195 5.01 How Internet Users Find Websites (1999/2000) ... 227
6.05 Affiliate Program Commission Rates.....................195 5.02 Browser-to-Buyer Conversion Rate (2000)........... 227
7.01 Call Centers at Profiled Companies .......................196 5.03 Browser-to-Buyer Conversion
7.02 Call Center CRM Representatives..........................196 Rate Trend (1999-2000) ....................................... 228
8.01 Business Models of Profiled Websites ...................197 5.04 Why Buyers Make Online Purchases (1999)......... 229
8.02 Revenue per Employee (1999) ...............................198 6.01 Total U.S. Business-to-Business
8.03 Revenue Per Visitor (Q1 2000) ..............................198 Internet Commerce (1999-2003) .......................... 230
8.04 Revenue Per Visitor by Sector (Q1 2000) ..............199 6.02 Top Business-to-Business Internet
8.05 Revenue Per Pageview (Q1 2000)..........................199 Commerce Categories (2000)............................... 230
Published June 2000 ISBN 1-882113-13-6 Copyright 2000 by The Intermarket Group, L.P. All charts and data quoted from third-party sources and contained herein
remain the property of and are copyright by their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the
copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to: The Intermarket Group, L.P., P.O. Box 500126, San Diego, California
92150-0126, USA. All information contained in this publication is believed to be obtained from reliable sources. The publication is designed to provide accurate and
authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the authors nor the publisher is engaged in offering legal,
accounting or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. From a Declaration of
Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers.
listing fee plus a completion fee of 1.25%-5.00% of the convenience products for $60 million in March 2000.
sale price for each item sold. A related three-year agreement enables the company
The company reported $573.89 million in gross revenue to offer one hour delivery for selected products and
for the first quarter ending March 31, 2000 with a loss of points of delivery using Kozmo.com’s services.
$308.43 million. Approximately 3.1 million new • living.com, an online retailer of home products and
customers were added during the quarter -- bringing the services.
cumulative total to 20 million -- and 76% of sales where • NextCard Inc. In December 1999, the company
generated by repeat customers. announced a five year partnership with this online
The company is organized into three principal operating issuer of consumer credit cards to create an
segments: “U.S. Books, Music and DVD/ video” which Amazon.com affinity card. The partnership also
encompasses the U.S. online stores for books, music and granted the company warrants to acquire up to 9.9%
DVDs/videos; “Early-Stage Businesses and Other” which of NextCard.
consists of U.S. online stores for electronics, software, • Della.com, an online service for gift registry, gift
video games, toys, and home improvement products, U.S. advice, and personalized gift suggestions.
marketplace services, and the Amazon.com Commerce • Sothebys. An auctioneer that the company has
Network; and “International” which includes all operations partnered with on an online auction site for art,
in Germany and the UK. antiques and collectibles.
The Amazon.com Commerce Network refers to • eZiba.com.
selected strategic partners that sell products and services Major acquisitions by the company include the April
under co-branded sections on the Amazon.com Web site. 1998 purchase of online retailers Bookpages and Telebook
The Network currently consists of the following -- which served as the foundation of its entry into the
companies: European marketplace -- and the U.K.-based entertainment
• Ashford.com. The company purchased a 17% stake in content site, Internet Movie Database. In August 1998, the
this online retailer of luxury and premium products for company acquired PlanetAll, which provides a Web-based
$10 million in December 1999. address book, calendar, and reminder service, and Junglee
• Audible. The company purchased a 5% stake in this Corp., a provider of advanced Web-based virtual database
provider of Internet-delivered spoken audio for PC- (VDB) technology. In April 1999, the company acquired
based listening and playback devices in January 2000. LiveBid.com, a provider of live-event auctions on the
A related agreement provides for Audible to pay the Internet, and Exchange.com, an online marketplace for
company $30 million over a three year period for used books. In June 1999, the company announced a ten
access to Amazon.com customers. year alliance with Sotheby’s to launch a joint online
• Greenlight.com. The company owns a 5% stake in auction site, sothebys.amazon.com -- which provides an
this online auto purchasing service and inked an Internet marketplace for collectibles and general art and
agreement in January 2000 which provides for enables antiques dealers to reach Amazon.com customers.
Greenlight.com to pay $82.5 million over a five year
period for access to Amazon.com customers.
• Pets.com. The company owns a 30% stake in this
online pet store after investing $58 million between
April and November 1999.
• drugstore.com. The company owns a 24% stake in
this personal and health products retailer after
investing $40 million between February 1999 and
January 2000 and providing technology and
promotional services. A related marketing agreement
provides for drugstore.com to pay the company $105
million -- including an initial payment of $30 million -
- over a three year period for access to Amazon.com
customers.
• Gear.com. The company purchased a 49% stake in
this online discounter of brand-name sporting goods in
July 1999.
• HomeGrocer.com. The company owns a 28% stake in
this online grocery-shopping and home-delivery
service after investing $42.5 million in May 1999.
• Kozmo.com. The company purchased a 28% stake in
this one-hour delivery service for entertainment and
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Banking/Brokerage/Financial services
Founded: 1971
Employees: 2,369 total (600 (approx.) IT staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
MARKETING
Facilities:
Media: Television advertising, business periodical
• Omaha, NE headquarters advertising, newspaper advertising, direct mail
• Bellevue, NE operations center Partnerships:
• Ft. worth, TX operations center • America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
• Baltimore, MD technology development center • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• Kansas City, MO back-up data center • Prodigy Services Corp. (www.prodigy.com)
• White Plains, NY corporate office • Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Telecenter: Two in-house call centers with 800+ full-time • Intuit Inc. (www.quicken.com)
equivalent representatives
• MarketWatch.com Inc. (www.marketwatch.com)
Ownership: Public
• Microsoft Corp. (investor.msn.com)
Trading Symbol: AMTD (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders: • TheStreet.com (www.thestreet.com)
• J. Joe Ricketts, Chairman and CEO • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Shareholder Equity: $309.993 million (3/31/00) • Intuit Inc. (link with Quicken)
Profitable: No ($18.509 million loss for six months ending • Microsoft Corp. (link with MS Money)
3/31/00) Affiliates Program: None
Advertising Expenditures1
1999........................................$59.72mn
1998........................................$43.61mn
1997........................................$13.97mn
1996........................................$ 7.54mn
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Electronic parts and equipment
Founded: 1941
Employees: 45,000 total
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Harrisburg, PA headquarters
• 200+ manufacturing, warehouse, distribution and sales
facilities in the U.S. and 50 other countries
Telecenter: In-house call centers
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: Wholly-owned subsidiary of Tyco
International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC)
Profitable: Yes
COMMENTS
AMP Inc. is the world’s leading supplier of electrical Art.com Inc.
and electronic connectors and interconnection systems. 122 South Michigan Avenue, 10th Floor
The company’s commerce site is built around a catalog of Chicago, IL 60603, U.S.A.
more than 90,000 part numbers and employs a parametric Tel. 312-360-0100
search capability that enables users to navigate search
results using high-resolution graphics, 3-D models, and
Fax 312-360-1112
product charts that illustrate side-by-side comparisons of
up to five similar products. The site provides a real-time Unique Visitors (March 2000): 570,000
link to AMP’s ERP system enabling users to retrieve real- Reach: 0.8%
time standard or contract pricing information for each part Rank: 1,108
number as well as its availability from every participating
distributor. Site content includes technical drawings, ORGANIZATION
specifications, test reports, 3-D models, printed circuit Business Sector: Other (Art)
board layouts and panel cutouts, assembly sub-contractor Founded: 1997
referrals, and links to distributor referrals. Employees: 100+
The AMP website is available in English and seven Offline Activity
foreign languages. It was also among the first large-scale Storefronts: None
commerce sites to offer complete multi-lingual support. Catalogs Mailed: None
In March 2000, the company eliminated a requirement Facilities:
that users register before they were able to access the • Chicago, IL headquarters
online catalog. At that point in time, there were more than • Lake Forest, IL customer service and distribution
200,000 registered users and the site averaged more than center
22,000 unique visitors per month. Telecenter: In-house call center
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: Wholly-owned subsidiary of Getty
Images Inc. (NASDAQ: GETY)
Shareholder Equity: $745.69 million (Getty Images)
Profitable: No
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.art.com
Site Launch: May 1998; Publicly launched March 1999
Site Type: Business-to-business, Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed-pricing, Negotiated
Pricing/Auctions
Site Size: 31,000 products SKUs (29,000 prints and
posters, 2,000 fine art pieces, and 450 gifts)
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Demographics: 35% male/55% female; 80% college
educated; 50% married; $50,000+ average household
income; average age, 37.5 years
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real-
time customer service
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, product availability, order
processing, payment processing and order status are
integrated into the website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio advertising, newspaper advertising,
consumer and business periodical advertising, direct mail.
Partnerships:
• Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com)
MANAGEMENT
Bill Lederer, Chief Executive Officer. Founded and
currently heads Minotaur Capital Management, an Illinois-
based investment firm, previously served as vice president
of research at Sound Shore Management and as a securities
analyst and portfolio manager for Management Asset
Corporation. B.A. in business from Roosevelt University
in Chicago.
Don Fosen, Chief Information Officer and Vice President.
Previously served as a programmer analyst for the Circuit
Court Clerk of Dupage County, as a consultant at various
companies such as Software Architects, Sears, and the
National Futures Association (NFA), and as a project
manager and then director of sales systems development
for Ameritech Cellular. B.S. in computer information
systems and M.B.A. from Benedictine University. Application Servers: Three
Michael Kahn, Vice President of Marketing. Previously Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
served as vice president of consumer marketing and Database Servers: Five
franchise sales for The Great Frame Up and served in Personalization: Net Perceptions GroupLens
various positions at advertising agencies such as J. Walter Recommendation Engine
Thompson, Mitchiner Ross & Kahn (where he was partner Affiliate Management: Be Free BFAST
and president), Campbell-Mithun-Esty and DDB Payment Processing: Signio
Needham. B.A. in journalism from the University of Other Applications: Microsoft Passport
Wisconsin at Madison.
COMMENTS
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE Art.com specializes in selling matted and framed art
Design Consultants: Design One prints and posters to consumers and small business. The
Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants company was originally funded by SOFTBANK,
Hosting Arrangement: On-site and co-located servers Benchmark Capital, and Sandler Capital. In May 1999,
Internet Connectivity: 3 T-1 lines Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ: GETY) acquired the
Access Providers: InterNAP, Level 3, UUNET/MCI company for $200 million in Getty common stock (4.25
Worldcom million shares) and contributed an additional $10 million
Mirror Locations: None in capital to the company. Getty has since combined
Hardware Platform: Dell PowerEdge servers with Intel Art.com with American Royal Arts -- a marketer of
450mHz and 500mHz processors collectibles and animation art -- to create its Consumer
Operating System: Windows NT Division.
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
Edition
Web Servers: Four
ORGANIZATON
Business Sector: Gifts/Jewelry
Founded: March 1998
Employees: 70+
Offline Activity
Storefronts: One
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Houston, TX headquarters and fulfillment
center
Telecenter: None
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: ASFD (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Benchmark Capital (35%)
• Amazon.com Inc. (17%)
• J. Robert Shaw, Chairman (10%)
• James Whitcomb, Jr., COO (10%)
• Sequoia Capital (8%) • America Online (www.netcenter.com)
• Markas Holding (8%) • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• Kenneth Kurtzman (6%) • Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com)
Financing: $257 million in 3 rounds and IPO • Earthlink Inc. (www.wizshop.com)
Profitable: No ($72.06 million loss for FY ‘00) • FedEx Marketplace (www.fedex.com)
• New York Times Company (www.nytimes.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
• USA Today Online (www.usatoday.com)
Website: www.ashford.com
• Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Site Launch: April 1998
Affiliate Program: Ashford.com Affiliate Program
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business
Number of Affiliates: 2,000+
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Commission Rate: 5% of purchase value
Site Size: 14,000 SKUs from 30 different brands
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No MANAGEMENT
Kenneth Kurtzman, Chief Executive Officer. Previously
Site Features: General help, real-time online customer
served as vice president and general manager of several
service
Back-end Integration: Access to inventory availability, divisions of Compaq Computer Corp., including the Small
and Medium Business Division and Compaq.com, and as a
order processing, payment processing, order status, and
Principal at McKinsey & Company working in the
shipment tracking are integrated into the website.
computing, telecommunications, systems integration,
banking and energy industries. B.A. in Economics from
MARKETING
Rice University and M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Media: Newspaper advertising; broadcast radio and
television advertising, consumer periodical advertising, Bill Hensler, Chief Operating Officer. Previously held
various positions at Compaq Computer Corp., including
and direct mail are planned
vice president of the Small and Medium Business Division
Partnerships:
and vice president of quality for the PC Products Group,
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
directed Coopers & Lybrand's Total Quality Center of
• America Online (www.aol.com)
Excellence, and held positions as vice president at Qualtec
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Automobiles/Auto Parts
Founded: February 1995
Employees: 225+
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Irvine, CA headquarters Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
• San Ramon, CA CarSmart.com offices information, inventory availability, and payment
Telecenter: None processing are integrated into website.
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: ABTL (NASDAQ) MARKETING
Major Shareholders: Media: Television advertising, business and consumer
• GE Capital Services periodical advertising
• National Union Fire Insurance Company (subs. Of Partnerships:
American International Group Inc.) • Alta Vista Company (www.altavista.com)
• Inchcape Motors International PLC • Edmunds.com Inc. (www.edmunds.com)
• ContiTrade Services • Excite@Home Inc. (www.excite.com)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) • AT&T Worldnet (www.att.net)
• Bilia AB • NBC Internet (www.snap.com)
• Invision AG • NBC Internet (www.nbci.com)
• Aureus Private Equity AG • NBC Internet (www.xoom.com)
• MediaOne Interactive Services • Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)
• Michael Fuchs • Go Network (www.go.com)
Financing: $141.96 million in three rounds and IPO Affiliates Program: Autobytel.com AutoPartner Program
Profitable: No ($23.320 million loss for FY ’99) Number of Affiliates: n/a
Commission Rate: $1.50 - 3.00 per purchase request
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.autobytel.com, www.autobytel.ca, MANAGEMENT
www.autobytel.co.uk, www.autobytel-japan.com, Mark Lorimer, President and CEO
www.autobytel.se, www.carsmart.com Ann Marie Delligatta, Executive Vice President and
Site Launch: March 1995 Chief Operating Officer
Site Type: Business-to-consumer Robert S. Grimes, Executive Vice President
Business Model: Fee-based Hoshi Printer, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial
Site Size: 684 basic models from 55 manufacturers Officer
Languages: English, Swedish, Japan David Grant, Chief Technology Officer
Accepts Advertising: No Josh McCarter, Vice President, International
Site Demographics: 77% male/23% female; 57% college Development
graduates; average age range 25-54 years; $65K average Jason Tuschman, Vice President Consumer Products and
household income Website Development
Site Features: General help, contextual help, foreign Glen Caffey, Vice President, Service Products
language product information and order pages
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.autoweb.com
Site Launch: April 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Commission-based
Site Size: 241 basic models from 43 manufacturers
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Demographics: 56% male/44% female, 34.4% college
educated, $65,000 average household income, average age
39 years old
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real-
time customer service, customer created content; IP
telephony and real-time customer-to-customer chat are
planned
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, customer order history, and payment
processing are integrated into website.
MANAGEMENT
Dean DeBiase, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Sam Hedgpeth, President and Chief Operating Officer Total Revenue
Thomas Stone, Chief Financial Officer 1999..........................................$32.8mn
Jerry Karr, Chief Technology Officer 1998..........................................$13.0mn
Cathy Gordon, Vice President, Product Development 1997..........................................$ 3.5mn
David Green, Vice President, Dealer Training
Fred Ruffin, Vice President, Human Relations Marketing Expenditures
Jim Wolfe, Vice President, Marketing 1999..........................................$33.2mn
Cheryl Patstone, Vice President, Public Relations 1998..........................................$13.0mn
1997..........................................$ 3.5mn
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Razorfish Product Development Expenditures
Site Maintenance: In-house staff 1999..........................................$5.10mn
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s) 1998..........................................$0.59mn
Access Provider: Exodus Communications 1997..........................................$0.33mn
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium COMMENTS
Operating System: Windows NT Autoweb.com operates one of the leading websites for
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0 consumers car buyers. The site provides a combination of
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications research resources, shopping tools, and support services
Web Servers: Multiple Dell and Micron servers for car buyers and owners. The company also provides
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 web hosting and development services and sales
Database Servers: Multiple Dell and Micron servers automation services to vehicle manufacturers and dealers.
Personalization: Not used More than 5,000 car dealers participate in the company’s
Affiliate Management: Proprietary application online shopping service.
Payment Processing: Not used Member dealers were originally charged a flat monthly
Other Applications: Net.Genesis Net.Analysis, subscription fee in exchange for receiving consumer
NetAcumen log analysis software, Checkpoint firewall purchase inquiries originated through the Autoweb.com
software, Octane Software Internet Relationship site. The pricing model was changed in February 1998
Management (iRM) software. because the number of leads received by dealers varied
MANAGEMENT
Mari Baker, Senior Vice President and General Manager
Brian Laliberte, Chief Information Officer
Steve Fram, Vice President of Engineering
Greg Goff, Vice President of Marketing
Colleen Hancock, Vice President of Merchandising
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: None
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Providers: SAVVIS Communications
Internet Connectivity: 100Mbps
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise 3.6,
Stronghold Apache
Commerce Platform: Art Technology Dynamo
Application Server
Web Servers: Multiple Sun Enterprise servers
Database Platform: Oracle 8
Database Servers: Multiple Sun Enterprise servers
Personalization: Art Technology Dynamo Application
Server
Affiliate Management: Be Free BFAST
Payment Processing: CyberCash
Other Applications: RedCart Universal Shopping Cart
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Registered Users (end of period)
1999...........................................225,000
1998...........................................100,000
1997.............................................10,000 eToys for approximately $150 million in eToys common
stock.
COMMENTS The company’s Consumer Health Interactive (“CHI”)
BabyCenter operates a content site and online storefront division was sold in December 1999 for $20 million in
catering to the information and product needs of new and cash and securities to an investor group led by J.H.
expectant parents. The company’s original investors Whitney & Co. and Advance Paradigm, Inc. (Nasdaq:
include Bessemer Venture Partners, Broderbund Software, ADVP). The CHI unit assists companies such as Blue
Crystal Internet, IDG Ventures, Intel Corp., and Trinity Shield of California and Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Ventures. In April 1999, BabyCenter was acquired by Massachusetts with using the Internet to attract and retain
members.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.barnesandnoble.com, www.bn.com
Site Launch: May 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: One million in-print book titles, 15 million out-
of-print items, 200,000 music CDs, 2,000 software titles,
1,000 magazine titles, 2,000 eCards, and 9,500 print
images
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy,
customer created content
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, inventory availability, order
processing, payment processing, order status, and shipment
tracking integrated into website.
MANAGEMENT
Stephen Riggio, Acting Chief Executive Officer. Also
currently serves as vice chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(NYSE: BKS). Previously served as chief operating
officer of Barnes & Noble and as president of B. Dalton
Bookseller, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble.
Marie Toulantis, Chief Financial Officer. Previously eFulfill software, i2 Technologies supply chain
served as CFO of Barnes & Noble, executive vice management software
president, finance of Barnes & Noble, and senior vice
president of Chase Manhattan Bank. OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Gary King, Chief Technology Officer. Previously served Total Revenue
in various positions at Avon Products, including vice 1999......................................$202.57mn
president for global information technologies. 1998......................................$ 61.83mn
Carl Rosendorf, Senior Vice President, Marketing. 1997......................................$ 11.95mn
Previously founded and served as president of Cybersmith
and as executive vice president of B&N College. Sales to Repeat Customers
William Duffy, Vice President, Operations. Previously 1999................................................ 66%
served as vice president-Finance of Barnes & Noble and as 1998................................................ 52%
vice president and general manager of Marboro Books, a 1997...................................................n/a
subsidiary of Barnes & Noble.
Brenda Marsh, Vice President, Merchandising. Marketing Expenditures
Previously served as senior vice president and then 1999......................................$111.55mn
president, sales and market development for the general 1998......................................$ 70.42mn
book group of HarperCollins Publishers. Also served in 1997......................................$ 8.86mn
various executive positions at Viking Penguin and St.
Martin's Press. Development Expenditures
Tom Simon, Vice President, Content Development 1999........................................$21.01mn
Michael Fragnito, Vice President, eBooks 1998........................................$ 8.53mn
1997........................................$ 3.26mn
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Interactive Bureau LLC; i|o 360, Total Customers (end of period)
Business Data Services 1999........................................4,700,000
Site Maintenance: In-house staff 1998........................................1,300,000
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) and co-located 1997...........................................250,000
server(s)
Access Provider: Genuity Inc., UUNET/MCI Worldcom, COMMENTS
Sprint Corp., Cable and Wireless, GlobalCenter, Winstar BarnesandNoble.com is the Internet’s second-largest
Communications, and three other ISPs bookseller and a retailer of magazines, CDs, videos,
Internet Connectivity: Multiple DS-3 and T-1 lines DVDs, prints and posters, and electronic greeting cards.
Mirror Locations: One The company was formed in October 1998 as an equal
Hardware Platform: Compaq ProLiant partnership between Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS)
Operating System: Windows NT 4 (web front-end), which contributed its existing online business and
Windows 2000 (back-end systems) Bertelsmann AG which ultimately contributed $200
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0 million in equity capital. Prior to that time, the online
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce activities of Barnes & Noble were run by a wholly-owned
Edition; proprietary applications subsidiary, Barnes & Noble Online, Inc. In May 1999, the
Web Servers: 30 Compaq ProLiant 6400 servers company raised approximately $484 million in an initial
Application Servers: 30 Compaq ProLiant 6400 servers public offering (IPO).
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server Gross revenue for the quarter ending March 31, 2000
Database Servers: Multiple Compaq ProLiant 8500 eight- was $78.22 million with a loss of $52.11 million. During
way servers the same period, the company added more than 850,000
Personalization: Microsoft Site Server Personalization, new customers.
proprietary applications The company can leverage its partnership with
Affiliate Management: BeFree BFAST Bertelsmann through cross-marketing and co-promotion
Payment Processing: Proprietary application programs targeting members of Bertelsmann’s U.S. book
Other Applications: Microsoft Chat, Microsoft and music clubs. The company also outsources various
Transaction Server, Microsoft Message Queue, CyberCash services to Barnes & Noble, including payroll processing,
InstaBuy, Microsoft Passport, RedCart Universal Shopping benefits administration, insurance, and taxes.
Cart, Kana Solution customer support, Accrue traffic A partnership between the company and
analysis software, Red Brick Systems data warehouse BuyEnlarge.com Inc. enables customers to order any of
tools, webMethods B2B, EXE Technology EXceed more than 9,500 images and have them printed on
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.beyond.com
Site Launch: November 1994
Site Type: Business-to-business, business-to-
consumer (SOHO)
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 177,000 (approx.) product SKUs, including
13,000 ESD titles
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy,
customer created content
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Infosys Technologies Ltd.
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: Exodus Communications, InterNAP
Network Services, Digital Island
Internet Connectivity: 200 Mbps
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris UNIX, Windows NT 4
Web Server Software: Apache
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications,
mySAP.com
Web Servers: 30 Sun Ultra 2200 and 2300 servers
Database Platform: Sybase
Database Servers: Three Sun Enterprise 4500
Personalization: Proprietary applications
Affiliate Management: Proprietary application
Payment Processing: CyberSource Payment Services
Other Applications: CyberSource Digital Delivery
Service, CyberSource Internet Fraud Screen, Novadigm
Radia E-wrap, RedCart Universal Shopping Cart,
CyberCash InstaBuy, pcOrder.com ContentSource
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account 1999......................................$117.28mn
information, order processing, payment processing, and 1998......................................$ 36.65mn
order status are integrated into website. 1997......................................$ 16.81mn
1996......................................$ 5.86mn
MARKETING
Media: Offline media not used Marketing Expenditures
Partnerships: 1999........................................$81.35mn
• Excite@Home (www.home.com) 1998........................................$27.21mn
• Time Warner Road Runner (www.rr.com) 1997........................................$ 1.70mn
• Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine) 1996........................................$ 0.70mn
• AppCity Corp. (AppCity Shoplayer)
Affiliates Program: Beyond.com Affiliate Program Development Expenditures
No. of Affiliates: 88,000 1999........................................$10.39mn
Commission Rate: 5% for physical products 10% 1998........................................$ 4.14mn
for ESD products 1997........................................$ 1.06mn
1996........................................$ 0.43mn
Total Customers
1999........................................2,000,000 Biztravel.com, Inc.
1998...........................................634,000 2401 Walnut Street
1997...........................................171,270 Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Tel. 215-977-4000
COMMENTS
Beyond.com is an online retailer of computer software,
Unique Visitors (March 2000): 74,000
games, hardware, and accessories. The company generates
Reach: 0.1%
revenue through three online channels: its eStore Group,
Rank: 9,529
government sales, and its own online storefront at
www.beyond.com.
The eStore Group enables companies to outsource their ORGANIZATION
online software storefronts and choose from a menu of Business Sector: Travel services
services which include in part, website design, transaction Founded: November 1995
processing, physical and electronic order fulfillment, and Offline Activity
customer support. Representative eStore customers Storefronts: None
include Compaq Computer, Hewlett Packard, Catalogs Mailed: None
McAfee.com, Microsoft, Palm Computing, and Symantec. Facilities:
The eStore model allows customers to pay Beyond.com as • Philadelphia, PA headquarters
either a traditional reseller or for service and transaction • Linton, ND customer service office
fees. • New York, NY office
A Government Systems Group operates under contracts Telecenter: In-house call center
with government agencies, such as the Patent and Ownership: Private
Trademark Office and the Department of Defense, Trading Symbol: None
enabling individuals to easily complete purchases with a Major Shareholders:
negotiated pricing discount and centralized accounting and • British Airways
reporting. • Continental Airlines
The company reported $31.34 million in revenue for • Marriott International
the quarter ending March 31, 2000 and a loss of $45.78 • Sun Microsystems
million. The company’s website contributed 38% of gross • Excite@Home
revenue, government sales accounted for 33% and the • Accel Partners
eStores accounted for 29%. During the same quarter, a • Comcast
$13.7 million restructuring charge was recorded due to a • Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
strategic shift from consumer to business customers. The • New Enterprise Associates
company reduced its workforce by approximately 20%, Financing: Not reported
consolidated facilities, and terminated marketing Profitable: No
partnerships with America Online, CNET, Excite, Yahoo!
and ZDNet.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Recent acquisitions include the purchase of online Website: www.biztravel.com
software retailer BuyDirect.com in March 1999 for $120.5 Site Launch: December 1996
million in Beyond.com common stock (4.9 million shares). Site Type: Business-to-consumer; Business-to-business
In October 1999, the company also acquired the French Business Model: Fixed pricing
online software retailer SoftGallery SARL for $500,000 I Site Size: 12 airline travel frequency programs supported
cash and 48,000 shares of Beyond.com common stock. In Languages: English
April 2000, the Company partially unwound the Accepts Advertising: Yes
transaction, returning an 80% interest in SoftGallery to the Site Demographics: 70% male/30% female, 80%
previous stockholders and issuing them an additional graduated college and 40% completed graduate degree,
177,000 shares of Beyond.com common stock plus $100,000 average household income
$125,000 in cash. Site Features: General help, contextual help, one-click
ordering/quick buy, online real-time customer service,
customer created content; IP telephony, real-time
customer-to-customer chat, foreign language product
information and order pages are planned
MARKETING
Media: Direct mail; radio and television advertising,
newspaper advertising, consumer and business periodical
advertising are planned.
Partnerships:
• AT&T Wireless Services (www.att.com)
• Cable News Network, Inc. (www.cnnfn.com)
• Citigroup, N.A. (www.bizzed.com)
• Counsel Connect (www.counsel.com)
• Epinions.com (www.epinions.com)
• EventSource (www.eventsource.com)
• Sales.com (www.sales.com)
• Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com)
• Weather Channel (www.weather.com)
• Work.com (www.work.com)
• Global Network Architects (proprietary virtual
communities)
• Symantec Corp. (links from Norton Mobile Essentials
software)
• VISA International (eSolutions)
Affiliates Program: None
MANAGEMENT
Hal F. Rosenbluth, Chief Executive Officer
Neal Bibeau, President
Don Otterbein, Chief Information Officer and Vice
President, User Experience
Justin Shaw, Vice President
Cindy Dale, Vice President
Joe McLarney, Controller
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Apparel, home accessories
Founded: 1991 (as Pivot Corp.)
Employees: 75 full-time, 7 part-time
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: New York, NY headquarters
Telecenter: In-house call center
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: BFLY (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Kenneth Seiff, CEO
• Soros Private Equity Partners
• Quantum Industrial Partners
Financing: $27.9 million
Profitable: No ($13.19 million loss for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.bluefly.com
Site Launch: September 1998 • Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Site Version 2.0 • theglobe.com inc. (www.theglobe.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer • Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine)
Business Model: Fixed pricing • Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com)
Site Size: 5,000 (approx.) product SKUs from 300+ • Lycos Inc. (www.tripod.com)
brands • Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
Languages: English • Netcentives Inc. (www.clickrewards.com)
Accepts Advertising: No • WingspanBank (www.wingspan.com)
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy • Women.com Networks (www.women.com)
(2-clicks) • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Affiliates Program: None
information, order history, inventory availability, order
processing, payment processing, order status, and shipment MANAGEMENT
tracking are integrated into website. Kenneth Seiff, Chief Executive Officer
Patrick Barry, Executive Vice President and Chief
MARKETING Financial Officer
Media: Radio advertising, consumer periodical advertising Robert Stevens, Executive Vice President
Partnerships: Marty Keane, Vice President of Product Development
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service) Andy Hilford, Vice President of Creative Services
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
• America Online (www.netscape.com) Design Consultants: Evolution Online Systems, Kaufman
• Alloy Online Inc. (www.alloy.com) Patricof Enterprises
• e-Commerce Solutions (www.brandsforless.com) Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Managed hosting The company has outsourced order fulfillment to Niles,
Access Provider: Digex Inc., Akamai Technologies Illinois-based Merchandise-Out-Of-The-Box, Inc.
Mirror Locations: None In June 1999, the company launched a house and home
Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium division, adding more than 600 home accessories to its
Operating System: Windows NT 4 online storefront. In July 1999, a complete redesign of the
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0 Bluefly.com site was launched and a new teens department
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce and a gifts department were introduced. In December
Edition 1999 and January 2000, the company announced alliances
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7 with Harpers' Bazaar, Esquire, Marie Claire, Metropolitan
Personalization: Net Perceptions Group Lens Home and Seventeen which provide exclusive content on
Recommendation Engine fashion trends for the Bluefly.com website.
Affiliate Management: Not used During the first quarter of 2000, the company
Payment Processing: CyberSource Payment Service negotiated a commitment from affiliates of Soros Private
Other Applications: CyberSource Internet Fraud Screen, Equity Partners -- a previous investor -- to provide up to
Net Perceptions for Marketing Campaigns, Microsoft $15 million in additional financing which can be draw
Passport from during the year. In March, $3 million was drawn in
the form of debt financing. The debt will be converted
OPERATING BENCHMARKS into equity securities -- and considered part of the $15
Total Revenue1 million commitment -- when the next round of financing is
1999..........................................$4.95mn drawn.
1998..........................................$0.22mn
1997......................................................0
Advertising Expenditures
1999..........................................$6.54mn
1998..........................................$0.44mn
1997................................................... n/a
COMMENTS
Bluefly is an online discount retailer of designer apparel
and home accessories. The company was originally
founded in 1991 as Pivot Corp., a marketer of golf
sportswear. In June 1998, the company discontinued its
golfwear business to focus on developing Bluefly.com.
The company name was changed to Bluefly, Inc. in
October 1998, one month after the launch of the
Bluefly.com site.
In the first quarter ending March 31, 2000, the company
reported $3.56 million in revenue with a loss of $5.87
million. Total active customers reached 87,500 at the end
of the quarter and repeat customers accounted for 42% of
sales during the period. The average repeat customer
placed three orders during the quarter, according to the
company.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: General merchandise
Founded: 1996
Employees: 170 (2/29/00)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• New York, NY headquarters Partnerships:
• Chicago, IL office • America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• Los Angeles, CA office • America Online (www.aol.com)
Telecenter: Outsourced to PeopleSupport
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
Ownership: Private (IPO pending)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Trading Symbol: BOLT (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders: • America Online (www.MovieFone.com)
• Bechtel Enterprises Holdings, Inc (21.1%) • America Online (www.spinner.com)
• Daniel A. Pelson, CEO (17.7%) • Emusic.com, Inc. (www.emusic.com)
• Highland Capital Partners (14.1%) • HearMe (www.hearme.com)
• Sandler Capital Management (13.3%) • Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com)
• Oak Associates (7.8%) • Lycos Inc. (www.tripod.com)
• Moore Capital Management, Inc. (7.5%) • Lycos Inc. (www.angelfire.com)
Financing: $56.8 million • Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
Profitable: No ($12.917 loss for FY ’99) • Microsoft Corp. (www.hotmail.com)
• theglobe.com, inc. (www.theglobe.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • ThirdAge Media Inc. (www.thirdage.com)
Website: www.bolt.com • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Site Launch: August 1996 (Bolt Store: September 1999) Affiliates Program: Planned
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing MANAGEMENT
Site Size: 450 (approx.) products Dan Pelson, Chief Executive Officer -- Previously
Languages: English founded Word, an online magazine acquired by Icon CMT
Accepts Advertising: Yes Corp., and as a marketing, sales, and product development
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real- executive for Sun Microsystems. B.A. in political science
time customer service, threaded discussions, real-time and economics from Colgate University and M.B.A. from
customer-to-customer chat, customer created content New York University.
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Mark Stutzman, Chief Technology Officer -- Previously
information, order history, order processing, payment served as executive director-technology at Cyberian
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are Outpost and in various positions at IBM Corp., including
integrated into website. management of all technical facets of ShopIBM and as a
technical team leader for IBM Global Service's web
MARKETING hosting department. B.A. in English from S.U.N.Y.
Media: Television and radio advertising, newspapers Jane Mount, Executive Vice President Product
advertising, business periodical advertising Development/Empowerment -- Previously served as
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
1999............................................$4.4mn
1998............................................$2.7mn
1997............................................$0.5mn
Marketing Expenditures
1999..........................................$9.08mn
1998..........................................$0.63mn
1997..........................................$0.29mn
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Computer hardware/software; consumer
electronics; books/CDs/Videos; sporting
goods (golf products)
Founded: June 1997
Employees: 255 (3/00)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Aliso Viejo, CA headquarters
Telecenter: Outsourced to ClientLogic; 350+ customer
representatives in Albuquerque, NM and Buffalo, NY.
Limited in-house staff to support complex customer
support inquiries.
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: BUYX (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders
• Scott Blum, Founder (48%)
• SOFTBANK (30%) MARKETING
• Ingram Capital, Inc. (4%) Media: Television and radio advertising, newspaper
Total Financing: $178 million advertising, consumer periodical advertising, and direct
Profitable: No ($130.17 million loss for FY ’99) mail.
Partnerships:
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • C-NET Inc. (www.computers.com)
Website: www.buy.com, www.buycomp.com, • Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine)
www.buysoft.com, www.buymusic.com, Affiliates Program: Buy.com Affiliate Connection
www.buyclearance.com, and approximately 1,200 other Number of Affiliates: n/a
domain names Commission Rate: 2.5-8.0% based on product
Site Launch: November 1997 category
Site Type: Business-to-consumer; Business-to-business
Business Model: Fixed pricing MANAGEMENT
Site Size: 850,000 SKUs in nine product categories Gregory J. Hawkins, Chief Executive Officer --
Languages: English Previously served as a senior vice president at Ingram
Accepts Advertising: Yes Micro, Inc. B.S. in business administration from Oregon
Site Demographics: 72.5% male/27.5% female; 57.9% State University.
college educated; 65.5% married; average age 39.5 years; Mitch C. Hill, Chief Financial Officer -- Previously
$79.8K average household income served as chief financial officer and senior vice president
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy, at Walt Disney Imagineering, chief financial officer and
online real time customer service vice president of Disney Development Co., director of
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account finance and new business Disney Development, and as an
information, order history, inventory availability, order associate at Goldman, Sachs & Co. B.S. in business
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are accounting from Brigham Young University and M.B.A.
integrated into website. from Harvard Business School
Robb Brock, Vice President, Technology -- Previously Operating System: Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000
served as vice president of software development at Data Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS
Faction, Inc. B.A. in computer science from National Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
University. Edition 3.0
Travis Fagan, Vice President, Customer Service -- Web Servers: 25 total IBM 4000R and Netfinity 5500
Previously served in several management positions at dual processor servers and 8500 eight-processor servers;
Wells Fargo Online Financial Services, including vice also 12 domain controller servers
president, manager of customer development and vice Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
president, manager of customer care; prior to that, served Database servers: See “Web Servers” above
as a manager, customer service at U.S. West, and senior Personalization: Not used
consultant at Arthur Andersen Business Consulting. B.A. Affiliate Management: LinkShare
in business administration and Masters in Professional Payment Processing: CyberSource GeoPay
Accounting from the University of Texas. Other Applications: RedCart Universal Shopping Cart,
John C. Herr, Vice President, Advertising and Marketing Microsoft Passport
-- Previously served in several management roles at Ziff
Davis, Inc., including the vice president of international OPERATING BENCHMARKS
and executive vice president of worldwide marketing. Total Revenue1
Prior to that, served as a brand manager in consumer 1999........................................$596.9mn
marketing at Johnson & Johnson and as a strategy 1998........................................$125.3mn
consultant at Bain & Company. B.A. in Economics from 1997............................................$0.9mn
Harvard University and M.B.A. from Harvard Business
School. Sales to Repeat Customers
Anthony A. McAlister, Vice President, Information 1999................................................ 49%
Services -- Previously served as vice president of 1998...................................................n/a
information services for SpeedServe.com and director of 1997...................................................n/a
application development for Ingram Entertainment, Inc.
Associate degree in data processing from Nashville State Marketing Expenditures1
Technical Institute. 1999..........................................$71.3mn
Brent Rusick, Vice President, Sales Operations -- 1998..........................................$13.4mn
Previously served as a U.S. channel sales manager at 1997..........................................$ 0.1mn
Packard Bell NEC, Inc. and as a regional sales manager for
Tech Data Corp. B.S. in business administration and Development Expenditures1
finance from San Diego State University. 1999..........................................$7.84mn
Michael D. Walkey, General Manager, Small Business 1998..........................................$0.95mn
and Vice President, Product Management -- Previously 1997..........................................$0.03mn
served as president and CEO of BLT Electronics, Inc. and
as vice president, purchasing for Ingram Micro, Inc. B.S. Total Customers (end of period)
in business management from Pepperdine University. 1999............................................1.95mn
Murray H. Williams, Vice President, Global Business 1998............................................0.25mn
Development -- Previously served in various capacities at 1997...................................................n/a
KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP, most recently as a Manager.
B.A. in accounting and real estate from the University of 1. Figures for 1997 cover period from June 7 to December 31.
Wisconsin, Madison.
Thomas A. Wright, Vice President, Fulfillment COMMENTS
Operations -- Previously served in several management BUY.COM is an online-only retailer of computer
positions at Ingram Micro, Inc., including vice president, hardware and peripherals, software, books, videos, DVDs,
logistics and sr. director North American operations. computer games, music, consumer electronics, golf-related
products, and travel services. The company prices its
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE products at a deep discount -- many are sold at cost -- and
Design Consultants: None subsidizes the process through the sale of advertising on its
Site Maintenance: In-house staff website.
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s) The company reported $207.62 million in revenue for
Access Provider: Exodus Communications the first quarter ending March 31, 2000 and a loss of
Internet Connectivity: One DS-3 line $32.85 million. Approximately 63% of revenue during the
Mirror Locations: None quarter was generated by repeat customers and more than
Hardware Platform: IBM Netfinity 449,500 new customers were acquired.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.carsdirect.com
Site Launch: December 1998
Site Version: 2.0
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 2,600 (approx.) models of cars and trucks from
38 manufacturers
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
CarsDirect.com Home Page idealab! and as a principal at McKinsey & Company. B.A.
in Mathematics from Dartmouth College and M.B.A. from
the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Frederick Silny, Chief Financial Officer. Previously
served as CFO of IHOP Corp. and in various positions at
Carnation Company, including assistant general manager
and division manager of its Dairies Division. B.Sc. in
Psychology from McGill University, M.A. in Statistics and
Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley,
and M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Gerald Popek, Chief Technical Officer. Previously
served as CTO at PLATINUM Technology and at
Computer Associates International. B.S. in Nuclear
Engineering from New York University, and S.M. and
Ph.D in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real- Greg Perrier, Senior Vice President - Data Products and
time customer service Chief Executive Officer of Autodata. Previously served as
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account president of Autodata prior to its acquisition by
information and order processing are integrated into CarsDirect.com. H.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of
website. Business.
Larry Tchamkertenian, Executive Vice President of
MARKETING Sales and Operations. Previously served as vice president
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper of operations at Quarterdeck Corp. and as director of
advertising, consumer periodical advertising, direct mail operations at Knowledge Adventure. B.S. in Business
Partnerships: Administration from California State University,
Northridge.
• American Airlines (www.aabuy2fly.com)
Mark Miller, Vice President of Dealer and Industry
• BizBuyer.com, Inc. (www.bizbuyer.com)
Relations. Previously served as vice president and chief
• Cendant Corp. (www.move.com) operating officer of Miller Automotive Group. B.S. in
• Cendant Corp. (www.rent.net) Business from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
• completehome.com (www. completehome.com) Ari Wasserman, Vice President of Business
• Classified Ventures (www.cars.com) Development. Previously served as an associate at
• Cox Interactive Media (www.cimedia.com) Sullivan & Cromwell, a law firm. B.A. in International
• EarthLink Network, Inc. (www.earthlink.net) Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and J.D.
• Edmunds.com, Inc. (www.edmunds.com) from Harvard Law School.
• InfoSpace, Inc. (www.infospace.com) Neil Kaplan, Vice President of Strategy and Business
• MarketWatch.com Inc. (www.marketwatch.com) Planning. Previously served as vice president of market
• SINA.com (www.sina.com) planning and development for Universal Studios
• United Airlines (www.odometermiles.com) Hollywood and as director of sales, marketing and
• Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine) strategic planning for The Los Angeles Times. B.S. in
• Pentagon Federal Credit Union Economics from the Wharton School at the University of
Affiliates Program: CarsDirect.com Affiliate Program Pennsylvania and M.M. from Kellogg Graduate School of
Number of Affiliates: 11,000 Management at Northwestern University.
Commission Rate: $40.00 per qualified lead
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
MANAGEMENT Design Consultants: Full Moon Interactive, Fish
Robert Brisco, Chief Executive Officer. Previously Interactive
served as president of Universal Studios Hollywood Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Theme Park and as senior vice president of advertising, Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
marketing and new business development for The Los Access Provider: Level3 Communications, LandMark
Angeles Times newspaper company. B.A. in Economics Communications
and Journalism from the University of Southern California Mirror Locations: One; site is co-located on opposite
and M.B.A. from the University of California at Los coasts of U.S.
Angeles. Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium III
Christine Bucklin, Chief Operating Officer. Previously Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT 4 and UNIX
served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Internet incubator Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Commerce Platform: Proprietary Java and C++ from the sale of extended warranty contracts on the
applications vehicles it sells, and from arranging vehicle financing.
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, Oracle 8i In May 1999, the company established
Personalization: Not used CD1Financial.com in partnership with Bank One Corp.
Affiliate Management: LinkShare (NYSE: ONE) to offer its own financing and leasing
Payment Processing: Not used products. The company purchased Bank One's 49%
Other Applications: Path online customer service interest in December 1999 for $2 million and terminated
software, WebTrends traffic analysis software, the underlying partnership, paying Bank One an additional
Chrome.com auto configuration engine $30.9 million in cash plus approximately 2.1 million
shares of CarsDirect.com Class A common stock.
OPERATING BENCHMARKS In July 1999, the company acquired Autodata, a
Total Revenue developer of decision support tools and content for the
2000 (Q1) ...............................$98.56mn automotive industry, for $6.8 million in cash and 600,000
1999........................................$15.18mn shares of CarsDirect.com Class A common stock. In
October 1999, acquired certain assets from Potamkin Auto
Total Transaction Value Center for an estimated $14.1 million in CarsDirect.com
2000 (Q1) .............................$165.32mn Class A common stock (1.65 million shares). The
1999......................................$142.71mn acquisition provided the company with relationships with
approximately 200 automotive dealers in the Northeastern
Sales & Marketing Expenditures U.S.
2000 (Q1) ...............................$33.43mn In November 1999, the company filed a provisional
1999........................................$14.57mn patent application covering its methods and technology for
processing automobile purchases using an electronic
Development Expenditures medium.
2000 (Q1) .................................$2.14mn In March 2000, the company announced an agreement
1999..........................................$2.23mn with Autoweb.com to launch a co-branded direct buying
service on the Autoweb.com site as well as place links
Total Customers between the two companies’ sites and to license data
2000 (Q1) ....................................12,885 content and tools to Autoweb.com. The companies also
1999...............................................6,630 agreed to work together as infrastructure partners on future
1998......................................................8 product development. Both companies will receive
referral fees from each other based on leads resulting from
COMMENTS the co-branded site and from the links. In a related
CarsDirect.com operates an online vehicle shopping transaction, CarsDirect.com agreed to issue 576,701 Series
service that enables customers to compare more than 2,600 D preferred shares to Autoweb.com and the company
different makes, models and styles; custom configure each purchased 750,000 shares of Autoweb.com common stock
with various options; order the vehicle of their choice; at $10.62 per share.
apply for lease or purchase financing; and take delivery of
the selected vehicle at a local dealer or in selected markets,
at their home or workplace. The company’s online
storefront was launched in December 1998 and the number
of vehicles sold has grown from eight during 1998 to 3,789
in the fourth quarter of 1999 and 6,255 in the first quarter
of 2000. California accounted for 36% of the vehicles sold
during 1999 and 39% in the first quarter of 2000.
The company currently works with more than 2,500
dealers in 40 states -- plus an additional 200 dealers
through its subsidiary, Potamkin -- to source customers’
vehicles. The CD1Financial subsidiary currently offers
loan financing in 19 states plus the District of Columbia
and lease financing in 40 states and the District of
Columbia.
In addition to the transaction revenues from vehicle
sales, CarsDirect.com also generates revenue by licensing
vehicle configuration data to automotive manufacturers,
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Music/videos
Founded: January 1994
Employees: 502 full-time
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Fort Washington, PA headquarters
• New York, NY corporate and sales office
• San Francisco, CA sales office
• Los Angeles, CA allstar news office
• London, U.K. corporate and sales office
• Yokohama, Japan CDnow Japan office
Telecenter: One in-house call center with 140
representatives
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: CDNW (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Jason Olim (9%)
• Matthew Olim (9%)
• Grupo Sanborns/Grupo Carso (6%)
• Time Warner (7%)
• Sony Music Entertainment (7%)
Financing: $260.3 million, including $20 million information, order history (last order only), inventory
convertible debt issue availability, order processing, and order status are
Profitable: No ($119.229 million loss for FY ’99) integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Television advertising, business periodical
advertising, direct mail
Partnerships:
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Affiliates Program: None
Online Sales
1999........................................$163.4mn
1998..........................................$60.5mn
1997...................................................n/a
Marketing Expenditures
1999........................................$66.59mn
1998........................................$51.99mn
1997........................................$44.70mn
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Computer hardware/software
Founded: 1984
Employees: 19,700 total
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 218
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Dallas, TX headquarters
• Marlborough, MA website distribution facility
• Dallas, TX distribution facility plus five others
nationwide
Telecenter: Three shared in-house call centers with 1,500
(approx.) customer service and technical support
representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: Wholly-owned subsidiary of Grupo
Sanborns SA de CV MANAGEMENT
Shareholder Equity: $335.5 million (12/31/99) Ronald J. Gilmore, Executive Vice President, Marketing
Profitable: No ($45.75 million loss for FY ’99) Paul Poyfair, Executive Vice President, New Business
Development
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Ed Jurica, Vice President of Information Systems
Website: www.compusa.com, www.compusapc.com, John Woodson, Vice President, E-commerce
www.compusaauctions.com, www.compusastores.com Michael Laskoff, Vice President of Marketing
Site Launch: December 1996
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Business Model: Fixed pricing and auction/negotiated Design Consultants: CGN Marketing & Creative Services,
pricing IBM Global Services
Site Size: 180,000 (approx.) product SKUs, including Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants
130,000 (approx.) software titles Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Languages: English Access Provider: IBM Global Services
Accepts Advertising: No Hardware Platform: Compaq Computer
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy Operating System: Solaris, Windows NT4
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6,
information, order history, product availability, order Microsoft IIS 4.0
processing, and order status is integrated into website Commerce Platform: BroadVision, proprietary
applications
MARKETING Web Servers: Multiple ProLiant 5000 servers
Media: Television and radio advertising, newspaper Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server
advertising, business periodical advertising Database Servers: Multiple ProLiant 5000 servers; links to
Partnerships: None back-end SAP Retail ERP system
Affiliates Program: None Personalization: BroadVision
Affiliate Management: Not used
Payment Processing: Back-end POS payment processing The company has signed-on to the RosettaNet e-
application business initiative and has implemented the business
Other Applications: Fairmarket AuctionPlace software, process standards with three of its major trading partners,
pcOrder ContentSource 2.0, webMethods B2B, E.piphany Ingram Micro, 3com, and Compaq Computer.
E.4
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 2
1999...........................................$6.32bn
1998...........................................$5.29bn
1997...........................................$4.61bn
COMMENTS
CompUSA is one of the largest bricks-and-mortar
computer retailers in the U.S. with more than 200
storefronts nationwide.
Mexican-retailer Grupo Sanborns acquired a 14.8%
stake in the company during 1999. In January 2000,
Grupo Sanborns announced an agreement with CompUSA
to tender the remaining outstanding common shares at
$10.10 each and acquired the company for approximately
$800 million in cash.
The company’s Internet operations reported $13.5
million in revenue for the first-half of FY 2000 ending
December 25, 1999, with a loss of $27.86 million; total
company-wide sales for the same period were $2.731
billion with a loss of $14.946 million.
The company launched its first Internet storefront in
December 1996 and the online operations were spun into
the CompUSA Net.com subsidiary in March 1999. In a
bid to reverse mounting online losses, the website was re-
launched in October 1999 under a new brand -- and
domain name -- Cozone.com. Cozone.com was shut down
in March 2000 and the company returned its Internet
storefront to the compusa.com site.
The CompUSA Internet storefront today seamlessly
integrates online selling with the company’s bricks-and-
mortar presence. Customers can search for a particular
product and from every product page either place their
order online or determine if the product is currently in-
stock at one or more nearby CompUSA retail stores. In-
store and online pricing also now largely coordinated and
items purchased online can be returned to any CompUSA
retail storefront.
In June 1999, the company launched an online auction
site, CompUSAauctions.com. The auction site enables
customers to bid on new products returned by companies
to CompUSA’s commercial sales division as well as
manufacturer closeouts, discontinued merchandise, and
refurbished products. In August 1999, the
compUSAPC.com site was launched, enabling customers
to custom configure CompUSA-brand PCs online and then
have it delivered.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Consumer electronics
Founded: 1974
Employees: 550 (Web staff: 12)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: Two
Catalogs Mailed: 30 million
Facilities: Charlottesville, VA headquarters and
fulfillment center
Telecenter: In-house facility in Norton, VA with 300
representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: Subsidiary of Crutchfield Corp.
Shareholder Equity: Not reported
Profitable: Yes
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.crutchfield.com
Site Launch: August 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 4,000 products (approx.)
Languages: English INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Accepts Advertising: No Design Consultants: None
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy; Site Maintenance: In-house staff
contextual help, online real-time customer service, Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
threaded discussions, real-time customer-to-customer chat, Access Provider: AT&T
and customer created content are planned. Internet Connectivity: One DS-3 line
Back-end Integration: Access to inventory availability, Mirror Locations: None
order status, and shipment tracking are integrated into Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium
website; access to customer account information, and Operating System: Windows NT
customer order history are planned Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Commerce Platform: Proprietary application
MARKETING Web Servers: Five
Media: Radio advertising, newspaper advertising, Database Platform: Microsoft SQL server
consumer periodical advertising, direct mail Database Servers: One
Partnerships: Personalization: Not used
• Autobytel.com (www.autobytel.com) Affiliate Management: Not used
Affiliates Program: None Payment Processing: Proprietary application
Other Applications: Microsoft Passport
MANAGEMENT
David Dierolf, Vice President-Information Technology
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Computer hardware/software
Founded: 1984
Employees: 36,500
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: n/a
Facilities:
• Austin, TX headquarters and distribution facility
• Limerick, Ireland manufacturing and distribution
facility MARKETING
• Penang, Malaysia manufacturing and distribution Media: Television advertising, newspaper advertising,
facility consumer and business periodical advertising, and direct
• Nashville, TN distribution facility mail.
• Eldorado do Sur, Brazil manufacturing facility Partnerships:
• Xiamen, China manufacturing and sales support facility • Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com)
Ownership: Public • Healtheon/WebMD (www.webmd.com)
Trading Symbol: DELL (NASDAQ) • OneClick.com (www.oneclick.com)
Major Shareholders: n/a • ThirdAge Media Inc. (www.thirdage.com)
Shareholder Equity: $5.308 billion Affiliates Program: Dell Affiliates Program
Profitable: Yes ($1.860 billion for FY ‘00) Number of Affiliates: n/a
Commission Rate: approx. 1%
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.dell.com, www.dellauction.com, MANAGEMENT
www.gigabuys.com David Hood, Vice President-Dell Online
Site Launch: July 1996 John Zoglin, Director Online technology
Site Type: Business-to-business, Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing and negotiated/auction INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
pricing Design Consultants: None
Site Size: Seven lines of Dell PCs, notebooks, servers and Site Maintenance: In-house staff
workstations and 30,000 (approx.) hardware and software Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
products Access Provider: Sprint, UUNET/MCI Worldcom, Cable
Languages: English and 22 other languages for 84 & Wireless, and three other ISPs
country-specific sites Mirror Locations: None
Accepts Advertising: No Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium II and Pentium III
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real- Operating System: Windows 2000 and Windows NT
time customer service, threaded discussions, foreign Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS
language product information and order pages; One-click Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server
ordering/Quick buy and real-time customer-to-customer Commerce Edition
chat are planned Web Servers: 300+ Dell dual processor PowerEdge
Back-end Integration: Access to customer order history, Servers
order status, and shipment tracking are integrated into Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
website. Database Servers: 40+ Dell PowerEdge Servers
Personalization: Microsoft Site Server P&M
MANAGEMENT
Peter M. Neupert, President, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer. Previously served in several positions
for Microsoft Corp., including vice president of news and
publishing for company's interactive media group. BA
from Colorado College and MBA from the Amos Tuck Erik Morris, Director - Consumer Marketing. Previously
School of Business at Dartmouth College. served as director of communications and vice president of
Kal Raman, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice communications for RealNetworks, senior vice president
President-Operations. Previously served as vice in charge of client service at McCann Erickson
president-technology and as vice president-technology and Advertising Seattle, and managed advertising for the
operations of drugstore.com, vice president and chief launch of Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 3.0 at
information officer of Nations Rent, senior director- Microsoft. B.A. from Western Washington University.
information systems of Blockbuster Inc. and director- Christopher Hauser, Vice President - Operations.
international division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc Previously served as senior vice president, information
Sean Nolan, Chief Technology Officer technologies and operations for Multiple Zones
David E. Rostov, Vice President and Chief Financial International, director of distribution for Fingerhut
Officer. Previously served as chief financial officer of Companies, Inc., and commanded the largest distribution
Nextel International, Inc. and in various capacities at center in the U.S. Department of Defense. M.S. in
McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. BA from Oberlin Logistics Operations and M.B.A. from the United States
College and MBA and Master's in Public Policy from the Naval Academy.
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. John Williams, Vice President of Merchandising and
Janice Gaub, Vice President of Marketing Store Development
Mark Silverman, Vice President - Business Development.
Previously served as a lawyer with the Venture Law Group INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
and with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe. B.A. from Design Consultants: None
the University of California, Berkeley and J.D. from the Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants
University of California, Los Angeles. Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Judith McGarry, Vice President - Strategic Access Provider: Exodus Communications
Relationships. Previously served as a partner with Stone Mirror Locations: None
Communications. B.A. from Middlebury College and Hardware Platform: Compaq Computer
M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT4
Dartmouth College. Webserver Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Commerce Platform: Proprietary application Key strategic partners include mail-order pharmacy
Web Servers: 50+ Compaq ProLiant web and database RxAmerica, which fulfills the company’s prescription
servers orders in all 50 states, and Walsh Distribution which
Database Platform: Oracle 8 fulfills a substantial majority of non-pharmaceutical
Database Servers: See “Web Servers” above orders. A February 1999 technology license and
Personalization: Proprietary application advertising agreement with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:
Affiliate Management: Proprietary application AMZN) enables the company to leverage Amazon.com’s
Payment Processing: Proprietary application proprietary e-commerce technology and its customer base
Other Applications: Xchange eCRM, Personify Essentials, of 15 million individuals. In June 1999, the company also
RedCart Universal Shopping Cart entered into alliances with Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD),
which enables drugstore.com customers to pick-up their
OPERATING BENCHMARKS prescriptions at any one of 3,800+ Rite Aid stores, and
Total Revenue with General Nutrition Companies, Inc. which designates
1999..........................................$34.8mn it as the exclusive online provider of GNC-branded
1998......................................................0 vitamins, nutritional supplements, and related products. In
April 2000, direct access to the company’s online
Sales to Repeat Customers storefront was added to the Amazon.com site through a
1999 (Q4) ........................................44% “Health & Beauty” tab placed among the navigation tabs
1999 (Q3) ........................................33% which are displayed at the top of every page in the
1999...................................................0% Amazon.com site.
The Beauty.com site was acquired by drugstore.com on
Marketing Expenditures February 2, 2000 for $40.4 million in stock.
1999..........................................$61.5mn The company reported total revenue of $22.74 million
1998..........................................$ 3.1mn for the first quarter ending April 2, 2000 with a loss of
$49.48 million. Repeat customers accounted for 50% of
Technology and Content Expenditures orders during the quarter, up from 44% in the previous
1999..........................................$14.9mn quarter. Total customers increased by more than 295,000,
1998..........................................$ 2.2mn ending the quarter at slightly more than 1 million.
Total Customers
1999 (Q4) ..................................695,000
1999 (Q3) ..................................267,000
1999 (Q2) ..................................168,000
COMMENTS
drugstore.com was founded in April 1998 and launched
its online storefront in February 1999. An Initial Public
Offering (IPO) of the company’s stock was completed in
July 1999 with the sale of five million common shares at
$18.00 each. An additional $138 million was raised
through a secondary offering and a private placement with
Amazon.com in March 2000.
The company sells health and beauty products and
prescription drugs to consumers online. It divides its
market into five principal segments: health, beauty,
wellness, personal care, and pharmacy. On-site services
include an implementation of Amazon.com’s 1-Click order
feature, e-mail reminders for prescription refills and other
frequently purchased items, a Resource Center which
includes detailed “buying guides” and interactive
“shopping advisors” to assist in locating products, and e-
mail based “Ask Your Pharmacist” and “Beauty Expert”
services which provide individualized answers to customer
questions within one business day. Prescription customers
are also able to securely access their individual medication
profiles and prescription histories through the site.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: General merchandise
Founded: September 1995
Employees: 300+
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• San Jose, CA headquarters
• Corporate offices of international subsidiaries located
in Australia, England, Germany, Japan and
Switzerland
Telecenter: In-house customer support center in Salt Lake
City, Utah
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: EBAY (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Pierre Omidyar, Chairman
• Meg Whitman, President and CEO
• Jeffrey Skoll, Vice President
Financing: $823.9 million in one round, IPO and
secondary offering
Profitable: Yes ($10.828 million profit for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.ebay.com
Site Launch: September 1995
• America Online (ICQ)
Site Type: Consumer-to-consumer; business-to-business
Business Model: Auction pricing • America Online (www.aol.com)
Site Size: 4.5+ million items listed in more than 4,000 • America Online (www.digitalcities.com)
product categories • America Online (www.netscape.com)
Languages: English, German, Japanese, Chinese • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Accepts Advertising: No • Autotrader.com (www.autotrader.com)
Site Features: General help, customer created content, • Buena Vista Internet (www.go.com)
threaded discussion groups, customer-to-customer chat, • Earthlink Inc. (www.wizshop.com)
foreign information and order pages • Go.com (www.go.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • OracleMobile (www.oraclemobile.com)
information and order processing are integrated into Affiliates Program: None
website.
MANAGEMENT
MARKETING Pierre Omidyar, Chairman. Co-founded Ink
Media: Radio advertising, consumer periodical advertising Development Corp. which was subsequently renamed
Partnerships: eShop and ultimately purchased by Microsoft Corp. Also
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service) served in Developer Relations at General Magic and as a
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website:www.eddiebauer.com
Site Launch: August 1996
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 1,200+ products plus ability to order any
hardcopy catalog item by product number
Languages: English, Japanese
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real-
time customer service, foreign language product
information and order pages (Japanese site only)
Back-end Integration: Access to inventory availability,
order processing, and payment processing are integrated
into website; web access to customer account information,
order history, order status, and shipment tracking are
planned.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
advertising, consumer and business periodical advertising,
direct mail
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 2
2000...........................................$1.79bn
1999...........................................$1.71bn
Partnerships: 1998...........................................$1.75bn
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service) 1997...........................................$1.57bn
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com) Active Customers (end of period)1 2
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) 2000..............................................3.4mn
• GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com) 1999..............................................3.4mn
• Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com) 1998..............................................3.4mn
• Microsoft Corp. (www.sidewalk.com) 1997..............................................3.2mn
• MyPoints.com Inc. (www.mypoints.com)
• Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com) 1. Fiscal year ending January 2
2. Based on sales from all sources because company does not breakout
• National Geographic Ventures (multi-media data for web activity
partnership)
• Cahoots Inc. (www.cahoots.com) COMMENTS
Affiliates Program: Dynamic Trade Partner Program Eddie Bauer is a leading specialty retailer of branded
Number of Affiliates: n/a and private label apparel, accessories and home
Commission Rate: Variable furnishings. The company markets its products through
more than 500 stores in the U.S. and Canada, direct mail
MANAGEMENT catalogs, and websites for its individual and business
Mark Staudinger, Divisional Vice President-Interactive customers.
Media Approximately 74% of the company’s total sales are
Sally McKenzie, Director-Interactive Media generated through its retail and outlet stores; the balance is
Merchandising and Operations generated through its websites and direct mail catalogs.
Luke Friang, Director-Interactive Media Development Goldman Sachs estimates that the company generated
Jodi Watson, Senior Manager of Interactive Media approximately $20-$25 million from its online storefront
Marketing during 1999. Apparel accounts for approximately 86% of
the company’s total sales.
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE The company’s marketing strategy is based on
Design Consultants: Fry Multimedia Inc. leveraging its multiple distribution channels through cross-
Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants promotion such as referring retail customers to catalog
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s) stations within stores for additional merchandise and size
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Computer hardware & software,
Consumer electronics, General merchandise
Founded: 1984
Employees: 630
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Menlo Park, CA headquarters
• Vancouver, WA corporate offices
• Vancouver, WA distribution facility
Telecenter: In-house call center
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: EGGS (NASDAQ)
Shareholder Equity: $68.9 million
Profitable: No ($154.929 million loss for FY ’99)
Profitability anticipated 2002
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.egghead.com, www.onsale.com,
www.surplusdirect.com, www.surplusauction.com
Site Launch: February 1996; Surplus Direct - May 1997;
Onsale - May 1995
Site Type: Business-to-business; Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing (superstores) and
Auction/Negotiated pricing
Site Size: 40,000+ products (approx.)
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click/quick buy
(ONSALE Auctions & Deals)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, inventory availability, order processing,
payment processing, order status, and shipment tracking
integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, business
periodical advertising
Partnerships:
• America Online Inc. (proprietary online service)
• America Online Inc. (www.aol.com)
• America Online Inc. (www.compuserve.com)
MANAGEMENT
S. Jerrold Kaplan, Chief Executive Officer. Previously
served as chairman and CEO of GO Corp., a developer of
pen-based computers. B.A. in History and Philosophy of
Science from the University of Chicago and M.S.E. and
Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the
University of Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey F. Sheahan, President and Chief Operating
Officer. Previously served as COO of Onsale, Inc and INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
President of Microwarehouse Europe. B.S. in Political Design Consultants: None
Science and Economics from University of Massachusetts. Site Maintenance: In-house staff
John E. Labett, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Officer. Previously served as executive vice president and Access Provider: Epoch Internet, Exodus Communications
CFO of House of Fabrics Inc.; vice president and CFO of Internet Connectivity: Two DS-3 lines
The Pet Food Giant Inc. start-up; and executive vice Mirror Locations: None
president and CFO of Herman’s Sporting Goods. B.A. in Hardware Platform: Dell Computer, white-box
Accounting from the Chartered Accountants Institute in Operating System: Windows NT 4
England. Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Norman F. Hullinger, Senior Vice President of Sales and Web Servers: 30
Operations. Previously served as vice president of retail Database Platform: Oracle
operations, distribution and real estate for Aaron Brothers Database Servers: 11
Art Marts, Inc. B.S. in Business Administration from the Personalization: Proprietary application, Net Perceptions
University of Florida. Group Lens Recommendation Engine
Merle W. McIntosh, Senior Vice President of Affiliate Management: Not used
Merchandise Acquisition. Previously served as vice Payment Processing: First Data Corp.
president of purchasing for Micro Warehouse, Inc.; Other Applications: Oracle Application Server, Oracle
director of product management for Entex Information interMedia, Mercury Interactive WinRunner and
Services, Inc.; senior purchasing manager for Wang LoadRunner, Marimba Castanet, Microsoft Passport
Laboratories; and production controller for Sensormatic
Electronics Corporation. OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Bari M. Abdul, Senior Vice President of Marketing. Total Revenue
Previously served as division marketing director at 1999........................................$514.8mn
PepsiCo, Inc. B.S. in engineering from the University of 1998 .......................................$356.5mn
California at Berkeley and MBA from The Wharton 1997........................................$382.1mn
School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. 1996........................................$374.9mn
MANAGEMENT
Gregory Drew, Chief Executive Officer and President.
Previously served as Portland site manager for
QUALCOMM, vice president, worldwide sales and vice
president and general manager of the End User Products
Group of Now Software, vice president, worldwide sales
of Clientele Software, Inc., and vice president, worldwide
sales of Tut Systems, Inc.
Robert Falcone, Senior Vice President and Chief INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Financial Officer. Previously served as vice president and Design Consultants: STEP Technology
CFO of NIKE Inc. Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Frank Sadowski, Senior Vice President, Merchandising. Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Previously served as merchandise manager for the audio Access Provider: Verio Inc., Sprint Internet Services,
division of Sun Television and Appliances, Inc., a regional SAVVIS Communications
consumer electronics and appliance retailer. Internet Connectivity: Three fractional DS-3 lines
Timothy Zuckert, Vice President and Chief Marketing Mirror Location: Planned
Officer. Previously served as vice president of sales and Hardware Platform: Compaq ProLiant
marketing of Disney Interactive, Inc., vice president of Operating System: Windows NT 4 Enterprise
marketing of The Palace Inc., a community Web site Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
company, vice president of marketing and president and Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
CEO of Virgin Sound and Vision, a software publishing Edition
unit of Virgin Group PLC. Web Servers: 56 Compaq ProLiant dual processor servers
Jason Palmer, Vice President, Sales and Operations. Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Previously served as national sales manager of the End Database Servers: 20 Compaq ProLiant quad processor
User Products Group of Now Software, channel sales servers
manager for Clientele Software, and senior account Personalization: Net Perceptions Group Lens
manager for Tut Systems. Recommendation Engine, Microsoft Site Server
Dave Watrous, Vice President, Information Systems. Commerce Edition
Previously served as an Information Systems Manager at Affiliate Management: Be Free BFAST
Now Software and as technical services manager for Other Applications: Emercis Catalog Server, Epicor
Advanced Information Solutions, Inc. Clientele for Customer Support, WebCriteria, Microsoft
Passport, Personify Essentials, Radview Web Site
Director, Segue Systems testing software
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 E-LOAN Inc.
2000 (Q3) .................................$13.5mn 5875 Arnold Road
2000 (Q2) ..................................$ 7.1mn Dublin, CA 94568, U.S.A.
2000 (Q1) ..................................$ 3.1mn Tel. 925-241-2400
1999...........................................$ 3.0mn
Fax 925-556-2178
Marketing Expenditures1
2000 (Q3) .................................$21.4mn Unique Visitors (March 2000): 527,000
2000 (Q2) ..................................$ 6.2mn Reach: 0.8%
2000 (Q1) ..................................$ 2.6mn Rank: 1,389
1999...........................................$ 8.9mn
ORGANIZATION
Technology Expenditures1 Business Sector: Banking/Brokerage/Financial services
2000 (Q3) ...................................$1.1mn Founded: 1997
2000 (Q2) ...................................$0.8mn Employees: 350
2000 (Q1) ...................................$0.6mn Offline Activity
1999............................................$1.2mn Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
1. Fiscal year ending March 31 Facilities:
• Dublin, CA headquarters
• Jacksonville, FL auto loan processing facility
Telecenter: In-house call center
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: EELN
Major Shareholders:
• Benchmark Capital (21%)
• Chris Larsen, CEO (14%)
• Janina Pawlowski, Chairman (14%)
• Technology Partners (12%)
• Softbank Holdings (9%)
• Bank of America (5%)
Financing: $249.74 million
Profitable: No ($72.975 million loss for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.eloan.com
Site Launch: June 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Commission-based
Site Size: 50,000 loan offerings from 70+ lenders;
available in 50 states and Washington, DC
Languages: English, German, French, Japanese
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, and online
real-time customer service
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, transaction processing, payment processing,
and transaction status are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising
Partnerships:
• Access Technology Services Inc.
(www.homeweb.com)
• Autobytel.com Inc. (www.autobytel.com)
Sharon Ruwart, Vice President of Marketing. Previously Total Loans Closed (Loan value)
held a variety of positions at Knight-Ridder, Inc, where she 1999........................................$ 1.63bn
managed the $100 million recruitment classified business 1998........................................$982.2mn
at one property and oversaw the development and launch 1997........................................$105.1mn
of several online services and print products. M.B.A. from
Stanford University. COMMENTS
Douglas Galen, Vice President of Business Development. E-LOAN is one of the original web-based loan brokers.
Previously served as vice president of business The company was founded in 1997 as an online mortgage
development at Abele Owners' Network and in executive broker and has since expanded to offer credit cards, auto
positions at Limar Realty and The Shidler Group. loans, and small business loans. In addition to offering
Undergraduate and M.B.A. degrees from University of consumers access to a variety of third-party lenders, the
California, Berkeley. company also underwrites and funds a large percentage of
its loans and sells the servicing value in the capital
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE markets.
Design Consultants: None The company reported $7.11 million in revenue for the
Site Maintenance: In-house staff first quarter ending March 31, 2000 with a loss of $24.78
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s) million.
Access Provider: Exodus Communications Inc. International subsidiaries have been established to serve
Internet Connectivity: Multiple T-1 lines markets in the U.K. (E-LOAN Ltd.) and Australia (E-
Mirror Locations: None LOAN Pty. Ltd.) in partnership with SOFTBANK and
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems News Corp., in Germany and France (E-LOAN N.V.) in
Operating System: Solaris UNIX partnership with SOFTBANK and Vivendi, and in Japan
Web Server Software: Apache (E-LOAN Japan K.K.) in partnership with SOFTBANK.
Commerce Platform: E-Loan loan processing engine In October 1999, @viso -- a joint venture of SOFTBANK
Web Servers: One and Vivendi -- acquired a 37% stake in E-LOAN N.V. for
Database Platform: Oracle a $26 million equity investment. @viso also agreed to
Database Servers: One assist the company in entering the European market by
Personalization: E-Loan loan processing engine identifying local competitors and potential partners and by
Affiliate Management: Proprietary application providing local infrastructure, strategic marketing, and
Payment Processing: CyberCash personnel.
Other Applications: LivePerson real-time customer In August 1999, the company acquired Electronic
service chat Vehicle Remarketing and its CarFinance.com online auto
financing website from Bank of America for 2.88 million
OPERATING BENCHMARKS shares of E-LOAN common stock, providing a platform
Total Revenue for entry into auto financing. In October 1999, the
1999........................................$22.10mn company partnered with LoanWise.com, providing E-
1998.........................................$ 6.83mn LOAN customers access to small business loans and
1997.........................................$ 1.04mn referring LoanWise.com visitors to the E-LOAN website
for mortgage financing. A similar partnership with
Marketing Expenditures Providian Financial enabled the company to offer credit
1999........................................$30.29mn cards through the E-LOAN website. In October 1999, the
1998.........................................$ 5.70mn company’s E-LOAN Ltd. subsidiary acquired U.K.-based
1997.........................................$ 0.47mn loan broker Flexmortgage.com. In March 2000, E-LOAN
N.V. acquired Media Kreditbank, a German bank, and the
Technology Expenditures French online lender Aaccrédit.
1999..........................................$3.60mn The company received an equity investment in January
1998..........................................$1.35mn 1999 from online securities broker E*TRADE Group. In
1997..........................................$0.10mn April 2000, the company received an additional $40
million in equity capital from an investor group comprised
Total Loans Closed (No. of loans) of Charles Schwab & Company, Abbey National, and FT
1999................................................... n/a Ventures, which contributed $10 million each, and
1998...............................................4,951 Benchmark Capital and Technology Partners, which
1997..................................................448 contributed $5 million each. A related agreement enables
the company to provide mortgage services to Schwab
customers through the online broker's website.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Toys, Books/Videos
Founded: November 1997
Employees: 940
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Santa Monica, CA headquarters
• Commerce, CA distribution center
• Ontario, CA distribution center
• San Francisco, CA distribution center
• Greensboro, NC distribution center
• Pittsylvania County, VA distribution center
• Swindon, U.K. distribution center
• Belgium distribution center in process
• San Francisco, CA BabyCenter headquarters
Telecenter: In-house call center; online support
outsourced to PeopleSupport
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: ETYS (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• idealab!
• Highland Capital
• Sequoia Capital
• Intel Corp.
• DynaFund Ventures
• Capital Partners
Financing: $724.2 million in four rounds, IPO,
subordinated convertible debt offering, and private
placement of convertible preferred shares
Profitable: No ($189.627 million loss for FY ’00)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.etoys.com, www.toys.com, Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
www.etoys.co.uk information, order history, inventory availability, order
Site Launch: November 1997 processing, and payment processing, order status, and
Site Type: Business-to-consumer shipment tracking, integrated into website.
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 10,000 (approx.) product SKUs from 750+ MARKETING
manufacturers and 80,000 (approx.) book titles Media: Television advertising, consumer periodical
Languages: English advertising, newspaper advertising
Accepts Advertising: No Partnerships:
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy, • America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
customer created content • America Online (www.aol.com)
• AppCity Corp. (AppCity Shoplayer) Graduate of Cornell University and M.B.A. from the
• Excite, Inc. (www.excite.com) Harvard Business School.
• GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com) Ruben Rodriguez, Vice President, International.
• Lycos, Inc. (www.lycos.com) Previously served as a project manager for The Boston
• Go Network (www.infoseek.com) Consulting Group and as a second vice president and
• Moms Online, Inc. (www.momsonline.com) merchant banking officer for Chase Manhattan Bank, Latin
America. B.S. from Princeton University, M.S. in
• ShopperConnection (www.shopperconnection.com)
Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley,
• USA Today Online (www.usatoday.com)
and M.B.A. from Stanford University.
• WingspanBank (www.wingspan.com)
Jane Saltzman, Vice President of Merchandising.
• Yahoo!, Inc. (www.yahoo.com) Previously served as merchandise manager at toy retailer
Affiliates Program: eToys Affiliate Program Imaginarium and in various buying and sales management
No. of Affiliates: n/a positions at Macy’s California. Graduate of Oberlin
Commission Rate: $10 for each new customer making College.
a qualified purchase Kayne Grau, Director of Technical Services
MANAGEMENT INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Toby Lenk, Chief Executive Officer. Former vice Outside Consultants: Oracle Consulting Services, IBM
president in the Strategic Planning Group of the Walt Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Disney Company and strategy consultant at the L|E|K Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Partnership. Summa cum laude graduate of Bowdoin Access Provider: Frontier Global Center
College and MBA from Harvard Business School Internet Connectivity: Multiple DS-3 lines
Frank Han, Senior Vice President of Product Mirror Locations: One
Development. Previously served as vice president and Hardware Platform: Sequent, VA Linux Systems
manager of the Interactive Markets Department at Union Operating System: Linux, UNIX
Bank and in various positions in investment banking and Web Server Software: Apache/Stronghold
corporate development for Salomon Brothers, Donaldson, Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications
Lufkin & Jenrette, and Mission Energy Company. Web Servers: Multiple VA Linux servers
Graduate of Yale University and M.B.A. from the Stanford Application Servers: Four Sequent NUMA-Q 2000 data
Graduate School of Business. and web applications servers
John Hnanicek, Senior Vice President and Chief Database Platform: Oracle 8i
Information Officer. Previously served as senior vice Database Servers: See “Application Servers” above
president of information systems for Hollywood Personalization: Net Perceptions Group Lens
Entertainment, CIO for Homeplace, and senior vice Affiliate Management: BeFree BFAST
president of Information Systems and Logistics at Payment Processing: CyberCash, proprietary applications
OfficeMax. B.S. in Computer Science and Accounting Other Applications: Personify Essentials, Red Cart
from Cleveland State University. Universal Shopping Cart, Mercury Interactive WinRunner,
Frank Han, Senior Vice President of Product Computer Associates Unicenter TNG, Kana Solution
Development. Previously served as vice president of customer support
interactive markets and as director of strategic planning at
Union Bank of California. B.S. from Yale University and OPERATING BENCHMARKS
M.B.A. from Stanford University. Total Revenue1
Janine Bousquette, Senior Vice President of Marketing. 2000......................................$151.04mn
Previously served as vice president of marketing for 1999......................................$ 29.96mn
PepsiCo Inc. and in brand management at The Procter & 1998......................................$ 0.69mn
Gamble Company. B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Louis Zambello, Senior Vice President of Operations. Marketing and Sales Expenditures1
Previously served in a variety of positions at L.L. Bean, 2000......................................$120.46mn
including senior vice president of operations and creative, 1999......................................$ 20.72mn
senior vice president of operations and vice president of 1998......................................$ 3.74mn
merchandise services and manufacturing. B.A. from
Cornell University and M.B.A. from Harvard Business Technology Expenditures1
School. 2000........................................$43.43mn
Stephen Paul, Vice President of Business Development. 1999........................................$ 3.61mn
Previously served as an associate in the Investment 1998........................................$ 1.10mn
Banking Group at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and in the
Strategic Planning Group at Walt Disney Company.
MANAGEMENT
Christos Cotsakos, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer. Previously served as president, co-chief executive
officer, and chief operating officer of A.C. Nielsen, Inc.,
president and CEO of Nielsen International, president and
controller of Jefferies & Company, Inc. B.A. in statistics
COO of Nielsen Europe, Middle East and Africa, and in
and economics from the University of California at Davis
various senior executive positions at Federal Express Corp.
and M.B.A. from the University of California at Los
B.A. from William Paterson College and M.B.A. from
Angeles.
Pepperdine University.
Mitchell H. Caplan, Chief Banking Officer
Kathy Levinson, President and Chief Operating Officer.
Tom Bevilacqua, Chief Corporate Development and
Previously served as a consultant to E*Trade and in
Strategic Investment Officer
various positions at Charles Schwab & Company,
Connie Dotson, Chief Service Quality Officer
including senior vice president of custody services and
Jerry Gramaglia, Chief Marketing Officer
senior vice president of credit service. B.A. in economics
Amy Errett, Chief Asset Gathering Officer
from Stanford University.
Joshua Levine, Chief Information Officer
Judy Balint, Chief International Officer. Previously
Pam Kramer, Chief Content Development Officer
served as a senior vice president and corporate director of
Len Purkis, Chief Financial Officer
marketing for National Processing Company, consultants
Michael Sievert, Vice President of Marketing
in transaction technology, CEO Paris and managing
Richard Stalzer, Vice President of Advertising Sales
director of CME-KHBB Transactional Advertising, a unit
of Saatchi & Saatchi Group, and various positions at
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Federal Express Corp. and DHL Worldwide Express. B.A.
Design Consultants: Ft. Point Partners, Novo Corp.,
in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Sapient
and M.B.A. from the Monterey Institute of International
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Studies.
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) and co-located
Stephen Richards, Chief Online Trading Officer.
server(s)
Previously served in various positions at Bear Stearns &
Access Provider: Genuity, UUNET/MCI Worldcom,
Company, including managing director and CFO of
Electric Lightwave, Digital Island (Local Content
Correspondent Clearing, vice president and deputy
Manager)
controller of Becker Paribas, and first vice president and
Internet Connectivity: Multiple DS-3 lines
Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) Other recent events include the July 1999 launch of a co-
electronic exchange was announced along with the branded by-owner real estate service in partnership with
company’s participation as a member of the EASDAQ's Owners.com; the March 2000, launch of E*TRADE
International Advisory Board. Account Express which enables customers to open and
The company has also aggressively pursued fund an account online with up to $2,000 and begin trading
international expansion. Since 1998, it has launched almost immediately; an April 2000 agreement with
E*TRADE Korea in partnership with SOFTBANK and LG Verizon Wireless providing the company’s customers
Investment & Securities; launched E*TRADE Danmark wireless access to transaction capabilities, account services
with Danish broker Difko BØrsmæglerselskab A/S; and real-time financial information; and an April 2000
launched E*TRADE Germany AG with Berliner partnership with SINA.com to launch co-branded Chinese-
Effektenbank AG and New York Broker Germany AG; language banking services through the company’s
launched E*TRADE Japan K.K. with SOFTBANK, Telebank subsidiary.
launched E*TRADE Australia in partnership with Nova The company has content agreements with Reuters,
Pacific Capital, launched E*TRADE Canada with MarketWatch.com, Renaissance Capital, BigCharts,
VERSUS Technologies, launched CPR-E*TRADE with TheStreet.com, ProfessionalEdge, and Morningstar. In
French investment bank CPR. The company acquired April 2000, the company launched “E*TRADE: The
100% of E*TRADE Nordic AB, its master licensee for the Magazine,” in partnership with Imagination Publishing and
Nordic countries, in October 1999. In November 1999, it distributed to customers quarterly.
acquired 100% of E*TRADE @ NetBourse S.A., its
licensee for Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,
Austria, and Italy; and announced a partnership with E-
data Holdings Ltd. to establish E*TRADE Africa in South
Africa. In January 2000, the company acquired 100% of
E*TRADE UK from partner Electronic Share Information.
Recent acquisitions include OptionsLink, which
provides web-based and interactive voice response inquiry
and order entry system services for companies offering
employee stock option and stock purchase plans;
ShareData, which supplies stock plan software and
consulting services; ClearStation, which operated a
financial content website; Confluent Inc. and its Abrio
calendar engine; and TIR (Holdings) Ltd., a broker which
trades equities, fixed income securities, currencies, and
derivatives in more than 35 countries.
Strategic investments include online insurance broker
E-Coverage, e-mail services provider Critical Path,
Garage.com, clearing services firm Knight Trimark,
Message Media, and Digital Island. The company also
announced an equity investment in E-LOAN in March
1998 along with a three-year agreement designating the
online loan broker exclusive multi-lender partner to
E*TRADE customers; and an August 1999 investment in
online mortgage banker LoanCity.com. A partnership was
announced in January 1999 with Sandy Robertson --
founder and former CEO of Robertson, Stephens &
Company -- and Walter Cruttenden -- former CEO of
Cruttenden Roth -- to form a full-service online investment
bank, E*OFFERING. E*TRADE also purchased a 28%
stake in the new company which was subsequently sold to
WitSoundView in May 2000. In April 2000, the company
made a strategic investment in Everypath, Inc., a wireless
application services provider that will be used by the
company to deliver financial applications, content, and
services to customers’ wireless data devices.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Travel services
Founded: July 1994
Employees: 200
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Bellevue, WA headquarters
Telecenter: Outsourced to Online Fulfillment Services;
250+ representatives
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: EXPE (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Microsoft Corp (85%)
Financing: $192 million corporate financing and IPO
Profitable: No ($75.9 million loss for 9-months ending
3/31/00)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.expedia.com; International sites:
expedia.co.uk, expedia.de, expedia.msn.ca
Site Launch: October 1996
Site Type: Business-to-business, business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: Travel reservations for 450 airlines, 40,000
hotels, and all major car rental agencies
Languages: English, German
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy,
threaded discussions, customer-to-customer chat, foreign
language information pages, foreign language order pages
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, inventory availability, order processing,
payment processing, and order status are integrated into
website.
MARKETING
MANAGEMENT Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
Richard Barton, President and Chief Executive Officer advertising; consumer periodical advertising planned
Gregory Stanger, Vice President and Chief Financial Partnerships:
Officer • BarnesandNoble.com (www.barnesandnoble.com)
Byron Bishop, Vice President of Product Development • Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
Erik Blachford, Vice President of Marketing • Netcentives Inc. (www.clickrewards.com)
Simon Breakwell, Vice President of Sales Affiliate Program: None
Mike Quin, Director of E-commerce
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1
2000 (9 mos.) .........................$64.96mn
1999........................................$38.70mn
1998........................................$13.83mn
1997.........................................$ 2.74mn
Marketing Expenditures1
2000 (9 mos.) .........................$38.67mn
1999........................................$14.89mn
1998........................................$10.82mn
1997.........................................$ 8.82mn
Technology Expenditures1
2000 (9 mos.) .........................$14.61mn
1999........................................$21.18mn
1998........................................$18.51mn
1997........................................$16.21mn
COMMENTS
Expedia is the one of the leading online travel agencies.
The company was founded in 1994 as a unit of Microsoft
Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and spun-out as a publicly-
traded company in November 1999. Microsoft remains the
company’s largest shareholder, with its 85% stake.
In June 1999, the company launched Expedia Radio, a
weekly, one-hour radio program providing travel news and
ideas and celebrity guest interviews. The show is now
nationally-syndicated into the top 20 U.S. markets and is
carried on the networks of CBS/Infinity Broadcasting and
Clear Channel Communications.
In January 2000, the company acquired
Travelscape.com for three million shares of Expedia
common stock worth approximately $95 million.
Travelscape.com is an online hotel consolidator which
offers discounted rooms at more than 1,200 hotels in 240
cities worldwide. The company also acquired
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Electronic parts and equipment
Founded: 1991
Employees: 36
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: San Jose, CA headquarters
Telecenter: None
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
• Gerry Haller, Founder INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
• Draper Fisher Jurvetson Design Consultants: None
• SOFTBANK Venture Capital Site Maintenance: In-house staff
• Synergy Ventures Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
• INVESCO Private Capital Access Provider: Qwest Communications
Financing: $35 million (approx.) in four rounds Mirror Locations: None
Profitable: No Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Web Server Software: Apache
Website: www.fastparts.com Commerce Platform: Proprietary application
Site Launch: May 1996 Web Servers: One
Site Type: Business-to-business Database Platform: Oracle
Business Model: Negotiated pricing/auction Database Servers: One
Languages: English Personalization: Planned
Accepts Advertising: No Affiliate Management: Not used
Site Features: General help, contextual help Payment Processing: Proprietary application
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, inventory availability, and order processing COMMENTS
are integrated into website. FastParts operates an online marketplace for electronic
components, enabling OEMs, contract assemblers,
MARKETING manufacturers, and distributors to trade surplus electronic
Media: Business periodical advertising and direct mail parts and equipment.
Partnerships: None The company offers four members-only services
Affiliates Program: None through its website: The FastParts.com Trading Exchange
provides an anonymous, real-time virtual trading floor
MANAGEMENT where buyers and sellers of electronic parts can directly
George Gordon, President and Chief Executive Officer negotiate and conduct trades. FastParts coordinates all
John Spensieri, Sr. Vice President, Sales and Marketing trade fulfillment activities, including payment and
Tim Lavelle, Vice President, Business Development delivery, in return for a percentage of each completed
Charles Huh, Vice President, Finance and Strategy transaction. SOLD! Internet Auctions are online auctions
Jaleh Gazzi, Vice President, Market Strategy which are pre-announced to all members and offer
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: General Merchandise
Founded: February 1994
Employees: 146
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Sunnyvale, CA headquarters
Telecenter: In-house call center
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: none
Major Shareholders: Subsidiary of Home Shopping
Network (NYSE: HSN)
Financing: n/a
Profitable: No ($42.39 million loss for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.firstauction.com
Site Launch: June 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Auction/Negotiated pricing
Site Size: 1,000+ auctions per day
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history (7 days only), inventory
availability, order processing, and order status are
integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: No offline advertising used
Partnerships:
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• Excite@Home (www.home.com)
• MyPoints.com Inc. (www.mypoints.com)
Affiliates Program: None
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: None
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Access Provider: Genuity Inc.
Internet Connectivity: Two DS-3 lines and multiple
T-1 lines
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris 2.5.1 UNIX
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 2.01
Commerce Platform: Netscape Application Server,
proprietary applications
Web Servers: Multiple dual-processor Sun Ultra software; the operation was discontinued by the company
Enterprise 2 servers in 1999.
Database Platform: Oracle 7 Internet Shopping Network reported $6.09 million in
Database Servers: One 12-processor Sun Ultra Enterprise revenue for the first quarter ending March 31, 2000 with a
5000 server loss of $10.06 million.
Personalization: BroadVision One-to-One In January 2000, an agreement was announced to merge
Affiliate Management: Not used Internet Shopping Network -- and its FirstAuction and
Payment Processing: Proprietary application FirstJewelry properties -- with Styleclick.com to create a
new company named Styleclick, Inc. The merger
OPERATING BENCHMARKS agreement also provides for USA Networks Interactive, a
Total Revenue1 subsidiary of USA Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: USAI) and
1999........................................$24.62mn the parent of Home Shopping Network, to invest $40
1998........................................$21.19mn million in cash and contribute an additional $10 million in
1997........................................$12.86mn dedicated media to the new company.
Registered Bidders
1999...........................................434,000
1998...........................................260,000
1997................................................... n/a
COMMENTS
FirstAuction is the principal e-commerce site of
Internet Shopping Network (ISN), a unit of the TV home
shopping giant, Home Shopping Network. ISN’s other
Internet storefront is FirstJewelry, an online jewelry
retailer launched in October 1999. The FirstAuction and
FirstJewelry websites each employ its own Internet
infrastructure.
ISN’s original online storefront was launched in April
1994 at www.isn.com and offered computer hardware and
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Toys/Sporting goods
Founded: October 1994
Employees: 137 (12/31/99)
Offline Activity:
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Redwood City, CA headquarters
• Richmond, Surrey, U.K. FogDog International offices
Telecenter: None
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: FOGD (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders
• Venrock Associates
• Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• J.H. Whitney & Co.
• Vertex Management Group
• Sprout Group
Financing: $145.5 million in four rounds and IPO
Profitable: No ($29.613 million loss for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.fogdog.com
Site Launch: November 1998
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 60,000 product SKUs from 600+ manufacturers
Accepts Advertising: No
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
Site Features: General help and customer created content;
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
one click ordering/quick buy, online real-time customer
service, and foreign language product information and • Della.com (www.della.com)
ordering pages are planned. • Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com)
information, order history, order processing, payment • giftpoint.com (www. giftpoint.com)
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are • GO Network (www.go.com)
integrated into website. • GoTo.com (www.goto.com)
• Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine)
MARKETING • mySimon Inc. (www.mysimon.com)
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer • ShopperConnection (www.shopperconnection.com)
periodical advertising • WebTV Networks (www.webtv.com)
Partnerships: • Women.com Networks (www.women.com)
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service) • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
• America Online (www.aol.com) • ZuluSports.com (www.zulusports.com)
Affiliates Program: Fogdog Sports Affiliates Program Affiliate Management: Be Free BFAST
Number of Affiliates: n/a Payment Processing: CyberSource
Commission Rate: 10-20% of sales based on total Other Applications: Personify Essentials, HNC Software
quarterly activity Retek e-merchandising, Kana Solution customer support
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Food services
Founded: December 1996
Employees: n/a
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• San Francisco, CA headquarters
• Sales offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta,
Charlotte, Baltimore, Seattle, Philadelphia, and
Washington D.C.
Telecenter: None
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
• Accel Partners
• Blockbuster
• Kraft Foods
• McDonald’s Corp.
• Novell Ventures
• Tribune Ventures
Financing: $115 million in three rounds
Profitable: No
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.food.com, www.cybermeals.com,
www.cyberslice.com
Site Launch: December 1996 (as CyberSlice)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing MARKETING
Site Size: 16,000 (approx.) restaurants nationwide Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
Languages: English advertising
Accepts Advertising: Yes Partnerships:
Site Demographics: 62% female/38% male; 43% college • America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
graduate; 65% age 35+; 52% $50K+ average household • America Online (www.aol.com)
income
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Site Features: General help and one-click ordering/quick
• America Online (www.digitalcities.com)
buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • AT&T Broadband & Internet Services (AT&T
information, order history, and order processing integrated Interactive TV)
into website. • Chicago Tribune (www.metromix.com)
MARKETING
Media: Television and radio advertising, newspaper
advertising, consumer periodical advertising, and direct
mail
Partnerships:
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• ABC Corp. (www.abc.com)
• Buena Vista Internet (www.disney.com)
MANAGEMENT
Michael Soenen, President and CEO
Peter Poli, Chief Financial Officer
Fred Johnson, Chief Information Officer
William VanCleave, Vice President of Marketing
Brian Chapman, Vice President of Strategy
Paul Qualia, Webmaster
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Organic, Inc., IBM Global Services
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: Intira
Internet Connectivity: Multiple T3 lines Total Orders1
Mirror Locations: None 1999....................................856,761
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems 1998....................................602,396
Operating System: Solaris 2.7 1997....................................513,198
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server
Commerce Platform: IBM Net.commerce Internet Share of Orders1 2
Database Platform: Oracle 8i 1999...................................... 53.0%
Personalization: Not used 1998...................................... 33.8%
Affiliate Management: LinkShare 1997...................................... 17.2%
Payment Processing: NDC
Other Applications: IBM Websphere, Net.Data Marketing Expenditures1
2000 (9 mos.)..........................$29.93mn
OPERATING BENCHMARKS 1999.................................$11.99mn
Total Revenue1 1998.................................$ 5.99mn
2000 (9 mos.)............................$62.6mn 1997.................................$ 4.86mn
1999...................................$49.6mn
1998...................................$30.7mn Technology Expenditures1
1997...................................$26.3mn 2000 (9 mos.)............................$5.29mn
1999...................................$2.16mn
Total Customers (end of period) 1 1998...................................$1.42mn
1999.....................................1.80mn 1997...................................$1.55mn
1998.....................................1.16mn
1997............................................n/a 1. Fiscal year ending June 30
2. Company also accepts telephone orders
COMPANY OVERVIEW
FTD.com is an online and telephone marketer of Furniture.com Inc.
flowers and specialty gifts. The company was founded by 1881 Worcester Road
FTD in December 1994 to sell directly to consumers. It Framingham, MA 01701, U.S.A.
was spun-out of FTD’s successor, FTDI, in a September Tel. 508-416-6300
1999 public offering. The company’s parent, Florists’
Transworld Delivery, Inc. (FTDI) links together a network
Fax: 508-416-6370
of more than 18,000 FTD Florists in the U.S. and Canada
and another 52,000 FTD Florists in 140 countries around Unique Visitors (March 2000): 889,000
the world. FTDI is the successor to Florists' Transworld Reach: 1.3%
Delivery Association (FTD), a non-profit cooperative Rank: 661
which was founded by a group of ten retail florists 1910.
FTD.com sells through its website at www.ftd.com and ORGANIZATION
through its 1-800-SEND-FTD toll-free telephone number. Business Sector: Gardening/Home furnishings
Flower and plant orders are fulfilled through a network of Furniture/Home furnishings
approximately 6,500 FTD florists; specialty gift orders are Founded: June 1998
fulfilled directly by manufacturers or third party Employees: 213
distributors. Offline Activity
The company reported $20.2 million in Internet revenue Storefronts: One
-- and $26.6 million in total revenue -- for the third quarter Catalogs Mailed: None
ending March 31, 2000 with a loss of $8.49 million. The Facilities: Framingham, MA headquarters
average order during the third quarter was $59.00. Total Telecenter: In-house call center with 40 representatives
orders and Internet orders completed during the quarter Ownership: Private (IPO pending)
were 405,364 and 317,747 respectively; total customer Trading Symbol: FURN (NASDAQ)
accounts at the end of the period stood at 2.1 million. Major Shareholders:
The company transmits flower and plant orders for • CMGI @Ventures (17%)
fulfillment through its Mercury Network, which • Brand Equity Ventures (10%)
automatically routes each order to a florist based on • Bessemer Venture Partners (9%)
location and activity levels. A PC at each florist's shop • No Bricks L.P. (8%)
either electronically accepts, rejects or does not respond to • Arkaro Holding B.V (6%)
each in-bound order. If no electronic response occurs, a • Munder NetNet Fund (6%)
manual call is placed by the company and if the problem • Covestco-AtEura, LLC (5%)
cannot be rectified immediately, the system automatically Financing: $84 million in four rounds
routes the order to an alternative florist. Profitable: No ($46.460 million loss for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.furniture.com
Site Launch: June 1998
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 20,000 (approx.) product SKUs from 200+
manufacturers
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, one-click
ordering/quick buy, online real-time customer service
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, customer order history, inventory availability,
order processing, payment processing, order status, and
shipment tracking are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
advertising, consumer periodical advertising, and direct
mail
MANAGEMENT
Andrew L. Brooks, President and Chief Executive
Officer. Previously served as chief operating officer of
Channel One Network, general manager of BMG Direct
Canada, a division of Bertelsmann AG, and as a consultant
with McKinsey & Company. B.A. from Haverford
College and M.B.A. from Harvard College.
Carl Prindle, Senior Vice President of Product
Development. Previously served as a consultant with
McKinsey & Company, director of marketing for Product
Genesis, and manager of industrial design for Design
West, Inc., a design consulting firm. B.S. from Stanford
University and M.B.A. from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Sloan School of Management.
Guangming Lu, Chief Technical Officer. Previously
served as vice president of information systems and CTO
at uBid and technical development manager for Rand
McNally & Company. B.S. from Huazhong University
and M.S. from the University of Memphis
Michael Sudik, Senior Vice President of Operations.
Previously served in various positions at Bertelsmann
A.G., including vice president of inventory and production
for BMG Direct Marketing, and as vice president of
Canadian operations & inventory/ production for BMG
Direct. B.A. and M.A. from Duquesne University and
M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh
Rose Mauriello, Vice President of Sales and Customer
Care. Previously served as vice president of telesales at
GTE Internetworking, in various positions with Sybase, INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Inc., including vice president of telesales, and as inside Design Consultants: USWeb/CKS
sales manager for Lotus Development Corp. B.A. from Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants
University of Massachusetts and M.B.A. from Babson Hosting Arrangement: Managed hosting
College. Internet Connectivity: Three shared DS-3s
Kirsten A. von Hassel, Vice President of Marketing. Access Provider: Navisite, Akamai Technologies
Previously responsible for new subscriber marketing Mirror Locations: None
activities across all media at The New York Times and as Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium
head of member acquisition efforts at BMG Direct, a Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT
division of Bertelsmann A.G. B.A. in economics from Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Columbia University and M.B.A. in Marketing from Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
Wharton. Edition, proprietary applications
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.gap.com, www.babygap.com,
www.gapkids.com, www.bananarepublic.com
Site Launch: December 1996; November 1997 (commerce-
enabled version)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 5,000 (approx.) products SKUs
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, one-click
ordering/quick buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information is integrated into website
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 2
1999.........................................$11.64bn
1998.........................................$ 9.05bn
1997.........................................$ 6.51bn
Advertising Expenditures1 2
1999...........................................$529mn
1998...........................................$419mn
1997...........................................$175mn
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Home and Garden products
Founded: December 1995
Employees: 290
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: 3.5 million
Facilities:
• Austin, TX, headquarters
• San Francisco, CA, Fresh Stems, Cut Flowers
• Des Moines, IA publishing office
Telecenter: In-house call center with 25 (approx.)
representatives
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: GDEN (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Cliff Sharples, President and CEO
• James O’Neill, Chief Operating Officer
• Lisa Sharples, Chief Marketing Officer
• Andy Martin, Chief Science Officer
• The E.W. Scripps Company
• Global Retail Partners, L.P.
• Austin Ventures
• Pequot Capital Management, Inc.
• Oak Investment Partners
• Phillips-Smith Specialty Group, III, L.P.
• Patricof & Co. Ventures
• Attractor LLC
Financing: $100 million in five rounds and IPO
Profitable: No
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.garden.com, www.virtualgarden.com
Site Launch: March 20, 1996
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real-
Business Model: Fixed pricing time customer service, real-time customer-to-customer
Site Size: 20,000 (approx.) product SKUs chat, customer created content
Languages: English Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
Accepts Advertising: Yes information, order history, inventory availability, order
Site Demographics: 62% female/38% male; 85% college processing and payment processing, order status, and
educated; 78% married; 78% age 35+; 88% $35K+ shipment tracking are integrated into website.
average household income and 45% $75K+ average
household income
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.gateway.com, www.gateway2000.com,
www.gatewayatwork.com
Site Launch: April 1996 (commerce-enabled version)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, Business-to-business
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: Six lines of Gateway 2000 PCs, notebooks,
servers, and workstations and 30,000+ peripherals and
accessories
Languages: English with international sites in German,
French, Japanese, Swedish, and Dutch
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, threaded discussion groups,
foreign language product information and order pages
Back-end Integration: Access to order status and shipment
tracking are integrated into website. OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1
MARKETING 1999.............................................$8.6bn
Media: Television and radio advertising, newspaper 1998.............................................$7.5bn
advertising, business and consumer periodical advertising, 1997.............................................$6.3bn
direct mail
1. Based on sales from all sources because company
Partnerships: does not break out data for web activity.
• CNET, Inc. (CNET Premier Merchant Program)
• quepasa.com (www.quepasa.com) COMMENTS
• Virtual Emporium (www.virtualemporium.com) Gateway has been selling PCs through its website since
Affiliates Program: None 1996. Although the company does not disclose web sales
figures, analysts estimate that the site accounted for almost
MANAGEMENT $300 million of the company’s $8.6 billion total 1999
Peter Ashkin, Chief Technology Officer sales. In addition to using the Internet as a sales channel,
James Pollard, Senior Vice President and Chief the company is embracing it to offer new services to
Information Officer customers and generate additional revenue streams. Long
Chuck Geiger, Vice President of Electronic Commerce term, the company hopes to sell help desk, remote
diagnostics and asset management services, such as
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE tracking installed systems and software, installing
Design Consultants: None upgrades.
Site Maintenance: In-house staff Gateway announced an agreement with America Online
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) in October 1999 in which the two companies would offer a
Access Provider: UUNET/MCI Worldcom, Genuity Inc. joint Internet service. As part of the agreement, AOL
Mirror Locations: None agreed to invest $800 million in the company over a three-
Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium year period. At the end of 1999, the Gateway.net ISP
Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT service boasted more than one million subscribers and an
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0 additional 300,000 were added during the first quarter of
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce 2000.
Edition The company acquired a 7.6% stake in quepasa.com, a
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server Spanish language content and community site, for $10
Personalization: Note used million in March 2000. At the time of the investment,
Affiliate Management: Not used Gateway indicated plans to utilize quepasa.com's position
Other Applications: Calico eSales remote configuration in the U.S. Hispanic community as part of its Spanish-
software, Xchange eCRM, Kana Solution customer language initiative.
support, iBuyLine TestDriver technology
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: MRO supplies
Founded: 1927
Employees: 15,299 total (web staff: n/a)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 348 U.S.
Catalogs Mailed: 2mn (print), 150,000 (CD-ROM)
Facilities:
• Lincolnshire, IL Grainger.com headquarters
• Niles, IL national distribution center
• Kansas City, MO regional distribution center
• Greenville, SC regional distribution center
• Six zone distribution centers across U.S.
Telecenter: n/a
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: GWW (NYSE)
Major Shareholders: n/a
Shareholder Equity: $1.332 billion
Profitable: Yes ($180.731 million profit from all
operations in FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.grainger.com, www.orderzone.com,
www.findmro.com, www.totalmro.com
Site Launch: June 1995
Site Type: Business-to-business
Business Model: Fixed pricing and negotiated/auction
pricing
Site Size: 220,000+ products in 19 categories
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, one-click
ordering/quick buy, online real-time customer service
Back-end Integration: Access to inventory availability and
order processing are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio advertising, consumer and business
periodical advertising, direct mail
Partnerships:
• Ariba, Inc. (Ariba.com Network)
• Commerce One, Inc. (BuySite software)
• Commerce One, Inc. (MarketSite.trading portal)
MANAGEMENT
Elizabeth Olig, President of New Ventures, W.W.
Grainger
Donald Bielinski, Group President-Emerging Businesses
James Ryan, President, Grainger.com
Jody Yeganeh, Marketing Director, Grainger.com
Daniel Hamburger, President, OrderZone.com
Robert Wasserman, Vice President, Grainger Internet
Commerce and head Grainger Auctions
Tom Condon, Vice President of eBusiness Sales
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Xpedior, MarchFirst, Broadvision.
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Managed hosting by Digex
Access Provider: Inter Access Company, IBM Corp.
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris UNIX
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 2.01
Commerce Platform: Broadvision Commerce; proprietary
applications
Web Servers: One Sun Netra server
Database Platform: Oracle
Database Servers: One Sun Netra server
Personalization: Broadvision One-to-One
Affiliate Management: Not used
Payment Processing: Not used; orders processed using
pre-existing Grainger account number
Other Applications: OnDisplay CenterStage, FairMarket
AuctionPlace, BEA WebLogic Commerce Server, 1995 and in January 1999 separated its Internet businesses
webMethods B2Bi, Requisite Technology BugsEye into three distinct units: Grainger.com, OrderZone.com,
and Grainger Auctions.
OPERATING BENCHMARKS Grainger.com is the company’s flagship site and
Total Revenue enables customers to search its catalog of more than
1999.........................................$4.534bn 220,000 products and place their orders online.
1998.........................................$4.341bn OrderZone.com was launched in May 1999 as a multi-
1997.........................................$4.137bn distributor site that enables users to purchase products
from a number of different suppliers through a single order
Online Sales and receive one invoice. Eight suppliers, offering more
1999...........................................$102mn than 420,000 products SKUs, currently participate in
1998...........................................$ 13mn OrderZone.com.
1997................................................... n/a Grainger Auctions was launched in November 1999
and serves as an outlet to move discontinued inventory for
COMMENTS the company’s various operating units. The company is
W.W. Grainger is a leading distributor of industrial planning to open the site to other suppliers.
MRO (maintenance, repairs, and operations) supplies, FindMRO.com, launched in November 1999, is
serving more than 1.3 million customers in North America. operated separately as an Internet-based sourcing center
The company launched its original Grainger.com site in for indirect material spot buys. The service is built around
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.homegrocer.com
Site Launch: June 1998
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Site Version: 2.0
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 15,000 products (approx.)
MARKETING
Media: Television and radio advertising, direct mail
Partnerships:
• Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com)
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Affiliate Program: None
MANAGEMENT
Mary Alice Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer. Previously served as executive vice president of BEST Consulting and Andersen Consulting. Also served
Global Operations and Technology for Citigroup, in as a software engineer with NASA's Johnson Space
various positions at Federal Express, including senior vice Center. B.S. in applied mathematics/operations research
president of Ground Operations, and as financial planning from the University of Tulsa
manager of U.S. Operations with Northern Telecom, Corwin Karaffa, Senior Vice President of Operations.
controller at Cook Investment Properties, and senior Previously served as vice president of distribution of
accountant, oil and gas explorations at Shell Oil. B.A. in Certified Grocers of California and in various management
finance from Mississippi State University. positions with Procter & Gamble, including manager of
J. Terrence Drayton, President. Previously served as distribution development. B.S. in political science from
president of Terran Ventures, Inc., a venture capital and the United States Naval Academy.
consulting company, and as a co-founder and senior Jonathan Landers, Senior Vice President of Marketing
manager of Aquaterra, a Canadian bottled water company, and Sales. Previously served as vice president of
and Laurentian Spring Valley Water. B.Comm. from the marketing for Norm Thompson Outfitters, vice president
University of Calgary and M.B.A. from York University. of corporate marketing and new business development for
Daniel Lee, Chief Financial Officer. Previously served as the National Geographic Society, interim vice president of
senior vice president of finance and development and CFO corporate marketing for Russell Athletic, president and
for Mirage Resorts, director of equity research for CS First CEO of Neuhaus (U.S.A.), a Belgian chocolate retailer.
Boston, and in various positions with the investment bank and in various positions at subsidiaries of Sara Lee. B.A.
Drexel Burnham Lambert. B.S. and M.B.A. from Cornell in government from Bowdoin College and M.B.A. from
University Columbia University.
Rex Carter, Vice President of Systems Development and
Technology. Previously served as senior vice president INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
and chief information officer for Carlson Companies, Design Consultants: None
senior manager with EDS, vice president of Site Maintenance: In-house staff
telecommunications and technology centers for the Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
subsidiary companies of Texas Air Corp., and as a Internet Connectivity: n/a
consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton. B.S. in Access Provider: InterNAP Network Services
engineering from Purdue University. Mirror Locations: None
Ken Deering, Vice President of Storefront. Previously Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
served as an independent management consultant through Operating System: Solaris UNIX
Heldeer Ventures, vice president of sales and marketing Web Server Software: Stronghold/Apache
for Offshore Systems, and in various marketing and Commerce Platform: Proprietary Java applications
operations positions at Glenayre Technologies. Sales and Web Servers: Multiple Sun Enterprise 3500 and 4500
marketing management diploma from the University of servers
British Columbia. Database Platform: Oracle 8i
Robert Duffy, Chief Information Officer. Previously Database Servers: See “Web Servers” above
served as a management consultant at Analytical Software,
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: In-house, Interworld, and Ericcson
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located servers
Access Provider: Global Crossing GlobalCenter what it calls the HomePoint Advantage Network. This
Internet Connectivity: 100 Mbps extranet enables member companies to expand their
Mirror Locations: None product offerings and compress distribution cycles so that
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems ultimately consumers have greater access to what they
Operating System: Solaris 2.6 want, and will receive it sooner than expected. With
Web Server Software: Netscape, Apache hundreds of retailers and manufacturers already a part of
Commerce Platform: Interworld Commerce Exchange the HomePoint Advantage Network
Web Servers: Two
Application Servers: Two
Database Platform: Oracle
Database Servers: Two
Personalization: Under consideration
Affiliate Management: Not used
Payment Processing: n/a
Other Applications: Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia
Fireworks
COMMENTS
HomePoint Corp. employs the Internet to connect home
furnishings manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers into
ORGANIZATION
Sector: Financial services/Banking/Brokerage
Founded: 1995
Employees: 128 (15 Web Staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
San Ramon, CA headquarters
Telecenter: In-house call center with 40 customer service
representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders
• Hummer Winblad Ventures (28.7%)
• Mohr Davidow Ventures (13.3%)
• Lehman Brothers (11.0%)
• Technology Crossover Ventures (10.5%)
Affiliates Program: Planned
• Citicorp, Inc. (5.5%)
Number of affiliates: None
Financing: $55.5 million
Commission Rate: None
Profitable: No ($13.224 million loss for FY ’99)
MANAGEMENT
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Richard Wilkes, Chief Executive Officer. Previously
Website: www.imxexchange.com
served as CEO of four mortgage banking companies
Site Launch: 1997
owned and operated by MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings,
Site Version: 4.0
Inc., including First Nationwide Mortgage and First
Site Type: Business-to-business
Gibraltar Mortgage, and as chairman and CEO of North
Business Model: Auction/Negotiated Pricing
American Mortgage Company. B.S. in Economics and
Languages: English
Finance from the University of Houston.
Accepts Advertising: No
Jeff Pullen, Chief Financial Officer. Previously served as
Site Features: General help, contextual help; threaded
vice president of finance at Baker Petrolite Corp. and as an
discussions and customer created content are planned
auditor, consultant and partner in the Financial Advisory
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
Services unit at PricewaterhouseCoopers. B.S. in Business
information, order history, inventory availability,
Administration/Accounting from the University of
transaction processing, and transaction status are integrated
Nebraska.
into website.
Erin Esparza, Senior Vice President of Marketing.
Previously associated with Intel's corporate business
MARKETING development effort where she was responsible for making
Media: Newspaper advertising, business periodicals, and
venture capital investments in support of the company's
direct mail; broadcast radio and broadcast television
strategic objectives, including Intel's investment in IMX
advertising under consideration
Exchange. Also served in various management positions in
Partnerships:
product marketing for Intel and as a consultant with the
• LoanUpdate (www.loanupdate.com) Boston Consulting Group. B.A. in Economics from
• MyersInternet (www.meyers.com) Harvard University.
Robbie Mihalyi, Senior Vice President of Engineering The company operates an online bid/ask exchange --
and Technology. Previously served as director of the SQL similar to the NASDAQ stock market -- between more
server development division of Sybase. Attended the than 1,300 mortgage brokers across 42 states and a
Human and Real Sciences University in Europe and network of national, regional, and local mortgage lenders.
currently working towards M.B.A. The exchange enables participating lenders to see and bid
Kevin Gillespie, Senior Vice President, Sales. Previously on individual loans in real-time as they’re posted by
served as a retail loan manager of First Gibraltar member brokers. More than $1.8 billion in mortgage
Mortgage, national loan production manager for First assets have been traded on the network to-date.
Nationwide Mortgage Corp. and for Weyerhaeuser In March 2000, the company filed a registration
Mortgage, and as executive vice president of Internet and statement with the SEC to sell stock to the public in an
wholesale B2B channels for FiNet.com. A.A. degree from IPO. The company announced in June 2000 that it had
Owens College. cancelled its plans for an IPO -- instead opting for
additional funding from its existing investors -- and was
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE withdrawing its registration statement.
Design Consultants: None
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: Exodus Communications
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Windows NT, Solaris UNIX
Web Server Software: Stronghold Apache; Microsoft IIS
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications
Web Servers: One
Application Servers: One
Database Platform: Oracle
Database Servers: One
Personalization: Under consideration
Affiliate Management: Not used
Payment Processing: Not used
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
1999.........................................$319,000
1998.........................................$598,000
1997.........................................$ 44,000
Marketing Expenditures
1999..........................................$5.56mn
1998..........................................$2.97mn
1997..........................................$1.70mn
COMMENTS
IMX Exchange operates an online marketplace for the
wholesale mortgage industry. The company differs from
business-to-consumer mortgage sites -- such as iOwn and
E-Loan -- which bridge the gap between the consumer and
lenders, and instead provides a business-to-business
service which links mortgage brokers to prospective
lenders.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Computer hardware/software
Founded: 1979
Employees: 15,363 total worldwide
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Principal U.S. Facilities:
• Santa Ana, CA headquarters
• Williamsville, NY Eastern operations center MARKETING
• Fullerton, CA distribution facility Media: Business periodical advertising, direct mail
• Newark, CA distribution facility Partnerships: None
• Miami, FL distribution facility Affiliates Program: None
• Carol Stream, IL distribution facility
• Jonestown, PA distribution facility MANAGEMENT
• Millington, TN distribution facility Guy Abramo, Senior Vice President and Chief
• Carrollton, TX distribution facility Information Officer
• Santa Ana, CA returns processing center Patrick Collins, Senior Vice President of Sales
• Memphis, TN assembly/integration center Jerry Lumpkin, Senior Vice President of Marketing
• 63 international distribution centers in 29 countries
Ownership: Public INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Trading Symbol: IM (NYSE) Design Consultants: KPMG High Tech Consulting Group
Major Shareholders: Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
• Ingram Family (48%)
Access Provider: Sprint Internet Services, Global
Shareholder Equity: $1.967 billion
Crossing
Profitable: Yes ($183.42 million profit for FY ’00)
Internet Connectivity: Two shared DS-3 lines
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Operating System: Solaris UNIX
Website: www.ingrammicro.com
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.06
Site Launch: July 1996
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications
Site Version: 2.0
Web Servers: One Sun Enterprise 10000 server
Site Type: Business-to-business
Application Servers: One Sun Enterprise 10000 server
Business Model: Fixed pricing, auction/negotiated pricing
Database Platform: Oracle; real-time links to back-end
(Auction Block)
proprietary IMpulse ERP system for inventory availability
Site Size: 250,000+ product SKUs; 50,000+ content pages
and customer account information
Languages: English
Database Servers: None; application server links to back-
Accepts Advertising: No
end database via Java applications/Enterprise JavaBeans
Site Features: General help
components
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
Personalization: Planned
information, order history, inventory availability, order
Affiliate Management: Not used
processing, payment processing, and order status are
integrated into website.
Payment Processing: Open Market Transact, proprietary approximately $250 million during the first three months
applications of 2000.
Other Applications: Vignette StoryServer, pcOrder The company added an online, real-time auction service
configurator and technical notes -- Auction Block -- to its site in 1998, enabling resellers to
bid on unopened products which are either discontinued,
OPERATING BENCHMARKS contained in damaged packaging, or are otherwise not
Total Revenue1 returnable to suppliers.
1999........................................$28.07mn The company is a supporter of RosettaNet. It is also a
1998.........................................$22.03bn partner in Viacore, which is developing an e-commerce
1997.........................................$16.58bn hub -- based on the RosettaNet specification -- that enables
companies to exchange real-time business information.
International Sales1
1999.................................................40%
1998.................................................35%
1997.................................................31%
1. Based on sales from all sources because company does not breakout
data for web activity
COMMENTS
Ingram Micro is the computer industry’s leading
distributor, stocking more than 280,000 product SKUs
from over 1,700 hardware manufacturers, networking
equipment suppliers, and software publishers. The
company’s customers consist of more than 175,000
resellers in over 100 countries. Ingram subsidiaries or
offices are located in more than 30 countries worldwide.
The company established an eSolutions Group in May
1999 to manage its website and Internet initiatives. The
Ingram website was completely re-designed and re-
architected in 1999. The site provides resellers in the U.S.
and Canada access to product and technical information,
real-time contract pricing and quote generation, product
allocations, inventory availability across every Ingram
warehouse, custom system configuration, online ordering,
purchase-order financing, and order status information.
The company plans to extend the availability of all of its
site’s features to the rest of its international customers
during 2000; Internet ordering is already available in 17
countries. Online sales were an estimated $3 billion -- or
11% of total revenue -- during 1999.
In addition to serving VARs (Value-Added Resellers),
the company provides the back-end e-commerce engine for
numerous online computer hardware and software
resellers, including BUY.COM, Outpost.com, and
approximately 32 other Internet resellers. The company’s
InsideLine service enables online retailers to link directly
to Ingram’s mainframe inventory systems for real-time
inventory availability. The company also provides
outsourced warehouse and distribution services to Internet
resellers. Total sales to Internet resellers were
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Financial services/Banking/Brokerage
Founded: March 1995
Employees: 270
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Redwood City, CA headquarters • AutoMall.com (www.automall.com)
• Westlake Village, CA customer service facility • Banx.com Inc. (www.banxquote.com)
Telecenter: One in-house call center • Capital One (www.capitalone.com)
Ownership: Public • Cars.com (www.cars.com)
Trading Symbol: INSW (NASDAQ) • CarPrices.com (www.carprices.com)
Major Shareholders: • CarSmart Network (www.carsmart.com)
• Hussein Enan, CEO (15%) • Consumers Car Club (www.carclub.com)
• Softbank Corp. (27%) • coolsavings.com inc. (www.coolsavings.com)
• Nationwide Mutual Insurance (9%) • eHealthInsurance (www eHealthInsurance.com)
• Insurance Information Exchange (7%) • E-Loan Inc. (www.eloan.com)
• Century Capital (4%) • E*Trade Group Inc. (www.etrade.com)
Financing: $188.26 million in three rounds and IPO • GO Network (www.go.com)
Profitable: No ($36.2 million loss for FY ’99) • Go2Net Inc. (www.go2net.com)
• InfoSpace Inc. (www.infospace.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • LifeMinders.com (www.lifeminders.com)
Website: www.insweb.com • LookSmart Ltd. (www.looksmart.com)
Site Launch: October 1995 • Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business • Morningstar Inc. (www.morningstar.com)
Business Model: Commission-based
• NBC Internet (www.snap.com)
Site Size: 50+ insurance carriers, 10,000+ content pages
• NextCard Inc. (www.nextcard.com)
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No • Prodigy Communications (www.prodigy.com)
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real- • Realtors Information Network (www.realtor.com)
time customer service • Recycler Classified (www.recycler.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • Time Inc. (www.money.com)
information and transaction processing are integrated into • USA Today (www.usatoday.com)
website. • Wingspan Bank.com (www.wingspan.com)
• Yahoo!, Inc. (insurance.yahoo.com)
MARKETING • ZDnet (www.zdnet.com)
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer • InsWeb has negotiated more than 180 marketing
periodical advertising partnerships as of March 31, 2000
Representative Partnerships: Affiliates Program: InsWeb Associates Program
• America Online (www.netscape.com) Number of Affiliates: n/a
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) Commission Rate: $2.00-3.00 for each e-mail
• America Online (www.digitalcity.com) quotation and $3.00-4.00 for each instant quotation
• AllApartments (www.allapartments.com) based on monthly volume
ORGANIZATION
Market Sector: Computer hardware, software, and
consulting services
Founded: 1911
Employees: 291,067 (Web Staff: 1,000)
Offline Activity MARKETING
Storefronts: None Media: Broadcast radio and television advertising,
Catalogs Mailed: None newspaper advertising, business and consumer periodical
Facilities: N/A advertising, and direct mail
Telecenter: 30 In-house call centers with 6,000 (approx.) Partnerships:
representatives • ThirdAge Media Inc. (www.thirdage.com)
Ownership: Public Affiliate Program: IBM Affiliate Program
Trading Symbol: IBM (NYSE) No. of Affiliates: n/a
Major Shareholders: N/A Commission Rate: 1-4% of order value based of
Shareholder Equity: $20.511 billion product sold
Profitable: Yes ($7.692 billion company-wide profit in FY
’99) MANAGEMENT
Louis V. Gerstner, Chief Executive Officer
WEBSITE OVERVIEW John R. Joyce, Chief Financial Officer
Website: www.ibm.com Abby Kohnstam, Senior Vice President, Marketing
Site Launch: 1994 Bruce Harrald, Senior Vice President, Strategy
Site Version: 9th redesign David Leip, Webmaster
Site Type: Business-to-business, business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Site Size: 14,000 (approx.) SKUs Design Consultants: Ogilvy One, RGA Interactive,
Languages: 79 country-specific sites in English, Spanish, THINK New Ideas, and Modem Media
Portuguese, French, Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, German, Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants
Italian, Russian, Polish, Greek, Hebrew, and six other Hosting Arrangement: Managed hosting
languages Access Provider: IBM Global Services’ Events
Accepts Advertising: No Infrastructure
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real- Internet Connectivity: Redundant DS-3 lines
time customer service, foreign language product Mirror Locations: None; site is hosted in multiple (4) U.S.
information and foreign language order pages; threaded locations with architecture replicated at each location and
discussions and real-time customer-to-customer chat are each sharing the same filespace for four- way redundancy
planned Hardware Platform: IBM RS/6000
Back-end Integration: Access to customer order history, Operating System: AIX
inventory availability, order processing, payment Web Server Software: IBM Domino Go Webserver
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are Commerce Platform: Lotus Websphere
integrated into website; web access to customer account Web Servers: 12 servers
information is planned. Application Servers: 12 (approx.) servers
Database Platform: IBM Universal Database
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Web site: www.iown.com
Site Launch: June 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Commission based
Site Size: Loan offerings from 36 lenders; available in 49
states
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: Yes
MANAGEMENT
Edward Hoyt, Chief Executive Officer
Paul Holmes, President and Chief Operating Officer
William Terry, Vice President, Finance and Chief
Financial Officer
Baron Wilhelm, Vice President, Affinity and Wholesale
Lending
Charles Reed, Vice President, Capital Markets
Marcia Donner, Vice President, Customer Service and
Operations
Michael Zimmerman, Vice President, Consumer Channel
Kevin Flood, Vice President, Engineering
Jennifer A.M. Marshall, Vice President, Product
Development
Laura Piltz, Vice President, Marketing
Site Demographics: 70% male/30% female, 75%
graduated college, 65% aged 35-54 years old, 50% have INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
$100K+ household income Design Consultants: None
Site Features: General help, contextual help Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Hosting Arrangement: Managed hosting
information, transaction processing, transaction status, are Access Provider: Global Crossing Global Center,
integrated into website. AboveNet Communications
Mirror Locations: None
MARKETING Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper Operating System: Windows NT and Linux
advertising Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS and Apache
Major Partnerships: Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications
• AT&T WorldNet (www.att.net) Web Servers: 20
• America Online (www.digitalcities.com) Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle 8
• America Online (www.netscape.com) Database Servers: Five
• Ameritrade Holding Corp. (www.ameritrade.com) Personalization: Not used
• BellSouth.net (www.bellsouth.net) Affiliate Management: Proprietary application
• CFN (www.youdecide.com)
• Classified Ventures (www.classifiedventures.com) OPERATING BENCHMARKS
• CyberHomes (www.cyberhomes.com) Total Revenue
• Earthlink/MindSpring (www.wizshop.com) 1999........................................$14.77mn
• Hardware.com (Superbuild) 1998........................................$ 1.31mn
• Harmon Homes 1997........................................$ 0.07mn
• Homes.com Inc. (www.homes.com)
Transaction Revenue
• Homefair.com (www.homefair.com)
1999..........................................$9.02mn
• HomeWareHouse Inc. (www.homewarehouse.com)
1998..........................................$1.22mn
• Hoovers Inc. (www.hoovers.com) 1997..........................................$0.05mn
• Infospace Inc. (www.infospace.com)
• Netcentives Inc. (www.clickrewards.com)
• OnMoney (www.onmoney.com)
Marketing Expenditures
1999........................................$19.13mn iPrint.com, inc.
1998........................................$ 6.11mn 1450 Oddstad Drive
1997........................................$ 0.57mn Redwood City, CA 94063
Tel. 650-298-8500
Development Expenditures
1999........................................$10.39mn
Fax. 650-364-7724
1998........................................$ 4.79mn
1997........................................$ 0.97mn Unique Visitors (March 2000): 3,511,000
Reach: 5.2%
Loan Volume Rank: 107
1999......................................$511.45mn
1998......................................$192.39mn ORGANIZATION
1997......................................$ 8.61mn Business Sector: Business/Office supplies
Founded: 1995
Total Loans Closed Employees: 225 (3/10/00)
1999...............................................3,200 Offline Activity
1998...............................................1,028 Storefronts: None
1997....................................................38 Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Redwood City, CA headquarters
COMMENTS Telecenter: None
iOwn provides mortgage financing services and related Ownership: Public
home-buying and homeownership information through its Trading Symbol: IPRT (NASDAQ)
website at www.iown.com. The company launched its Major Shareholders:
online mortgage brokerage in July 1997, under the name • Royal Farros, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
HomeShark, and closed its first loans in August 1997. The • SOFTBANK Venture Capital
company name was changed to iOwn in April 1999, • AT&T Ventures
reflecting a broadened strategy of providing resources • Information Technology Ventures
related to all aspects of the home buying process and not • Canaan Partners
just arranging financing. • Intel Corp.
In March 1998, the company acquired HomeScout, a Financing: $75.2 million in three rounds and IPO
provider of home listings, for $2 million in cash. The Profitable: No ($13.432 million loss for FY ’99)
HomeScout content has since been integrated into the
iOwn website. In December 1999, acquired Genesis 2000, WEBSITE OVERVIEW
which develops loan origination and processing software Website: www.iprint.com
for mortgage brokers, for $26.2 million in iOwn stock and Site Launch: January 1997
notes. The company also acquired in December 1999 the Site Type: Business-to-business, Business-to-consumer
HomeBuilders Financial Network, which provides loan Business Model: Fixed pricing
services to home builders, for $2.7 million in cash and Site Size: 3,500 products across 45 categories, including
$41.5 million in iOwn stock and notes. custom-printed stationery, ad specialty products,
promotional items, and gifts
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy,
contextual help, customer created content
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, order processing, payment
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are
integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
advertising, consumer and business periodical advertising,
direct mail
MARKETING
Media: Television advertising (exclusively on QVC)
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Studio Archetype
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Access Provider: Genuity Inc.
Internet Connectivity: One DS-3 line
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium
Operating System: Windows NT
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
Edition; proprietary applications
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server
Personalization: Not used
Affiliate Management: Not used
Payment Processing: Proprietary back-end legacy
application
Other Applications: LivePerson real-time customer service
chat, iChat 3.0
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
1999.............................................$2.8bn
1998.............................................$2.4bn
1997.............................................$2.1bn
COMMENTS
iQVC is the online division of the television shopping
channel pioneer, QVC, Inc. QVC, Inc. sold $2.8 billion in
brand name products during 1999, including home
furnishings, licensed products, fashion and beauty
products, electronics, and jewelry. The company’s
shopping channel reaches more than 70 million U.S.
homes.
QVC purchased a 36% stake in Knot.com, a wedding
resource site, for $15 million in April 1999. The two
companies agreed to jointly create a national online gift
registry and QVC agreed to provide back office operations
and distribution services for all of Knot.com’s electronic
commerce activities.
iQVC fulfills orders from either one of the company’s
three U.S. warehouses or from one of the company’s 300+
virtual warehouses…suppliers who are linked to the
company via extranet and drop ship directly to the
customer. All QVC and iQVC customers are able to easily
Partnerships: return unwanted orders using the original shipping box and
• The Knot Inc. (www.theknot.com) a shipping label that’s included on the back of each
• Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com) packing slip.
Affiliates Program: None
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Clothing
Founded: 1968
Employees: 5,400 (25+ web staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 127 J. Crew and J. Crew Factory Outlet
stores
Catalogs Mailed: 75.5 million
Facilities:
• New York, NY headquarters
• Lynchburg, VA distribution facility
• Asheville, NC distribution facility
Telecenter: Two in-house call centers in Lynchburg, VA
and Asheville, NC with 900+ permanent representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
• Texas Pacific Corp. (62%)
• Emily Cinader Woods, Chairman (20%)
Shareholder Equity: -$264.6 million
Profitable: No ($6.6 million loss for FY ’00)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.jcrew.com
Site Launch: August 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 1,500 products (approx.) plus ability to order
any hardcopy catalog item by product number
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, and product availability are
integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Direct mail
Partnerships:
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• BarnesandNoble.com (www.barnesandnoble.com)
Online Revenue1
2000..........................................$65.3mn
1999..........................................$22.0mn
1998..........................................$ 4.0mn
COMMENTS
J. Crew Group is a leading retailer of women's and
men's apparel, shoes and accessories which are sold under
the company’s own brand name. The company distributes
• GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com) its products through three different channels: 127 retail and
• giftpoint.com (www.giftpoint.com) factory outlet stores across the United States (plus
• GTE SuperPages Shop Online (shop.gte.net) approximately 70 licensed free-standing and “shop-in-
• Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine) shop” stores in Japan); a mail order catalog; and an
• Intuit Inc. (www.quicken.com) Internet storefront, jcrew.com. jcrew.com and its mail
• Lycos, Inc. (www.lycos.com) order catalog counterpart comprise the J. Crew Direct unit
• Travelocity.com LP (www.travelocity.com) of J. Crew Group.
Affiliates Program: jcrew.com affiliate network
Number of Affiliates; n/a
Commission Rate: 5% of total sales value
MANAGEMENT
Richard Boyce, Chief Executive Officer
Scott Rosen, Sr. Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer
Tom Lesica, Sr. Vice President and CIO
Scott Gilbertson, President of eCommerce
Sundir Rajan, Director of Web Development
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Fort Point Partners
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Managed hosting
Access Providers: DIGEX Inc.; Akamai Technologies
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris UNIX
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6
Commerce Platform: ART Technology Group Dynamo,
Proprietary Java applications
Web Servers: Multiple Sun Enterprise 3000 servers
Database Platform: Oracle
Database Servers: Sun Enterprise 3000 server
Personalization: Under development
Affiliate Management: Proprietary Java application
Payment Processing: Proprietary application
Other Applications: Personify Essentials, RedCart
Universal Shopping Cart, Kana Solution customer support,
E-Color True Internet Color
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: General merchandise
Founded: 1902
Employees: 291,000 total (1,000+ IT staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 1,143
Catalogs Mailed: n/a
Facilities:
• Plano, TX headquarters
• Catalog fulfillment centers in Atlanta, GA,
Milwaukee, WI, and four other locations
Telecenter: In-house call centers in 14 locations across the
U.S.
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: JCP (NYSE)
Major Shareholders: n/a
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Shareholder Equity: $7.23 billion
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
Profitable: Yes ($336 million profit from all operations in
FY ’00) • Big Planet (www.bigplanet.com)
• FairMarket, Inc. (FairMarket Network)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • Levi Strauss & Company (www.levi.com)
Website: www.jcpenney.com • Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com)
Site Launch: November 1994; August 1996 (commerce- Affiliates Program: JC Penney Affiliate Network
enabled version) No. of Affiliates: n/a
Site Type: Business-to-consumer Commission Rate: 4-8% based on total sales volume
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 20,000 (approx.) product SKUs plus ability to MANAGEMENT
order any hardcopy catalog item by product number Vanessa Castagna, Executive Vice President and Chief
Languages: English Operating Officer for Stores, Merchandise, Catalog and
Accepts Advertising: No Internet
Site Features: General help Paul Pappajohn, President, JCPenney E-commerce
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Richard Last, Executive Vice President of E-commerce
information, inventory availability and order processing Ray Pierce, Senior Vice President and Director of Special
are integrated into website. Projects
David Evans, Senior Vice President and Chief
MARKETING Information Officer
Media: Television advertising, newspaper advertising, Andy Cowan, Vice President and Director of Retail and
direct mail Catalog Systems.
Partnerships:
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service) INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
• America Online (www.aol.com) Design Consultants: Modem Media
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) physical proportions, face shape, hair style and color, and
Access Provider: Cable & Wireless, Akamai Technologies skin tone.
Internet Connectivity: Multiple shared DS-3 lines In March 2000, the company announced a partnership
Mirror Locations: None with Event411.com to jointly develop an integrated in-
Hardware Platform: Dell Computer store and online gift registry and to add Event411.com’s
Operating System: Windows NT 4 wedding planning package to the jcpenney.com website
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server, for use by bridal registrants.
Microsoft IIS 4.0 An online auction service was launched in partnership
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce with FairMarket in April 2000 and enables customers to
Edition, proprietary applications bid on items in both traditional auctions and
Web Servers: 100+ Dell PowerEdge 6350 servers AutoMarketdown or reverse auctions. The company plans
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server to initially offer overstock merchandise from its catalog
Personalization: Not used and retail operations. The auction service will be included
Affiliate Management: LinkShare in the FairMarket Network, providing the company access
Payment Processing: Proprietary application to portal sites MSN, Lycos and Excite@Home.
Other Applications: HydraWEB Technologies Traffic The company has also negotiated partnerships with
Management software, General Interactive EchoMail, KD1 online retailers Omaha Steaks, Rocky Mountain Chocolate
Greenlight suite, Public Technologies Multimedia My Factory, Flowers Direct, and Little Tikes Toys to build co-
Virtual Model 3-D software branded storefronts which are accessible from its website.
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Catalog Sales1
1999.........................................$3.964bn
1998.........................................$3.908bn
1997.........................................$3.772bn
Online Sales1
1999...........................................$102mn
1998...........................................$ 15mn
1997................................................... n/a
COMMENTS
J.C. Penney Company is one of the largest retailers in
the U.S., operating more than 1,100 J.C. Penney stores and
almost 2,900 Eckerd drugstores. Vanessa Castagna,
executive vice president and COO for stores, merchandise,
catalog and Internet predicted in February 2000 that the
company’s Internet business would grow to $1 billion in
sales over the next three years by leveraging its 35 years of
experience in the catalog business and its extensive
fulfillment infrastructure.
A specialized website offering “plus size” apparel for
women, Just4MePlus.com, was launched in May 1999.
The site was re-launched in March 2000 after a redesigned
by the company and Public Technologies Multimedia
which incorporated 3-D modeling features which enable
customers to create a likeness of themselves reflecting
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Toys/Sporting Goods
Founded: June 1999
Employees: 105
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 1,322 (parent company, KB Toys)
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Denver, CO headquarters
Telecenter: Outsourced
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
• Consolidated Stores
• BrainPlay.com, Inc.
• KBkids.com Inc.
• Srikant Srinivasan, Founder, BrainPlay.com
Financing: $80 million in one round
Profitable: No ($17.291 million loss for 12 months ended
9/30/99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.kbkids.com
Site Launch: July 1999
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 10,000 product SKUs from 100 different brands
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, customer created content,
threaded discussions
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order processing, and payment processing are
integrated into website.
• LookSmart Ltd. (www.looksmart.com)
MARKETING • Netcentives Inc. (www.clickrewards.com)
Media: Television and radio advertising, newspaper • NetZero Inc. (www.netzero.com)
advertising, consumer periodical advertising, direct mail • Women.com Networks (www.women.com)
Partnerships:
• Xoom.com (www.xoom.com)
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
• America Online (www.aol.com) Affiliate Program: KBkids Affiliate Program
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) No. of Affiliates: n/a
• America Online (www.netscape.com) Commission Rate: $7.50 per new customer plus
• Buena Vista Internet (www.disney.com) 5-12% of total sales per quarter based on volume
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
• GO Network (www.go.com)
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
1999 (Q3) .................................$1.05mn
1999 (Q2) .................................$0.50mn
1999 (Q1) .................................$0.11mn
1998..........................................$0.51mn
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Clothing
Founded: 1963
Employees: 4,600+ permanent, 7,400-9,600 total
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 17 U.S., 2 international
Catalogs Mailed: 236 million
Facilities:
• Dodgeville, WI headquarters
• Dodgeville, WI call center
• Reedsburg, WI call center
• Cross Plains, WI call center
• Dodgeville, WI distribution facility
• Reedsburg, WI distribution facility
• West Union, IL manufacturing facility
• Elkader, IL manufacturing facility
• Fujieda City, Japan distribution facility
• Oakham, U.K. order and distribution center
• Yokohama, Japan order and distribution center
• Mettlach, Japan order and distribution center
• Maia, Portugal corporate offices
Telecenter: Six in-house call centers with 1,000 (approx.)
representatives on duty at any given point in time
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: LE (NYSE)
Major Shareholders: n/a
Shareholder Equity: $296.2 million
Profitable: Yes ($48.034 million profit from all operations
for FY ’00)
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Apparel, Sporting Goods
Founded: 1912
Employees: 4,000 total
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 12 U.S. stores
Catalogs Mailed: 150 million
Facilities:
• Freeport, ME headquarters
• Portland, ME distribution facility
• Brunswick, ME manufacturing facility
Telecenter: In-house call center with 3,300 (peak season)
customer service representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: n/a
Shareholder Equity: n/a
Profitable: Yes ($10 million (estimated) profit for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.llbean.com
Site Launch: September 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 5,000 (approx.) product SKUs, plus ability to
order 11,000 additional items by product number from
hardcopy catalog
Languages: English; help pages are provided in Spanish,
French, German, and Japanese
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order processing, and payment processing are
integrated into website
MARKETING
Media: Television advertising, consumer and business
periodical advertising, direct mail
Partnerships:
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• BarnesandNoble.com (www.barnesandnoble.com)
• FedEx Corp. (FedEx Marketplace)
Affiliates Program: None
MANAGEMENT
Christopher McCormick, Chief Marketing Officer
Pat Robles, Vice President, E-commerce
Kathy McCosh, Manager, E-commerce
Doug Faherty, Director, Database Marketing
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Strategic Interactive Group,
DIGITAS Inc.
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Access Provider: UUNET/MCI Worldcom
Internet Connectivity: Fractional DS-3 line
Hardware Platform: IBM Corp.
Operating System: IBM AIX
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6
Web Servers: Multiple IBM RS/6000 servers
Database Platform: IBM DB2
Database Servers: Multiple IBM RS/6000
Personalization: Not used
Affiliate Management: Not used
Payment Processing: Proprietary application
Other Applications: ClickAction Email Relationship
Management, Personify Essentials
MANAGEMENT
Merisel, Inc. Dwight Steffensen, Chief Executive Officer
200 Continental Blvd. Timothy Jenson, Senior Vice President and Chief
El Segundo, CA 90245, U.S.A. Financial Officer
Tel. 310-615-3080 May West, Vice President of Information Technology
Fax 310-615-6819 INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: None
Unique Visitors (March 2000): n/a Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Reach: n/a Hosting Arrangement: Co-located and on-site server(s)
Rank: n/a Access Provider: IBM Network Services
Internet Connectivity: Two T-1 lines
ORGANIZATION Mirror Locations: None
Business Sector: Computer hardware/software Hardware Platform: Compaq ProLiant
Founded: 1980 Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT 4
Employees: 2,400 Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Offline Activity Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
Storefronts: None Edition, proprietary application
Catalogs Mailed: None Web Servers: Three
Facilities: Application Servers: Three
• El Segundo, CA headquarters Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
• Hayward, CA distribution center Database Servers: Two
• Farmington, CT distribution center Personalization: Proprietary application
• Atlanta, GA distribution center Affiliate Management: Not used
• Lees Summit, MO distribution center Payment Processing: Not used
• Mechanicsville, VA distribution center
• Richmond, VA distribution center OPERATING BENCHMARKS
• Cary, NC corporate offices Total Revenue
• Toronto, Ontario Canadian headquarters 1999.........................................$5.189bn
1998.........................................$4.551bn
• Two distribution centers in Canada
1997.........................................$4.048bn
Telecenter: None
Ownership: Public
Registered Users (end of period)
Trading Symbol: MSEL (NASDAQ)
1999.............................................40,000
Major Shareholders: n/a
1998.............................................26,000
Equity Capital: $95.173 million
1997.............................................21,000
Profitable: No ($61.168 million loss for FY ’99)
COMMENTS
WEBSITE INFORMATION
Merisel is a leading distributor of computer hardware
Website: www.merisel.com
and software, serving more than 30,000 resellers in the
Launch Date: November 1996 (commerce-enabled)
U.S. and Canada. The company distributes more than
Site Type: Business-to-business
35,000 products from manufacturers such as Apple,
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM/Lotus, Intel, Microsoft,
Site Size: 35,000 (approx.) product SKUs
3Com, Sun Microsystems and Symantec.
Languages: English
The company’s website provides access to technical
Accepts Advertising: Yes
product information, links to 350+ manufacturers, news on
Site Features: General help, one click ordering/quick buy
daily product promotions and announcements, and
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
downloadable return-authorization and system-return
information, inventory availability, order processing, order
forms. The site also provides a web front-end to the
status, and shipment tracking are integrated into website.
company’s SELline II electronic catalog and ordering
system, enabling real-time access to contract pricing
MARKETING
information, credit availability information, product
Media: Business periodical advertising, direct mail
availability, and ordering options. Customer and inventory
Partnerships: None
data are retrieved through real-time links to the company’s
Affiliates Program: None
SAP R/3 ERP system.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Sporting goods
Founded: October 1999
Employees: 120+
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Chicago, IL headquarters
Telecenter: In-house call center with 25+ representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
• Benchmark Capital
• Freeman Spogli
• Galyan’s Trading Company
• SportsLine.com Inc.
• CBS Corp.
Financing: $65 million in one round plus $85 million in
bartered advertising from CBS Corp.
Profitable: No
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.mvp.com
Site Launch: January 2000
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 40,000 (approx.) product SKUs from 500
brands
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, order processing, order status,
and shipment tracking are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Television advertising, newspaper advertising
Partnerships:
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• SportsLine.com Inc. (www.sportsline.com)
MVP.com Home Page Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky in partnership
with John Costello, former president of AutoNation and
senior executive vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Co.
The company received financial backing from Benchmark
Capital and Freeman Spogli.
Order fulfillment is outsourced through a partnership
with Galyan’s Trading Company, an outdoor and sporting
goods retailer with 20 stores in nine states and a unit of
The Limited Inc. (NYSE: LTD). The partnership also
provides for the company to be featured in Galyan
advertising, MVP.com ordering kiosks placed in Galyan
stores, and enables MVP.com customers to return or
exchange their purchases at Galyan stores.
The company announced an agreement in December
• VarsityBooks.com (www.varsitybooks.com) 1999 to acquire and operate the co-branded online
• ZuluSports.com (www.zulusports.com) storefronts of SportsLine.com. The SportsLine.com
• International Hockey League storefronts generated $16.5 million in gross revenue during
Affiliates Program: MVP.com Affiliate Program 1999, up from $3.6 million in 1998. The company also
Number of Affiliates: n/a entered into a media partnership in which SportsLine.com
Commission Rate: 5-10% of order value based on will receive $120 million in guaranteed cash payments
total monthly sales over a 10-year period and an equity interest in MVP.com
while MVP.com will receive $85 million in advertising
MANAGEMENT and promotion on CBS Corp. properties over a four year
John Costello, Chief Executive Officer period in exchange for an equity stake.
Ian Drury, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Stuart Feddersen, Vice President of Technology and
Operations
Mary Slayton, Vice President and Chief Marketing
Officer
Brent Hill, Vice President-Business Development
Michael Beckerman, Vice President-International
Andrew Ferraro, Vice President-Fulfillment and
Customer Support
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: None
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: InterNAP Network Services
Internet Connectivity: One DS-3 line
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Compaq ProLiant
Operating System: Windows NT 4, Windows 2000
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0 and IIS 5.0
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
Edition
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server
Personalization: Not used
Affiliate Management: LinkShare
Payment Processing: n/a
Other Applications: Online Opinion O-Metrics,
NetGenesis Net.Analysis
COMMENTS
MVP.com is an online retailer of outdoor and sporting
goods. The company was founded by sports stars John
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Banking and financial services
Founded: February 1996
Employees: 82
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs mailed: None • Armed Forces Financial Network (www.affn.org)
Facilities: Atlanta headquarters • Microsoft Corp. (moneycentral.msn.com)
Telecenter: One call center outsourced to TeleTech for • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
level one service and one in-house call center with 45 Affiliates program: None
representatives.
Ownership: Public MANAGEMENT
Trading symbol: NTBK (NASDAQ) T. Stephen Johnson, Chairman. President of TSJ&A, a
Major shareholders: bank consulting firm specializing in mergers, acquisitions
• Carolina First Bank and regulatory consulting. Previously served in a
Shareholder Equity: $238.421 million management capacity for two large Atlanta banks before
Profitable: Yes ($3.048 million profit for FY ’99) forming TSJ&A in 1987.
D.R. Grimes, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Served as an independent management consultant before
Website: www.netbank.com joining NetB@nk, and prior to that in various positions
Site Launch: October 1996 with Servantis Systems, Inc., including Executive Vice
Site Type: Business-to-Consumer President of Technology and Chief Information Officer,
Business Model: Fee-Based Executive Vice President of Technology and Marketing,
Site Size: Checking, Bill Payment, Bill Presentment, President, Treasury Products Division, and President,
IRAs, CDs, Credit Cards, Mortgages, Home Equity Loans, Financial Products Division.
Insurance, Brokerage Services Michael R. Fitzgerald, Director, President, formerly
Languages: English served as President of directbanking.com, the electronic
Accepts Advertising: No banking division of Salem Five Cents Savings Bank. His
Site Features: General help, contextual help, IP telephony; 20-year career in banking, and most recently online
Online real-time customer service is planned banking, was initiated at Merchants National Bank.
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Robert E. Bowers, Chief Financial Officer. Previously
information, transaction history, payment processing, and served as CFO of CheckFree Corp. and prior to that as a
trader status integrated into website. CFO and Director of Servantis Systems, Inc.
Thomas L. Cable, Chief Technology Officer. Previously
MARKETING served as Vice President, Retail Financial Services of
Media: Radio advertising, newspaper advertising, CheckFree Corp. and prior to that in various capacities
consumer and business periodical advertising, direct mail with Servantis Systems, Inc., including Senior Vice
Partnerships/Alliances: President and Business Unit Manager for Home Banking
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service) Products and Services, Vice President and Product
Manager for Delivery Systems and Associate and Product
• America Online (www.aol.com)
Manager for the company’s licensed bill payment software
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
product.
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• America Online (www.digitalcity.com)
COMMENTS
NetB@ank is the largest federally-insured bank
operating exclusively on the internet. The company’s total
assets stood at $1.4 billion and total accounts reached
82,000 at the end of the first quarter of 2000 (March 31).
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Groceries
Founded: October 1995
Employees: 63
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: New Brunswick, NJ headquarters and distribution
facility
Telecenter: In-house call center
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
• Uri Evan, Founder (16%)
• Parmalat SPA (22%) • Netmarket Group (www.netmarket.com)
• Cendant Internet Group (27%) • Network Commerce Inc. (www.shopnow.com)
Financing: $45 million • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Profitable: No Affiliates Program: NetGrocer Affiliate Program
Number of Affiliates: n/a
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Commission Rate: 5% of order value
Website: www.netgrocer.com
Site Launch: July 1997 MANAGEMENT
Site Type: Business-to-consumer James Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Business Model: Fixed pricing Fred Horowitz, President
Site Size: 9,500+ product SKUs Richard Falcone, Executive Vice President and Chief
Languages: English Financial Officer
Accepts Advertising: No Ari Sabah, Chief Information Officer
Site Features: General help Stephen Johann, Vice President, Consumer Direct
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, inventory availability, order INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
status, and shipment tracking are integrated into website. Design Consultants: None
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
MARKETING Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Media: No off-line media used Access Provider: Network Plus/InfoHouse
Partnerships: Internet Connectivity: One DS-3 line
• Big Planet (www.bigplanet.com) Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Compaq ProLiant
• CollegeClub.com (www.collegeclub.com)
Operating System: Windows NT 4
• CyberGold Inc. (www.cybergold.com)
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
• EarthLink Inc. (www.wizshop.com)
Commerce Platform: Proprietary Cold Fusion applications
• Foodvision.com (www.foodvision.com) Web Servers: 15 Compaq ProLiant 5000, ProLiant 2500,
• Inktomi Corp. (Inktomi Shopping Engine) and ProLiant 850R servers
• Intuit Inc. (www.quicken.com) Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
• MyWay.com (www.myway.com) Database Servers: Two
Personalization: Proprietary application
COMMENTS ORGANIZATION
NetGrocer is an online supermarket that offers “dry Business Sector: Financial services
groceries” and related consumer products which are Founded: June 1996
shipped nationwide to customers’ homes and offices. All Employees: 365
orders are packaged at the company's New Jersey Offline Activity:
distribution center and the majority are shipped via FedEx. Storefronts: None
Approximately 60% of orders are shipped within the Catalogs Mailed: None
Northeastern corridor, 22% are shipped to the Midwest, Facilities:
and the balance go to the West Coast. The company’s • San Francisco, CA headquarters
average order is approximately $74.00. • San Ramon, CA operations center
The company believes that because its business model • Phoenix, AZ call center
is based around the delivery of non-perishable products to • London, UK international branch
customers via Federal Express, it can easily expand into Telecenter: Two in-house call centers in San Ramon, CA
international markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia and and Phoenix, AZ with 100+ representatives and after-hours
Australia with the participation of local financial and support out-sourced to First Data Corp.
strategic partners Ownership: Public
In February 1999, the company modified its business Trading Symbol: NXCD (NASDAQ)
strategy by embracing a “super center” approach and Major Shareholders:
redesigning its site to add a drugstore, a general store, and • Jeremy Lent, CEO
a solutions-focused store to the existing grocery store. The • Brentwood Venture Capital
solutions store aggregates products around common • Moore Capital Management
themes, such as a new baby, pet care, or setting-up a home • Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
office. Since its launch, the general store has been • Forrest Binkley & Brown
expanded to include entertainment products, housewares, • Trinity Ventures
toys, home office and school supplies, pet supplies, and • St. Paul Venture Capital
gifts. • Sequoia Capital
The company generated an estimated $5 million in sales Financing: $384.47 million in four rounds, IPO and
during 1999. In March 2000, Parmalat SpA a multi- secondary offering
national Milan-based food company, purchased a 22% Profitable: No ($77.195 million loss for FY ’99)
equity stake in NetGrocer for $30 million in new capital.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.nextcard.com
Site Launch: December 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fee-based
Site Size: One service
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real-
time customer service
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, transaction processing, transaction status, and
transaction history are integrated into website.
Other Applications: eShare Technologies online customer In February 1999, the company announced an
service, ART Technology Dynamo Application Server, agreement with Flooz.com that provides for a variety of
Resonate load balancing software, SAS Institute data cross-marketing initiatives and for NextCard to integrate
analysis software, Mercury WinRunner and LoadRunner the Flooz.com online gift currency into its e-commerce
platform; as part of the agreement, the company purchased
OPERATING BENCHMARKS a minority stake in Flooz.com. The company also acquired
Total Revenue PayTrust, an online bill payment service, in the first
1999........................................$26.56mn quarter of 2000. PayTrust will be used as a platform to
1998........................................$ 1.20mn offer online bill payment services to cardholders.
1997........................................$ 0.09mn
Marketing Expenditures
1999........................................$24.65mn
1998........................................$ 4.32mn
1997........................................$ 0.05mn
Development Expenditures
1999........................................$22.05mn
1998........................................$ 0.50mn
1997........................................$ 0.09mn
COMMENTS
NextCard is an Internet-based credit card issuer. The
company offers its own NextCard Visa card as well as
affinity Visa cards through partnerships with companies
such as Amazon.com, priceline.com, ebates.com,
MyPoints.com, Flooz.com, and United Media’s Dilbert
cartoon strip. Gross revenue for the first quarter ending
March 31, 2000 was $31.02 million with a loss of $17.7
million. Total accounts reached 337,000 at the end of the
quarter.
The company was originally founded as Internet Access
Financial Corp. and changed its name to NextCard Inc. in
October 1998. Between December 1997 and September
1999, NextCard Visa cards were issued exclusively
through a profit and loss sharing partnership with Heritage
Bank of Commerce. In September 1999, the company
acquired Textron National Bank, which was subsequently
renamed NextBank. Since the acquisition of Textron, the
company has originated accounts on its own behalf
through NextBank.
The company offers its NextCard Visa card within the
context of a broader e-commerce platform. Cardholders
are provided access to online account reporting and
management services, a NextCard Concierge electronic
wallet software which simplifies online shopping, a
GoShopping! online shopping portal -- created in
partnership with Epinions, Flooz.com, and BizRate.com --
and a NextCard Rewards which provides reward points
based on spending and balance transfer activity.
Partnerships:
OfficeDepot.com • America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
Office Depot, Inc. • America Online (www.aol.com)
818 Mission Street, Fourth Floor • America Online (www.netscape.com)
San Francisco, CA 94103, U.S.A. • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Tel. 415-974-1000 • America Online (www.digitalcities.com)
• ChamberBiz (www.chamberbiz.com)
Unique Visitors (March 2000): 715,000 • Chase Manhattan/Chase.com (www.chase.com)
Reach: 1.1% • Intelisys Electronic Commerce (IEC Portal service)
Rank: 1,020 • Intuit Inc. (www.quicken.com)
• Oracle Corp. (Oracle Exchange)
ORGANIZATION • PurchasePro (www.purchasepro.com)
Business Sector: Office supplies • iVillage, Inc. (www.ivillage.com)
Founded: 1986 Affiliates Program: None
Employees: 48,000 total
Offline Activity MANAGEMENT
Storefronts: 798 U.S., 70 International William Seltzer, Executive Vice President Information
Catalogs Mailed: 296 million Systems and Chief Information Officer
Facilities: Monica Luechtefeld, Senior Vice President of E-
• Delray Beach, FL headquarters and data center Commerce
• San Francisco, CA officedepot.com office Joan Broughton, Director of Web Publishing
• Torrance, CA Viking Office Products office Francis Juliano, Director of Product Development and
• Charlotte, NC data center Technology
• 30 distribution facilities in 18 states
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
• 17 international distribution facilities in 10 countries
Design Consultants: None
• 60 regional sales offices
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Telecenter: Seven in-house U.S. call centers with 1,000+
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
customer account managers; 14 international call centers
Access Provider: MCI Telecommunications Corp.,
Ownership: Public
IBM Corp.
Trading Symbol: ODP (NYSE)
Internet Connectivity: Multiple shared DS-3 lines
Major Shareholders: n/a
Mirror Locations: None
Shareholder Equity: $1.876 billion
Hardware Platform: Compaq Computer
Profitable: Yes ($257.638 million profit for FY ’99)
Operating System: Windows NT 4
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
Website: www.officedepot.com
Edition
Site Launch: January 1998
Web Servers: Multiple Compaq AlphaServers
Site Version: 5.0
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Site Type: Business-to-business
Database Servers: Multiple Compaq AlphaServers; real-
Business Model: Fixed pricing
time links to IBM AS/400 legacy system via proprietary
Site Size: 7,000+ products plus ability to order any catalog
messaging layer
item by product number
Personalization: Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition
Languages: English
Affiliate Management: Not used
Accepts Advertising: No
Payment Processing: Proprietary application; links to
Site Features: General help; foreign language product
chain-wide POS system and AVS
information and order pages are planned.
Other Applications: GroupOne AVS, Microsoft Visual
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
InterDev and SourceSafe, AskJeeves search, NCR
information, order history, inventory availability, order
Teradata retailDecisions, Kana eBusiness System
processing, payment processing, order status, and order
tracking are integrated into website.
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
MARKETING
1999.......................................$10.263bn
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
1998.........................................$8.998bn
advertising, business periodical advertising, direct mail
1997.........................................$8.100bn
MARKETING COMMENTS
Media: Television and radio advertising, consumer and OfficeMax.com is the Internet marketing division of
business periodical advertising, direct mail OfficeMax Inc. OfficeMax Inc is currently organized into
Partnerships: three business segments: a Core Business Segment that
• Amazon.com Inc. (www.zshops.com) encompasses the company’s retail stores, call centers, and
• America Online Inc. (Proprietary dial-up service) outside sales force; a Computer Business Segment which
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Gifts
Founded: 1987
Employees: 2,100 total (25 interactive staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 36 company-owned, 87 franchised, and
2,000 (approx.) Partner Florists
Catalogs Mailed: 36 million (FY ’99)
Facilities:
• Westbury, NY headquarters
• Madison, VA distribution and service center
• Phoenix, AZ distribution and service center
• Denver, CO distribution center
• Westbury, NY customer service center
• Bethpage, NY customer service center
• Marietta, GA customer service center
• San Antonio, TX customer service center
Telecenter: Six in-house call centers
Ownership: Public
is focused on in-store computer hardware and software Trading Symbol: FLWS
sales; and the OfficeMax.com Segment. Although Major Shareholders:
OfficeMax.com is currently managed as a division within
• James McCann, Chairman and CEO
OfficeMax Inc., the company announced plans in
• Chase Venture Capital Associates
December 1999 to evaluate alternate organizational
strategies, including issuing a tracking stock for the • Benchmark Capital Partners
Internet unit or even spinning it off in an IPO. • SOFTBANK America
The OfficeMax.com unit leverages the parent • Waelinvest S.A
company’s existing infrastructure, which includes 21 Financing: $239.7 million from two rounds and IPO
delivery centers across the U.S. and two national call Profitable: No ($53.92 million loss for nine months ended
centers. The unit also piggybacks on OfficeMax Inc.’s 3/26/00)
advertising and marketing programs which spent more
than $123 million during 1999 net of vendor WEBSITE OVERVIEW
reimbursements. Online sales were $26.13 million for the Website: www.1800flowers.com, www.800flowers.com
first quarter ending April 22, 2000, up from $4.43 million Site Launch: April 1995
in the same quarter of 1999, with a loss of $7.36 million. Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business
The Internet infrastructure of OfficeMax.com is Business Model: Fixed pricing
substantially autonomous, although transaction processing Site Size: 1,500 plants and floral arrangements, 6,000
systems are integrated into the parent’s SAP/R3 ERP (approx.) gift product SKUs
system for order management, payment processing, Languages: English, Spanish
distribution, accounting and financial systems. Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, online real-time customer
service, foreign language product information and order
pages
MANAGEMENT
James McCann, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Christopher McCann, Senior Vice President
T. Guy Minetti, Senior Vice President, Corporate
Development
Jerry Noonan, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing
Officer
Jeffry Borror, Senior Vice President and Chief
Technology Officer
Donna Iucolano, Senior Vice President, Interactive
Services
Joe Hage, Vice President of Marketing
Norman Dee, Director of Planning and Web Strategies
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Design Consultants: Fry Multimedia Inc.
information, order history, order processing, and payment Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultant
processing are integrated into website. Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: UUNET/MCI Worldcom, Exodus
MARKETING Communications
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer and Mirror Locations: One
business periodical advertising, direct mail Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium, Sun Microsystems
Partnerships: Operating System: Windows NT, Solaris (BloomLink)
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service) Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS, Netscape Enterprise
• America Online (www.aol.com) Server 3.6 (BloomLink)
• America Online (www.netscape.com) Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) Edition
• America Online (www.digitalcity.com) Web Servers: Multiple Pentium servers, two Sun Ultra 2
• America Online (ICQ service) servers (BloomLink)
• Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com) Application Servers: Two Compaq 2500 servers
(BloomLink)
• BarnesandNoble.com (www.barnesandnoble.com)
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle
• Dawson's Desktop (www.dawsonsdesktop.com)
(BloomLink)
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com) Database Servers: Two Sun Ultra 2 servers (BloomLink)
• GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com) Personalization: Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition,
• GiftPoint.com (www.giftpoint.com) proprietary applications
• iParty Corp. (www.iparty.com) Affiliate Management: LinkShare
• Inflightonline.com (www Inflightonline.com) Payment Processing: Signio, OrderTrust, Achex Payment
Service
Other Applications: RedCart Universal Shopping Cart, to process web site orders as well as orders from the call
Prime Response PrimeVantage marketing software, iPivot centers, fax, and America Online. Fulfillment partners are
load balancing software, eShare Technologies NetAgent, able to log-in to BloomLink, access orders, download
Kana Solution customer support information to their point-of-sale system, and process other
database-intensive information. BloomLink also supports
OPERATING BENCHMARKS user editable dealer home pages, special interest chat
Total Revenue1 sessions with floral and small business experts, and an e-
1999........................................$295.9mn commerce application for dealer supplies.
1998........................................$220.6mn In November 1999, the Company acquired
1997........................................$186.4mn GreatFood.com, an online retailer of specialty and gourmet
food products for approximately $18.7 million in cash.
Online Sales1 The company also inked a partnership the same month
1999........................................$52.89mn with Fulton Street Lobster and Seafood Company to add a
1998........................................$26.75mn gourmet storefront to the 1-800-FLOWERS website
1997........................................$16.09mn offering lobster, seafood and aged porterhouse steaks
beginning in December 1999.
Marketing Expenditures1
1999........................................$92.15mn
1998........................................$55.42mn
1997........................................$47.46mn
COMMENTS
1-800-FLOWERS was already selling millions of
dollars worth of flowers in 1995 when it launched its first
online storefront. Sales from the online channel have
increased from 8.6% of total sales in FY 1997 to 17.9% in
1999. Cumulative online customers have expanded from
400,000 at the end of FY 1998 to 700,000 in 1999. During
the first nine months of FY 2000 (6/28/99 to 3/26/00),
online revenues totaled $71 million, representing a 135%
increase over the comparable period last year, and the
number of online customers exceeded 1.8 million. Many
customers also place orders through multiple channels; the
company reports more than one million customers placed
orders during the most recent quarter (Jan. 1, 2000 to
March 26, 2000), approximately 40 percent were repeat
customers and more than 25 percent of the repeat
customers placed their orders both online and by
telephone.
A majority of orders processed by the company are
fulfilled through its BloomNet network of independent
florists or one of its own retail stores. The company has
developed an extranet called BloomLink that leverages its
website infrastructure and connects the company to many
of its fulfillment partners. The BloomLink extranet is used
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Financial services/Banking/Brokerage
Founded: 1998
Employees: 80 (5 Web Staff)
Offline Activity:
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities: Bedford, MA headquarters
Telecenter: In-house call center with 14 representatives
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders
• CMGI @ Ventures
• Century Capital Management, Inc.
• Paine Webber Group, Inc.
• Merrill Lynch
• Onex Ventures
Financing: $37.5+ million in three rounds
Profitable: No
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.onecore.com
Site Launch: April 1998 • eCongo.com Inc. (www.econgo.com)
Site Version: 3.0 • Entrepreneur.com (www.entrepreneur.com)
Site Type: Business-to-business • Inc. magazine/inc.com (www.inc.com)
Business Model: Fee-based
• National Small Business United (www.nsbu.org)
Site Size: 10 services
• NetLedger Inc. (www.netledger.com)
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No • OfficeMax Inc. (www.officemax.com)
Site Features: General help, contextual help, customer • Peachtree Software (www.peachtree.com)
created content • SBT Accounting Systems (www.sbt.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to account information, • TrueAdvantage.com (www.trueadvantage.com)
order history, order status, and payment processing are • Webforia Inc. (www.webforia.com)
integrated into website. Affiliates Program: OneCore.com Affiliate Marketing
Program
MARKETING No. of affiliates: 15,000+
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper Commission Rate: $50.00 per converted referral
advertising, business periodical advertising, direct mail
Partnerships MANAGEMENT
• Bigstep (www.bigstep.com) Jack Littman-Quinn, Chief Executive Officer.
• Cisco Resource Network (www.cisco.com) Previously served as co-founder and president of PCs
• Concentric Network (www.concentric.com) Compleat and as senior vice president, international sales
• The Company Corporation (www.corporate.com) for Microamerica/Merisel, Inc. B.A. and Masters degree
from Boston College.
• EarthLink (www.earthlink.com)
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: Corey MacPherson and Nash
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: Exodus Communications
Internet Connectivity: Two 100 BTX Connections
Mirror Locations: One
Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Computer hardware/software
Founded: March 1995
Employees: 164
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Kent, CT headquarters
• Wilmington, OH distribution facility
Telecenter: n/a
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: COOL (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Darryl Peck, Chairman
• Winfield Capital Corp.
• Primus Venture Partners
• Brand Equity Ventures
Financing: $129.2 million in 3 rounds, IPO and private
placement
Profitable: No ($35.62 million loss for FY ’00)
MARKETING
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Media: Radio and television advertising, business
Website: www.outpost.com, www.outpostauction.com, periodical advertising
www.cyberianoutpost.com Partnerships:
Site Launch: May 1995 • Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, Business-to-business • America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
Business Model: Fixed pricing and auction/negotiated • America Online (www.aol.com)
pricing • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Site Size: 170,000 products (approx.), including 130,000 • America Online (www.netscape.com)
software titles • Big Planet (www.bigplanet.com)
Languages: English, Cantonese, Chinese, Dutch, French, • Computer.com (www.computer.com)
German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, • theglobe.com inc. (www.theglobe.com)
Swedish, and Taiwanese • Lycos Bertelsmann (www.lycos.co.uk)
Accepts Advertising: Yes
• Netcentives Inc. (www.clickrewards.com)
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy,
• Scandinavia Online (www.scandinaviaonline.com)
foreign language product information and order pages
• StarMedia Network (www.starmedia.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, inventory availability, order processing, • ShopperConnection (www.shopperconnection.com)
payment processing, order status, and shipment tracking • The Magma Group (gross roots marketing)
are integrated into website. • USA Today Online (www.usatoday.com)
• WingspanBank (www.wingspan.com)
Affiliates Program: Outpost Affiliates Network
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Groceries
Founded: 1989
Employees: 610 full-time; 410 part-time
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Skokie, IL headquarters
• Niles, IL distribution center
• Union City, CA distribution center • Follett (www.efollet.com)
• Chicago, IL distribution center • Food.com (www.food.com)
• Dallas, TX distribution center • Hearst Corp. (www.homearts.com)
• Long Island, NY distribution center Affiliates Program: Peapod Affiliate Program
Telecenter: In-house call center Number of Affiliates: <1,000
Ownership: Public Commission Rate: $15.00 per referred first-time order
Trading Symbol: PPOD (NASDAQ) and $15.00 for each referred customer’s third order
Major Shareholders:
• Koninklijke Ahold N.V. (16%) MANAGEMENT
Andrew B. Parkinson, Chairman
• Nevis Capital Management (13%)
Marc van Gelder, President and Chief Executive Officer
• Tribune National Marketing Company (8%)
Dan Rabinowitz, Senior Vice President and Chief
• Thomas Parkinson, CTO (5%)
Financial Officer
• Andrew Parkinson, Chairman (5%) Thomas L. Parkinson, Senior Vice President and Chief
Financing: $145 million Technology Officer.
Profitable: No ($28.453 million loss for FY ’99) John A. Furton, Senior Vice President and Chief
Information Officer
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Raymond Britt, Senior Vice President of Business
Website: www.peapod.com Operations and Development
Site Launch: January 1997 Michael Brennan, Senior Vice President of Marketing
Site Type: Business-to-consumer and Product Management
Business Model: Fixed pricing Randy Pickard, Director Electronic Marketing
Site Size: 50,000+ products
Languages: English INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Accepts Advertising: Yes Design Consultants: None
Site Features: General help Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
information, order history, and order processing are Access Provider: InterNAP Network Services,
integrated into website. UUNET/MCI Worldcom
Internet Connectivity: Two T-1 lines
MARKETING Mirror Locations: None
Media: Radio advertising, newspaper advertising, and Hardware Platform: Hewlett-Packard
direct mail Operating System: HP-UX UNIX
Partnerships: Web Server Software: Netscape FastTrack 2.01
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com) Commerce Platform: ART Technology Group Dynamo
Web Servers: Multiple HP 9000 servers costs, and expand the product selection to include non-
Database Platform: Informix v.7, proprietary application grocery items.
Database Servers: One HP 9000 server In addition to offering online shopping services, the
Personalization: ART Technology Group Dynamo company also enables consumer packaged goods
Affiliate Management: Proprietary application companies to conduct highly-targeted, one-to-one
Payment Processing: Proprietary application advertising and promotion programs, such as electronic
couponing, and research consumer shopping behavior and
OPERATING BENCHMARKS preferences. A Consumer Directions service provides
Total Revenue companies with information about consumer behavior in
1999........................................$73.13mn the Internet distribution channel.
1998........................................$69.27mn In May 1999, the company partnered with Walgreen
1997........................................$56.94mn Company to expand its product offering to include health
and beauty products, household hardware, small
Marketing Expenditures appliances, electrical supplies, audio and video tapes,
1999..........................................$7.17mn stationary and art supplies, and seasonal items, In October
1998..........................................$7.55mn 1999, a Peapod Packages service was launched, enabling
1997..........................................$7.73mn customers outside the company’s normal service areas to
order from 7,000 non-perishable grocery items, health- and
Technology Expenditures beauty-care products, pet supplies, and other household
1999..........................................$3.54mn goods and receive them through U.P.S.
1998..........................................$3.39mn In November 1999, the company partnered with McLane
1997..........................................$1.70mn Group, which provides distribution-logistics services and
technology for food companies. The two companies also
Orders Processed announced a personal investment in Peapod by McLane
1999...........................................571,300 Group’s chairman and his appointment to Peapod's board
1998...........................................494,700 of directors.
1997...........................................396,600
COMMENTS
Founded in 1989, Peapod is one of the original e-
commerce companies. The company initially employed
proprietary client software which dialed into the Peapod
system and enabled customers to shop for groceries online;
the transition to a browser-based service was completed in
1999. At the end of March 2000, the company served
129,800 customers in eight metropolitan markets: Chicago,
San Francisco/San Jose, Columbus, Boston, Houston,
Dallas and Austin, and Long Island. First quarter 2000
revenues were $24.9 million with a $12.7 million loss.
Peapod originally fulfilled customer orders by using
shoppers who simply picked items at a local grocery
retailer that had partnered with the company. Twenty-two
of these fulfillment centers across eight metro areas were
used at the end of March 2000, down from 32 at the end of
1998. In 1998, a shift in distribution strategy was initiated
and the company began establishing its own centralized,
dedicated fulfillment centers. At the end of 1999,
company-owned fulfillment centers were operating in five
locations. The new distribution strategy will enable the
company to improve order fulfillment efficiency, reduce
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Pet Supplies
Founded: October 1998
Employees: 279
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• San Francisco, CA headquarters
• Union City, CA fulfillment center • America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• Greenwood, IN fulfillment center • America Online (www.aol.com)
Telecenter: In-house call center with 80+ representatives
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Ownership: Public
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
Trading Symbol: IPET (NASDAQ)
• Buena Vista Internet (www.go.com)
Major Shareholders:
• Buena Vista Internet (www.disney.com)
• Amazon.com Inc. (30%)
• Buena Vista Internet (www.family.com)
• Hummer Winblad Venture Partners (16%)
• Buena Vista Internet (www.mrshowbiz.com)
• Bowman Capital Management (5%)
• Discovery Communications (www.discovery.com)
• Catalyst Investments (4%)
• eHow Inc. (www.ehow.com)
• Julie Wainwright (3%)
Financing: $214.89 million in three rounds and IPO • Excite@Home (www.bluemountainarts.com)
Profitable: No ($61.78 million loss for FY ’99) • FreeShop.com Inc. (www.freeshop.com)
• Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • NBC Internet (www.snap.com)
Website: www.pets.com • PetPlace.com, Inc (www.petplace.com)
Site Launch: February 1999 • PlanetOut Corp. (www.planetout.com)
Site Version: 3.0 • Xoom.com, Inc (www.xoom.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Business Model: Fixed pricing • American Veterinary Medical Foundation
Site Size: 15,000 (approx.) product SKUs • Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
Languages: English • Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS
Accepts Advertising: No • Discovery Communications (Discovery, TLC, and
Site Features: General help, contextual help, threaded Animal Planet cable TV channels)
discussions • NADRA Productions
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
• Pet Sitters International
information, order history, inventory availability, order
• Safeway Inc. (in-store promotion)
processing, payment processing, order status, and shipment
Affiliates Program: Pets.com Associates Program
tracking are integrated into website.
Number of Affiliates: n/a
Commission Rate: $5.00 per new customer plus 10%
MARKETING
of order value
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer
periodical advertising
MANAGEMENT
Partnerships:
Julie Wainwright, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
• Amazon.com Inc. (www.amazon.com) Chris Deyo, President
Paul Melmon, Vice President of Engineering 264,000 at the end of March 2000, up from 144,000 at the
John Hommeyer, Vice President of Marketing end of 1999 and repeat customers accounted for 50% of
Sue Ann Latterman, Vice President of Strategic total orders during the first quarter of 2000 compared to
Alliances 39% during the fourth quarter of 1999. Total revenue for
John Benjamin, Vice President of Merchandising the first quarter ending March 31, 2000 was $7.65 million
Diane Hourany, Vice President of Operations with a loss of $39.09 million.
Ralph Lewis, Vice President of Logistics The company’s largest shareholder is Amazon.com,
Paul Manca, Chief Financial Officer which invested $58 million between April and November
John Hollon, Vice President of Editorial 1999. In addition to investing in the company,
John Boyden, Creative Director Amazon.com has provided consulting services to Pets.com
across a range of operational and strategic initiatives and
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE has participated in a variety of joint marketing activities,
Design Consultants: Amazon.com Inc., eFORCE including e-mail promotions distributed to Amazon.com
Site Maintenance: In-house staff customers and inserting Pets.com discount coupons in
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s) outbound orders.
Access Provider: Exodus Communications The company began publishing a bi-monthly hardcopy
Internet Connectivity: 100 Mbps connection publication, “Pets.com: The Magazine For Pets and Their
Mirror Locations: One location planned Humans,” in November 1999. The first issue was
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems distributed to approximately 760,000 households and
Operating System: Solaris UNIX approximately 300,000 copies were distributed to
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6 veterinary offices, shelters, pet sitter organizations, and
Commerce Platform: BroadVision One-to-One, inserted into outbound Pets.com orders.
proprietary applications In November 1999, the Company purchased a 10%
Web Servers: Multiple Sun Enterprise servers interest in PetPlace.com for approximately $2 million and
Database Platform: Oracle 8i an additional 7.5% stake for $1.5 million in March 2000.
Database Servers: Multiple Sun Enterprise servers In December 1999, acquired Coolpetstuff.com for $75,000
Personalization: BroadVision One-to-One in cash and 40,000 shares of Pets.com common stock.
Affiliate Management: Be Free BFAST During the first quarter of 2000, acquired an equity stake
Payment Processing: CyberSource Credit Card Services in the U.K.-based online pet retailer Petspark.com, Ltd. for
Other Applications: Quality Software Systems back-end $700,000 in cash. Acquired competitor Petstore.com in
warehouse management system, Kana Solution customer June 2000 for 5.8 million shares of Pets.com common
support, Broadbase Software customer data analysis suite, stock.
BroadVision Dynamic Command Center
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
2000 (Q1) .................................$7.65mn
1999 (Q4) .................................$5.17mn
1999 (Q3) .................................$0.57mn
1999 (Q2) .................................$0.04mn
Development Expenditures
2000 (Q1) .................................$2.69mn
1999 (Q4) .................................$2.65mn
1999 (Q3) .................................$2.19mn
1999 (Q2) .................................$1.62mn
COMMENTS
Pets.com operates one of the Internet’s leading pet
supply and content sites. Customer accounts reached
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Pet supplies
Founded: February 1999
Employees: 72
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 490 (operated by PETsMART, Inc.)
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Pasadena, CA headquarters
• Brockport, NY contract distribution facility
Telecenter: Outsourced to PETsMART Inc.; 83 customer
representatives in Brockport, NY
Ownership: Private; IPO pending
Trading Symbol: PSCM (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders
• PETsMART, Inc. (48%)
• Idealab! Holdings L.L.C. (22%)
• Global Retail Partners L.P. (9%)
• Idealab! Capital Management (4%)
Financing: $81.9 million in two rounds
Profitable: No ($52.0 million loss for FY ‘99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.petsmart.com
Site Launch: June 1999
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 20,000 (approx.) SKUs
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, real-time customer-to-
customer chat, customer created content
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, inventory availability, order
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are
integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Television and radio advertising, direct mail • Big Dog Holdings (www.bigdogs.com)
Partnerships: • Buena Vista Internet (www.go.com)
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service) • coolsavings.com inc. (www.coolsavings.com)
• America Online (www.aol.com) • GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) • LifeMinders.com (www.lifeminders.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com) • Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
• BarnesandNoble.com (www.barnesandnoble.com) • Women.com Networks (www.women.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.planetrx.com
Site Launch: March 1999
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 27,000 (approx.) product SKUs
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, real-time
customer-to-customer chat, threaded discussions
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, inventory availability, order
status, and shipment tracking are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Does not advertise in off-line media
Partnerships:
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.digitalcity.com)
• BabyCenter.com (www.babycenter.com)
• BarnesandNoble.com (www barnesandnoble.com)
• ePhysician.com (www.ephysician.com)
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: None
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: Exodus Communications
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
• Express Scripts Inc. Operating System: Microsoft NT 4.0
• Gazoontite.com (www.gazoontite.com) Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
• iVillage, Inc. (www.ivillage.com) Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce
• Netcentives Inc. (www.clickrewards.com) Edition
• News America Inc. (mixed media agreement) Web Servers: One
• NextCard Inc. (www.nextcard.com) Application Servers: One
• ShopperConnection (www.shopperconnection.com) Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server and IBM UDB
• Women.com Networks (www.women.com) Database Servers: One
• Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com) Personalization: Not used
Affiliates Program: PlanetRx Affiliate Program Affiliate Management: Be Free BFAST
Number of Affiliates: n/a Payment Processing: CyberCash, Achex Payment Service
Commission Rate: 15% of non-prescription
product sales
COMMENTS
PlanetRx.com is a full-service online pharmacy,
offering products across six categories: prescription drugs,
non- prescription drugs, personal care, beauty and personal
care, vitamins and nutrition, and medical supplies. The
company’s website also provides numerous content and
community services, including detailed information on
symptoms, treatments and alternative care for over 100
disease categories. Domain names owned by the company
include aids.com, diabetes.com, alzheimers.com, acne.com
and 25 others; 16 of these satellite sites are currently
operated as part of the PlanetRx website.
For the first quarter ending March 31, 2000, the
company reported $8.77 million in revenue with a loss of
$49.64 million. Repeat customers accounted for 33% of
orders during the period and prescription drug sales
accounted for 49% of revenue. Registered members
increased to 854,000 and total customers reached 400,000
at the end March.
A substantial majority of the prescription and over-the-
counter products sold by the company are supplied through
a strategic partnership with McKesson. The two
companies have negotiated a multi-year agreement that
requires PlanetRx to purchase 80% of prescription and
non-prescription drugs, home healthcare products, sundries
and health and beauty aids from McKesson.
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Automobiles, Travel, Banking/Financial
Services, Food/Coffee/Tea
Founded: July 1997
Employees: 378
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Stamford, CT headquarters MARKETING
• New York, NY branch office
Media: Television and radio advertising, and newspaper
Telecenter: Outsourced to CallTech Communications with
advertising
call centers in Stamford, CT, Columbus, OH, and
Partnerships:
Charlotte, NC.
Ownership: Public • AT&T WorldNet (www.att.net)
Trading Symbol: PCLN (NASDAQ) • Preview Travel (www.previewtravel.com)
Major Shareholders: • Travelocity.com (www.travelocity.com)
• Jay Walker, Vice Chairman (42%) Affiliate Program: Priceline.com Affiliate Network
• Richard Braddock, CEO (12%) No. of Affiliates: n/a
Commission Rate: 1% of net revenue from
• General Atlantic Partners (18%)
“bound” (completed) transactions
• Delta Airlines, Inc. (12%)
• Vulcan Ventures Inc. (6%)
MANAGEMENT
Financing: $1.592 billion in three rounds, IPO, secondary
offering, and convertible debt offering Richard Braddock, Chairman and Chief Executive
Profitable: No ($152.6 million loss for FY ’99) Officer. Previously served as the non-executive chairman
of True North Communications, Inc., an advertising
WEBSITE OVERVIEW company, and Ion Laser Technology, a laser technology
Website: www.priceline.com company, as a special advisor to General Atlantic Partners,
Site Launch: April 1998 principal of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, CEO of Medco
Site Type: Business-to-business, business-to-consumer Containment Services, and in a variety of positions at
Business Model: Negotiated pricing (“name your own Citicorp
price”) Daniel Schulman, President and Chief Operating Officer.
Site Size: Nine product/service categories covering travel, Previously served in various positions at AT&T, including
automobiles, groceries, home loans, gasoline, long- president of AT&T Consumer Markets, president of
distance telephone service, and person-to-person sales. AT&T WorldNet Service, and vice president, business
Languages: English services marketing of AT&T Business Markets Division.
Accepts Advertising: No Michael McCadden, Executive Vice President and Chief
Site Features: General help, contextual help Marketing Officer. Previously served as executive vice
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account president of Gap, Inc. Direct, E.V.P. of Gap Global
information, inventory availability, order processing, Marketing, director of global advertising and public
payment processing, and order status are integrated into relations for Calvin Klein Cosmetics Company, and in
website. various positions at Lever Brothers/Chesebrough-Pond's
and The Gillette Company.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.quicken.com, quickenloans.quicken.com
Site Launch: November 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fee-based
Site Size: Conventional, sub-prime, home equity,
government, and jumbo mortgage loans from Quicken
Loans and from 12+ other lenders
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Features: General help, contextual help, threaded
discussions, real-time customer-to-customer chat,
customer created content
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, payment processing, transaction processing,
and transaction status are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
advertising, business and consumer periodical advertising,
direct mail
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 2
2000 (9 mos.)........................$931.57mn
1999......................................$847.57mn
1998......................................$592.74mn
Marketing Expenditures1 2
2000 (9 mos.)........................$216.19mn
1999......................................$191.63mn
1998......................................$164.83mn
Partnerships: 1. Fiscal year ending October
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service) 2. Total revenue and expenditures because company does not breakout
• America Online (www.aol.com) data for Quicken Loans unit
• BUYandHold.com Securities (www.buyandhold.com)
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com) COMMENTS
• CNNfn (www.cnnfn.com) Quicken Loans was launched by Intuit Inc. in November
• Homebid.com (www.homebid.com) 1997 under the name QuickenMortgage. The original
• ImproveNet (www.improvenet.com) service was an online intermediary between home
mortgage applicants and the company’s partner financial
• Realtor.com (www.realtor.com)
institutions. Loan applications were simply collected and
Affiliate Program: None
transmitted to lenders for processing. Intuit partnered with
Mortgage.com to provide the site’s back-end processing
MANAGEMENT
engine.
Daniel Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer (Quicken Loans)
In October 1999, Intuit acquired Rock Financial -- a
David Kinser, Senior Vice President, Service Delivery
traditional and online mortgage broker -- for $370 million
and Operations (Intuit Inc.)
in Intuit common stock and combined it with the
Greg Santora, Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief
QuickenMortgage unit. Rock Financial reported $49.0
Financial Officer (Intuit Inc.)
million in revenue for the nine months ending September
Raymond Stern, Senior Vice President, Corporate
30, 1999 -- the last reporting period prior to its acquisition
Strategy and Marketing (Intuit Inc.)
by Intuit -- and $97.6 million for the 1998 fiscal year. The
Eric Dunn, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology
two companies originated and closed a combined $3.5
Officer (Intuit Inc.)
billion in mortgages during 1999.
In October 1999, Intuit also acquired Detroit-based
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Title Source, a provider of title insurance and escrow
Design Consultants: None
services, for $6 million.
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
In January 2000, QuickenMortgage was renamed
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) (located at Intuit)
Quicken Loans and the company’s website was
Internet Connectivity: Multiple shared DS-3 lines
relaunched. At the same time, the company began
offering borrowers its own direct mortgage loans -- which
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Sporting goods
Founded: 1938
Employees: 5,500 total (Web staff: 150)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 54
Catalogs Mailed: n/a
Facilities:
• Kent, WA headquarters
• Sumner, WA distribution facility
Telecenter: In-house call center with 250 representatives
Ownership: Private; membership cooperative
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: n/a
Shareholder Equity: $196.9 million (membership equity)
Profitable: Yes
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.rei.com, www.rei-outlet.com
Site Launch: September 1996
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 94,000 products and 45,000+ content pages
Languages: English and Japanese Web sites; ordering
information in French, German, Spanish
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, online real-
time customer service, threaded discussions, customer
created content, foreign language order pages, foreign
language product information
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, inventory availability, order
processing, and payment processing are integrated into
website; web access to order status and shipment tracking
are planned.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
advertising, consumer and business periodical advertising,
direct mail
Partnerships:
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• Della.com (www.della.com)
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue
1999........................................$620.9mn
1998........................................$587.1mn
1997........................................$536.1mn
MANAGEMENT
Dennis Madsen, President and CEO
Mary Park, Vice President Internet Technologies
Matt Hyde, Vice President, Online Sales
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Videos and DVDs
Founded: September 1996
Employees: 230
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 1,700 (Hollywood Entertainment)
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Emeryville, CA headquarters
• San Leandro, CA distribution center
• Seattle, WA corporate office
• Los Angeles, CA corporate office
Telecenter: In-house call center with 70+ representatives
and outsourced to Modus Media International; E-mail
support outsourced to PeopleSupport and Kana
Communications
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: Wholly-owned subsidiary of
Hollywood Entertainment (NASDAQ: HLYW)
Financing: $96.88 million
Profitable: No
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.reel.com
Site Launch: January 1997
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 50,000 video tape titles and 4,500 DVD titles
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick buy,
online real-time customer service
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
information, order status, and order processing are • Ask Jeeves Inc. (www.ask.com)
integrated into website. • Collaborative Media (www.etown.com)
• CoolSavings.com (www.coolsavings.com)
MARKETING • Digital Chicago (www.suntimes.com)
Media: Radio advertising and consumer periodical • Discover Financial Services
advertising
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Partnerships:
• Excite@Home (www.home.com)
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
• E! Online (www.eonline.com)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• e-commerce Solutions (www.brandsforless.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• eHow Inc. (www.ehow.com)
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Banking/Brokerage/Financial services
Founded: 1971
Employees: 20,300 total (2,400+ IT staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 356 U.S. branches
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• San Francisco, CA headquarters
• Phoenix, AZ data center (2 locations)
• Phoenix, AZ telecommunications center
• Indianapolis, IN telecommunications center
• Orlando, FL telecommunications center
• Denver, CO telecommunications center
• Jersey City, NY Schwab Capital Markets headquarters
Telecenter: Four in-house call centers with 8,000
customer contact staff
Ownership: Public Partnerships:
Trading Symbol: SCH (NYSE) • Excite, Inc. (www.excite.com)
Major Shareholders: n/a • iVillage, Inc. (www.ivillage.com)
Shareholder Equity: $2.274 billion • BabyCenter Inc. (www.babycenter.com)
Profitable: Yes ($577.973 million profit for FY ’99) • Microsoft Corp. (investor.msn.com)
• Intuit Inc. (link with Quicken)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • Microsoft Corp. (link with MS Money)
Website: www.schwab.com, www.myschwab.com, Affiliates Program: None
www.schwab.com/chinese, www.schwab-worldwide.com
Site Launch: April 1996 MANAGEMENT
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business Giddeon Sasson, Enterprise President-Electronic
Business Model: Commission-based Brokerage
Site Size: U.S. stocks, options, Treasury securities, listed Dawn Gould Lepore, Vice Chairman and Chief
corporate bonds, and 1,100 mutual funds Information Officer
Languages: English and Chinese Fred Matteson, Executive Vice President of Technology/
Accepts Advertising: No Services
Site Features: General help, contextual help, threaded Jan Hier-King, Senior Vice President of Electronic
discussions, low bandwidth version, foreign language Brokerage Technology
information and order pages Arthur Shaw, Senior Vice President-Electronic Brokerage
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Development
information, transaction history, transaction processing, Neal Goldstein, Senior Vice President for Architecture
and transaction status integrated into website. and Planning
Randy Goldman, Vice President-Electronic Brokerage
MARKETING Development
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer and
business periodical advertising
Martha Deevy, Vice President-Electronic Brokerage Online Transactions (avg. trades per day)2
Marketing 1999...........................................119,100
Michael Raneri, Vice President-Product Development 1998.............................................56,300
1997.............................................26,800
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE 1996.............................................13,500
Outside Consultants: eFORCE, Razorfish, USWeb Corp.,
Inventa Technologies Marketing Expenditures
Site Maintenance: In-house staff 1999...........................................$242mn
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) 1998...........................................$155mn
Access Provider: Qwest Communications, Genuity Inc. 1997...........................................$130mn
Internet Connectivity: Multiple DS-3 lines
Mirror Locations: One 1. Accounts at end of period.
2. Commission trades only, does not include mutual fund trades.
Hardware Platform: IBM, Sun Microsystems
Operating System: Solaris, AIX, JOSP
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6 COMMENTS
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications, IBM Charles Schwab & Company is the largest online
Websphere securities broker with more than 3 million online accounts
Web Servers: 600 (approx.) IBM RS/6000 SP2 and Sun and almost $350 billion in online assets. The company’s
servers initial online trading service was launched in 1996 after
Database Platform: Oracle, IBM DB2 eight weeks of development by a 13-person task force.
Database Servers: Web front-end links to back-end The initial service cost $2.4 million to develop and deploy.
mainframe cluster (IBM and Hitachi) via RS/6000 Today, the company’s online channels include the
middleware layer Schwab website for individual investors, the PC-based
Personalization: Proprietary applications; Aptex SchwabLink for independent investment managers, and
SelectResponse Velocity for highly active traders. The online channels
Affiliate Management: Not used handled 68% of total trades in 1999 and 79% in the first
Transaction Processing: Proprietary applications three months of 2000. At the end of March 2000, the
Other Applications: Enterprise JavaBeans, Resonate load company had 3.7 million online accounts with $418 billion
balancing software, BEA Systems WebLogic Enterprise, in assets.
Epiphany E.4 customer management suite, Net.Genesis In 1999, the company’s Electronic Brokerage Technology
Net.Analysis, Tivoli systems management software (EBT) Enterprise unit began an initiative to re-architect the
Schwab website’s current C and CGI web trading code
OPERATING BENCHMARKS with a component based design using Java technology and
Total Revenue to migrate the current mainframe-based COBOL
1999.........................................$3.945bn applications to Java applications. The projected time
1998.........................................$2.736bn frame for the effort is three to five years.
1997.........................................$2.299bn In May 1999, the company introduced MyResearch
1996.........................................$1.851bn which enables customers to design their own research
reports, and MySchwab which allows users to customize a
Online Customer Assets1 personal Schwab home page with content provided by
1999.........................................$348.7bn Excite@Home.
1998.........................................$174.1bn In July 1999, the company announced a partnership
1997.........................................$ 80.8bn with Spear, Leeds & Kellogg; Fidelity Capital Markets;
1996.........................................$ 41.7bn Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette; and Pershing to create a
new electronic communications network (ECN) for
Online Customer Accounts1 extended-hours trading of NASDAQ and other exchange-
1999..............................................3.3mn listed stocks.
1998..............................................2.2mn In November 1999, the company launched a new online
1997..............................................1.2mn investment bank -- Epoch Partners -- in partnership with
1996..............................................0.6mn TD Waterhouse Group, Ameritrade Holding Corp., KPCB
Holdings, Trident Capital Management, and Benchmark
Total Customer Accounts1 Capital Partners. Epoch will focus its activities on
1999..............................................6.6mn information technology and Internet companies.
1998..............................................5.6mn In November 1999, launched eConfirms, an e-mail
1997..............................................4.8mn based subscription service that delivers trade confirmations
1996..............................................4.0mn directly to customers electronically.
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.sharperimage.com
Site Launch: April 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing and auction/negotiated
pricing
Site Size: 2,000 (approx.) products
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, contextual help, one-click
ordering/quick buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order processing, and payment processing are
integrated into the website; web access to order status and
shipment tracking planned.
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, newspaper
advertising, consumer and business periodical advertising,
direct mail
Partnerships:
• America Online Inc. (proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online Inc. (www.aol.com)
• America Online Inc. (www.netscape.com)
• America Online Inc. (www.compuserve.com)
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1
2000........................................$294.4mn
1999........................................$243.1mn
1998........................................$216.8mn
Online Revenue1
2000..........................................$28.5mn
1999..........................................$ 4.9mn
1998..........................................$ 1.6mn
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: cbs.sportsline.com
Site Launch: August 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 1+ million content pages
Languages: English; company’s Sports.com property is
published in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Demographics: 76% male/24% female, 62% college
graduates, 69% married, average age 35-44, average
household income $60-75,000
Site Features: General help, contextual help, threaded
discussions, and real-time customer-to-customer chat
MARKETING
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer and
business periodical advertising, direct mail
Partnerships:
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
• CBS Corp. (www.cbs.com)
• Excite@Home (www.home.com)
• Financial Times (www.ft.com)
MVP.com (www.mvp.com)
• Intel Corp. (www.intel.com)
• Time Warner Road Runner (www.rr.com)
• Microsoft Corp. (Active Channel placement)
• Major League Baseball
• PGA TOUR
Affiliates Program: CBS SportsLine News Affiliate
Program (content sharing program)
Number of Affiliates: 1,000
Commission Rate: None
MANAGEMENT
Michael Levy, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and
President. Previously served as president and CEO of
Lexicon Corp. and as chairman and CEO of Sports-Tech
International, Inc.
Mark J. Mariani, President-Sales & Marketing.
Previously served as executive vice president of sports
sales for Turner Broadcasting Sales, Inc., senior vice
president and national sales manager for CNN, vice
president for CNN sales Midwest, and account executive
for CBS affiliate WBBM in Chicago, Illinois.
Andrew S. Sturner, President-Business & Corporate
Development. Previously served as vice president of
business development for MovieFone, Inc., an interactive
telephone service company, president and co-founder of
Interactive Services, an interactive audiotext development
company, and bankruptcy associate at the law firm of
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
Kenneth W. Sanders, Chief Financial Officer. Previously
served as senior vice president and CFO of Paging
Network,Inc., executive vice president and CFO of
CellStar Corp., and in various positions with KPMG Peat
Marwick, including audit partner.
Dan Leichtenschlag, Senior Vice President, Operations.
Previously served in various technical and management
capacities at General Electric Corp., including manager of
systems development for Genie, the company's on-line
service, and manager of UNIX software development.
Thomas Jessiman, Managing Director, Sports.com.
Previously served as director of business development for
US WEST Media Group's Interactive Services Division,
director of business development in the US WEST Site Traffic (page views per day)1
Multimedia Group, and a manager in IBM Corp.’s 1999 (Q4) ...................................11.6mn
Multimedia Group. 1998 (Q1) .....................................4.3mn
1997 (Q4) .....................................2.7mn
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: None 1. Traffic data provided by company
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) and COMMENTS
co-located server(s) SportsLine.com is one of the Internet’s leading sports
Access Provider: UUNET/MCI Worldcom, Exodus content companies, providing both free and subscription
Communications content through its www.sportsline.com and
Internet Connectivity: Multiple DS-3 lines plus several www.sports.com sites as well as syndicated online content
hundred Mbps bandwidth at Exodus co-located site and three syndicated radio shows. The company generated
Mirror Locations: Two approximately 9% of its 1999 revenues from membership
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems, IBM, Compaq, and subscription fees and 50% from advertising.
VA Linux In January 1998, the company acquired Golfweb, a golf
Operating System: Solaris UNIX, Microsoft NT, Linux content site, for 844,490 shares of SportsLine.com
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server on Sun, common stock. In June 1998, acquired the online golf
Apache on Linux, Microsoft IIS 4.0 on NT equipment retailer, International Golf Outlet for $2 million
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce -- $350,000 in cash and 46,924 shares of Sportsline.com
Edition common stock -- plus an additional 42,658 shares if certain
Web Servers: Multiple Sun, VA Linux, and Compaq revenue and earnings targets were met; 14,220 of those
servers shares were issued at the end of 1999. In May 1999,
Database Platform: Oracle, SQL Server 7 acquired Golf Club Trader for approximately $7 million in
Database Servers: Multiple Sun servers for Oracle, IBM SportsLine.com common stock (195,850 shares). In
RS/6000 for SQL 7 Server December 1999, acquired Daedalus World Wide Corp.,
Personalization: Net Perceptions Group Lens which offers sports-related fantasy products, for
Recommendation Engine approximately $31.78 million -- $4 million in cash and
Affiliate Management: Not used $27.78 million in SportsLine.com common stock (599,998
Payment Processing: Signio shares).
Other Applications: Internet Profiles (I/PRO) traffic In May 1999, the company spun off its European
auditing, BEA Systems WebLogic, Vignette Story Server, operations into Sports.com Ltd. and also announced the
LivePerson real-time customer service chat purchase of Sportsweb for an undisclosed amount. In June
1999, Sports.com acquired the sports division of Infosis
OPERATING BENCHMARKS Group for an undisclosed amount.
Total Revenue In December 1999, the company announced the transfer
1999..........................................$60.3mn of its online sports products and memorabilia e-commerce
1998..........................................$30.6mn business to sports retailer MVP.com, a start-up involving
1997..........................................$12.0mn sports stars Michael Jordan, John Elway, and Wayne
Gretsky. As part of the deal, the company received a
Membership Revenue minority position in MVP.com while MVP.com would
1999............................................$5.6mn continue to operate an online storefront on the
1998............................................$5.0mn SportsLine.com site and agreed to pay a minimum of $120
1997............................................$2.7mn million in promotional fees to SportsLine.com over a 10-
year period. The agreement included three of the
Sales & Marketing Expenditures company’s subsidiaries, International Golf Outlet, Golf
1999..........................................$36.4mn Club Trader, and TennisDirect.com. The SportsLine.com
1998..........................................$20.5mn e-commerce businesses transferred in the deal generated
1997..........................................$14.0mn $16.49 million in revenue during 1999, up from $3.6
million in 1998 and $1.05 million in 1997.
Development Expenditures
1999..........................................$1.59mn
1998..........................................$1.31mn
1997..........................................$2.54mn
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Office supplies
Founded: 1999
Employees: 140
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 1,129 in U.S., Canada, U.K.,
and Germany (Staples, Inc.)
Catalogs Mailed: n/a
Facilities:
• Framingham, MA headquarters
• Plus use of 29 Staples, Inc distribution facilities,
including:
• Hagerstown, MD distribution facility
• Killingly, CT distribution facility
• Putnam, CT distribution facility
• Terre Haute, IN distribution facility
• Charlotte, NC distribution facility
• Rialto, CA distribution facility
• Stockton, CA distribution facility
Ownership: Private (subsidiary of Staples, Inc.; IPO
pending) Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
Trading Symbol: SDOT (NASDAQ) information, order history, and order status are integrated
Major Shareholders: into website.
• Staples, Inc. (49%)
• General Atlantic Partners (16.8%) MARKETING
• Highland Capital Partners (11.2%) Media: Staples.com leverages the existing advertising
• Jeanne Lewis, President (7.4%) campaign of Staples Inc. in broadcast radio and television,
• Greylock (6.7%) newspaper circulars, consumer and business periodicals,
Financing: $52.3 million in four rounds and direct mail.
Profitable: No ($16.358 million loss for FY ’00) Partnerships:
• Ariba Network (www.ariba.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • CNN Inc. (www.cnn.com)
Website: www.staples.com, www.stapleslink.com, • Commerce One, Inc. (BuySite software)
www.quillcorp.com • Intelisys Electronic Commerce, LLC (i-Procurement
Site Launch: November 1998 software)
Site Type: Business-to-business • Oracle Corp. (www.oracleexchange.com)
Business Model: Fixed pricing
• Register.com (www.register.com)
Site Size: 130,000 (approx.) product SKUs, including
• Yahoo! Geocities (www.geocities.com)
100,000 downloadable software titles
Languages: English • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Accepts Advertising: No Affiliates Program: Staples.com Affiliate Program
Site Features: General help, low bandwidth version No. of Affiliates: n/a
Commission rate: 4-10% of sales based on
cumulative value of quarterly sales
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Consultants: eMerging Media, USWeb/CKS
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Access Provider: Global Crossing, Sprint
Internet Connectivity: Two T-1 lines
Mirror Locations: None
Hardware Platform: Intel Pentium
Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT 4
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0
Commerce Platform: Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition
Database Platform: Informix
Personalization: Net Perceptions Group Lens
Recommendation Engine, Microsoft Site Server
Commerce Edition
Affiliate Management: Commission Junction
Payment Processing: Merchant Technical Systems,
CyberCash InstaBuy
Other Applications: RedCart Universal Shoppng Cart,
Mercado IntuiFind Merchant Catalog, Merant Egility Data
Integration middleware, Liquid Audio Liquid Distribution,
DiscoverMusic.com music clips, Digital Impact e-mail
marketing
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 2
2000 (6 mos.)...........................$0.587bn
1999.........................................$1.026bn
1998.........................................$1.008bn
1997.........................................$0.992bn
1. Based on sales from all sources because company does not break out
data for web activity
2. Fiscal year ending July 31
COMMENTS
Tower Records was the first bricks-and-mortar music
retailer to begin selling online, launching a storefront on
America Online in 1995. The company’s web storefront
was launched in November 1996 with a selection of music
CDs and related products; videos and DVDs were added in
1998. In 1999, the online business was transferred into a
subsidiary company, Tower Direct, although Tower
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) Records still provides fulfillment services and receives
• Flooz.com Inc. (www.flooz.com) revenues from Tower Direct.
• MyPoints.com Inc. (www.mypoints.com) The current version of the company’s site was launched
Affiliates Program: TowerRecords.com Affiliates Program in June 1999, introducing database-driven dynamic pages
Number of Affiliates: n/a along with new content and services such as reviews,
Commission Rate: 4% of sales from linked items columns, a create-your-own CD offering, and a "voyeur"
service that queries the site's database to report on what
MANAGEMENT other shoppers are buying at the moment. In September
Mike Farrace, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing 1999, the company added used CDs to the site and
Kevin Winnik, Director of New Product & Sideline currently offers more than 30,000 titles.
Merchandise
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Toys
Founded: 1948
Employees: 76,000 (web unit: 475)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 1,552 across U.S.
Catalogs Mailed: n/a
Facilities:
• Montvale, NJ headquarters
• Fort Lee, NJ Toysrus.com East Coast headquarters
• San Francisco, CA Toysrus.com West Coast office
• Memphis, TN website distribution center
• Mira Loma, CA website distribution center
• Chambersburg, PA website distribution center
• Parsippany, New Jersey, data center
• 11 Toys R Us and 4 Kids R Us distribution centers
located across the U.S. and 8 internationally
• America Online (www.netscape.com)
Ownership: Public
• America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Trading Symbol: TOY (NYSE)
Major Shareholders: n/a • America Online (www.digitalcity.com)
Shareholder Equity: $3.68 billion • coolsavings.com (www.coolsavings.com)
Profitable: Yes ($279 million profit for FY ’00) • employeesavings.com (www.employeesavings.com)
• Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW • Microsoft Corp. (www.hotmail.com)
Website: www.toysrus.com, www.imaginarium.com • MyPoints.com Inc. (www.mypoints.com)
Site Launch: 1996; June 1998 (e-commerce site) • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer Affiliates Program: Toys.rus.com Affiliate Program
Business Model: Fixed pricing Number of Affiliates: n/a
Site Size: 5,000 (approx.) product SKUs Commission Rate: 5-12.5% based on value of sale
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No MANAGEMENT
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick-buy John Barbour, Chief Executive Officer
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Jonathan Foster, Executive Vice President and Chief
information, order history, inventory availability, order Operating Officer
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are Joel Anderson, Vice President - General Manager
integrated into website. Raiymond Arthur, Vice President - Finance and
Controller
MARKETING Lawrence McGuire, Vice President - Human Resources
Media: Television advertising, newspaper advertising, John Sullivan, Vice President - General Manager
consumer periodical advertising, direct mail Gregg Treadway, Vice President - Logistics
Partnerships: Robert Hyland, Director of Technology
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
• America Online (www.aol.com)
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Travel services
Founded: February 2000
Employees: 350
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Ft. Worth, TX headquarters
• New York, NY corporate offices
• San Antonio, TX customer service center
• San Francisco, CA corporate offices and customer
service center
• Rancho Cordova, CA customer service center
Telecenter: Three in-house call centers with 400 contract
representatives
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: TVLY (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• The Sabre Group, Inc. (70%)
Shareholder Equity: $334.738 million
Profitable: No ($118.427 million proforma operating loss MARKETING
for FY ’99) Media: Radio and television advertising, business
periodical advertising
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Partnerships:
Website: www.travelocity.com, www.previewtravel.com • America Online (proprietary dial-up service)
Site Launch: March 1996 • America Online (www.aol.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business • America Online (www.netscape.com)
Business Model: Fixed pricing • America Online (www.digitalcity.com)
Site Size: 420 airlines, 45,000 hotel properties, 50 car • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
rental agencies, 70,000+ vacation packages, 200,000+ • Excite@Home (www.home.com)
content pages
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Languages: English
• Go Network (www.go.com)
Accepts Advertising: Yes
Site Demographics: 52% Male/47% Female, 70% • Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com)
married, 40% college educated, average household income • MyWay.com (www.myway.com)
range $50-75K, average age range 18-34 • OracleMobile (www.oraclemobile.com)
Site Features: General help, contextual help, quick-buy, • Palm Computing (www.palm.com)
threaded discussions, customer created content • Rezworks Corp. (www.vacationspot.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • Time Warner Road Runner (www.rr.com)
information, inventory availability, order processing, • Yahoo!, Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
payment processing, and order status integrated into • Visa International
website • British Airways
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.walmart.com, www.wal-mart.com
Site Launch: July 1996; re-launch January 2000
Site Version: 3.0
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Site Size: 600,000 SKUs (approx.) in 24 product
categories plus photo and travel services
Languages: English
Accepts Advertising: No
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick-buy
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
information, order history, inventory availability, order
processing, payment processing, order status, and shipment
tracking are integrated into website.
MARKETING
Media: Television advertising, newspaper advertising,
consumer periodical advertising
OPERATING BENCHMARKS
Total Revenue1 2
2000.......................................$165.01bn
1999.......................................$137.63bn
1998.......................................$117.96bn
1. Revenue from all sources because company does not break-out sales
of Walmart.com, Inc. unit
2. Fiscal year ending January 31
COMMENTS
Walmart.com is the online subsidiary of Wal-Mart
Stores, the world’s largest retailer with more than one
million employees and more than 90 million customers.
The online unit was spun-off into the current stand-alone
Partnerships: subsidiary in January 2000. Wal-Mart Stores is the
• America Online (proprietary dial-up service) majority owner of the unit and venture capitalists Accel
• America Online (www.aol.com) Partners is a minority investor. The two companies plan to
• America Online (www.netscape.com) locate the unit in Palo Alto, California, however, most of
• America Online (www.compuserve.com) the operation is still centered in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Affiliates Program: None Wal-Mart launched its first website in July 1996. The
current site was launched in January 2000 after an eight
MANAGEMENT month-long redesign and an estimated $35 million
Jeanne Jackson, President - Walmart.com investment, including $22 million in outside consulting
Greg Penner, Vice President of Business Development - and development expenses, $6 million for development
Walmart.com and production hardware, and $4 million for software
licenses. The current site includes more than 600,000
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE SKUs across 24 product categories, an online travel
Design Consultants: Cambridge Technology Partners, agency, and a photo center; plans are in the works to add
Grey Interactive, Quantum Leap (Walmart.com travel site) an online pharmacy later in 2000. Content services
Site Maintenance: In-house staff and outside consultants include an online gift registry, personalized calendars, and
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) a photo posting/sharing area.
Access Provider: Southwest Bell Internet Services The company has worked with Cambridge Technology
Internet Connectivity: Multiple shared DS-3 lines Partners to fully integrate the walmart.com site with its
Mirror Locations: None existing mainframe-based order-fulfillment, credit-card
Hardware Platform: Hewlett-Packard, IBM (back-end) processing, inventory, and content-management systems.
Operating System: HP-UX UNIX, OS/390 This integration between the site and the systems which
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6 support the company's brick-and-mortar stores enables
Commerce Platform: BroadVision One-to-One Retail customers to pick-up and return items ordered online at
Commerce any of the almost 1,800 Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
Database Platform: IBM DB2 In December 1999, the company announced an
agreement with America Online to offer in-store customers
a co-branded Wal-Mart/AOL version of the CompuServe
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Groceries, Household Products, General
Merchandise
Founded: December 1996
Employees: 1,000+ (101 IT/web development staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Foster City, CA headquarters
• Oakland, CA distribution center
• Suwanee, GA distribution center
• Springfield, VA distribution center site*
• Grapevine, TX distribution center site*
• Carol Stream, IL distribution center site*
• Kent, WA distribution center site*
• Denver, CO distribution center site*
• North Bergen, NJ distribution center site*
• Logan, NJ distribution center site*
• Bronx, NY distribution center site*
• Ayer, MA distribution center site*
• Foothill Ranch, CA distribution center site*
• Glen Burnie, MD distribution center site*
* Site leased and distribution center is planned or under
construction but is not in operation as of 5/31/00
Telecenter: In-house call center with 250+ customer
service representatives
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: WBVN (NASDAQ)
Major Shareholders:
• Louis Borders, Chairman
• SOFTBANK America
• Benchmark Capital
• Sequoia Capital
• CBS Inc.
• Knight-Ridder Company
Financing: $966.03 million in four rounds and IPO
Profitable: No ($144.6 million loss for FY ’99)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.webvan.com
Site Launch: May 1999
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Webvan Grocery Shopping Home Page Europe. B.S. in Management from the State University of
New York at Buffalo and M.B.A. from the State
University of New York at Binghamton.
Arvind Peter Relan, Senior Vice President, Technology.
Previously served in various management positions at
Oracle Corp., including vice president of Internet server
products, founded Oracle's Internet Server Division, and
served in various positions at Hewlett-Packard, including
principal technologist for the HP Openview Platform. B.S.
in Computer Engineering from the University of
California, Los Angeles and M.S. in Engineering
Management from Stanford University.
Maigread Martinez, Vice President, Marketing and
Strategic Alliances. Previously served in various strategic
brand alliance, marketing and brand management, and
sales positions with the Pepsi-Cola Company, including
vice president of northeast sales.
Vivek Joshi, Vice President, Program Management.
Previously served in various positions at General Electric
Company, including general manager, off-highway/transit
operations at GE Transportation Systems, as a
management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton, and a
Manufacturing Team Leader at Johnson & Johnson
Advanced Materials Company. B.Tech in Chemical
Business Model: Fixed pricing Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology,
Site Size: 18,000 (approx.) product SKUs Bombay, and M.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.B.A.
Languages: English from the University of Virginia.
Accepts Advertising: No Christian Mannella, Vice President, Marketing.
Site Features: General help, one-click ordering/quick-buy, Previously served in various positions at MCI WorldCom,
online real-time customer service including vice president of sales & service operations, and
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account as group product manager at Credit Card Service Corp.,
information, order history, inventory availability, order marketing manager at Marriott International, and as a
processing, and payment processing are integrated into management consultant with Laventhol & Horwath. B.A.
website. in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management from
Michigan State University.
MARKETING Dan Mosher, Manager of Business Development
Media: Television advertising, newspaper advertising
Partnerships: INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
• AT&T@Home (www.home.com) Design Consultants: None
• SchoolPop.com (www.schoolpop.com) Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Affiliates Program: None Hosting Arrangement: Co-located server(s)
Access Provider: AboveNet Communications
MANAGEMENT Mirror Locations: None
Louis Borders, Chairman. Previously served as president Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems, Intel Pentium
and CEO of Webvan, co-founded Synergy Software, Operating System: FreeBSD, Solaris, Microsoft Windows
founded Borders Books and served as its president and NT 4
CEO. B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Web Server Software: Apache, Microsoft IIS 4.0
Michigan. Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications
George Shaheen, President and Chief Executive Officer. Database Platform: Oracle 8
Previously served as managing partner and chief executive Personalization: Proprietary applications
officer of Andersen Consulting. B.A. in marketing and Affiliate Management: Not used
master's degree in finance from Bradley University. Payment Processing: Proprietary applications
Robert Swan, Chief Financial Officers. Previously served Other Applications: Descartes Systems Group eScheduler,
in various positions at General Electric Company, LivePerson Internet sales and customer service solution,
including vice president, finance and CFO of GE Lighting, Mercury Interactive LoadRunner and WinRunner
and as vice president, finance of GE Medical Systems in
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Banking/Brokerage/Financial Services
Founded: 1852
Employees: 103,000 (850 web staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: 2,851 branch banking locations
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• San Francisco, CA headquarters
• San Francisco, CA data center
• Portland, OR data center
• Phoenix, AZ data center
• Approximately 5,500 banking, mortgage, consumer
finance, insurance, and investment storefronts and
secondary offices nationwide
Telecenter: In-house call center with 600+ representatives
for Internet Services Group
Ownership: Public
Trading Symbol: WFC (NYSE)
Shareholder Equity: $22.13 billion
Profitable: Yes ($3.75 billion profit for FY ’99)
MANAGEMENT
WEBSITE OVERVIEW Clyde Ostler, Group Executive Vice President of Internet
Website: www.wellsfargo.com Services
Site Launch: January 1995; May 1995 (transaction Cathy Graeber, Executive Vice President, Consumer
enabled version) Internet Services
Site Type: Business-to-consumer, business-to-business Debra Rossi, Executive Vice President, Business Internet
Business Model: Fee-based Services
Site Size: Bank, loan and credit card account access, bill Steven Ellis, Executive Vice President, Wholesale Internet
payment, securities trading, home equity loan and credit Services
card application/approval, 10,000+ content pages Shelley Freeman, Executive Vice President, Investment
Languages: English Internet Services
Accepts Advertising: No George Cheng, Senior Vice President, Online Banking
Site Features: General help, contextual help Services
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account Michelle Banaugh, Senior Vice President, Electronic
information, transaction history, transaction processing, Commerce
and transaction status are integrated into website.
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
MARKETING Design Consultants: None
Media: Television advertising, consumer and business Site Maintenance: In-house staff
periodical advertising Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Partnerships: Access Provider: Genuity
• America Online (Proprietary dial-up service) Mirror Locations: One
Affiliates Program: None Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems, Compaq
Operating System: Compaq Tru64 UNIX, Solaris up from the bank’s existing customers and the balance are
Web Server Software: Netscape Enterprise Server new account holders. The bank expects the number of
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications Internet customers to exceed 2.5 million by 2002.
Database Platform: Oracle, real-time link to back-end The company consolidated its various Internet and e-
legacy databases commerce initiatives into an Internet Group in July 1999.
Personalization: Planned, currently in process The 844-person unit is working on approximately 300
Affiliate Management: Not used projects for 1999. The company expects the unit to more
Payment Processing: CheckFree bill payment services, than double to 1,700+ software developers, technicians,
proprietary applications and other staff by year-end 1999.
Other Applications: Information Builders WebFOCUS, A major facelift of the Wells Fargo website was
E.piphany E.4 System, Banter Relationship Manager, Just unveiled in March 2000. The company’s strategy is to
in Time BillCast 2.0, Financial Fusion Server and OFX build a financial portal, providing individuals and
Adapter businesses access to Wells Fargo and third-party bank
accounts, credit cards, loans and brokerage accounts; bill
OPERATING BENCHMARKS payment services; online shopping and procurement
Total Revenue services; travel services; and information resources.
1999.........................................$21.80bn Content partners include real estate information publisher
1998.........................................$20.48bn Homestore.com, automobile buying service DriveOff.com,
1997.........................................$19.28bn which provides car pricing information and dealer
locations, and Netstock Direct, which provides investors
Total Advertising Expenditures information about direct stock plans and mutual funds, as
1999...........................................$238mn well as online enrollment and transaction services.
1998...........................................$237mn The company has been involved in a wide variety of e-
1997...........................................$202mn commerce initiatives in addition to its online banking
services. It has partnered with Chase Manhattan and First
Core Deposits (end of period) Union to launch The Exchange, a banking and financial
1999.......................................$126.20bn services aggregator. In July 1999, the company purchased
1998.......................................$132.29bn a $25 million stake in Navidec and its online auto sales
1997.......................................$122.33bn unit, DriveOff.com. In September 1999, partnered with
First Data Corp. to launch the “One-Stop eStore,” an e-
Retail Banking Customers (end of period) commerce solution for small- and mid-sized businesses,
1999......................................10,800,000 providing web design, development and hosting services,
1998........................................9,100,000 payment processing, and traffic building. In December
1997................................................... n/a 1999, partnered with Brodia to launch “Wells Fargo
EasyOrder,” an online shopping service that would
Online Accounts (end of period) automatically complete online store order forms at more
1999........................................1,500,000 than 1,000 participating retailers. In April 2000,
1998...........................................760,000 completed the first of a multi-phase investment in
1997...........................................420,000 BusinessBots, Inc, a provider of digital exchanges for net
marketplaces. In March 2000, announced the launch of
COMMENTS “eStore Business Solutions,” an end-to-end e-commerce
Wells Fargo & Company is the seventh largest bank solution for mid-size businesses that provides Internet
holding company in the U.S. in terms of total assets. The catalog and marketing support services. The company also
company has bank branches in more than 20 states and announced an alliance with online auctioneer eBay in
operates the second-largest online banking service. March to create an industry standard for person-to-person
The company’s online banking service was originally payment on the Internet based on the technology of eBay
launched on the Prodigy proprietary online service in subsidiary Billpoint. As part of the deal with eBay, Wells
1989; the Internet counterpart was launched in 1995. In Fargo purchased a 35% stake in Billpoint and inked a
1998 the company abandoned its service on Prodigy to long-term payment processing and customer care contract.
focus its online activities exclusively on the Internet. At In May 2000, the company led a $23 million second round
the end of March 2000, the online banking service had of venture capital in iPin, who’s services enable online
more than 1.7 million registered users and more than shoppers to pay for purchases by debiting their bank
450,000 customers using its online bill payment service. account or charging their ISP, telephone, mobile phone, or
The number of online banking customers has been credit card account.
increasing by more than 100,000 per month since August
1999. Approximately 80% of online customers are signed-
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Wine/Beverages and Gifts
Founded: August 1994
Employees: n/a
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Napa, CA headquarters
• Fremont, CA engineering offices
Telecenter: In-house call center with 30 representatives;
currently staffing-up to 100
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders:
MARKETING
• TH Lee.Putnam Internet Partners
Media: Radio and television advertising, consumer
• New Millennium Partners periodical advertising
• GE Equity Partnerships:
• Value Vision • Amazon.com (www.amazon.com)
• MediaOne Ventures • America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
• J. & W. Seligman • America Online (www.aol.com)
• Inroads Capital • America Online (www.netscape.com)
• Applied Technology • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
Financing: $88 million in four rounds • della.com (www.della.com)
Profitable: No
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
• CyberGold Inc. (www.cybergold.com)
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Website: www.wine.com, www.virtualvin.com • GiftCertificates.com (www.giftcertificates.com)
Site Launch: January 1995 • giftpoint.com (www.giftpoint.com)
Site Version: 4.0 • Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com)
Site Type: Business-to-consumer • MarketWatch.com Inc. (www.marketwatch.com)
Business Model: Fixed pricing • Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com)
Site Size: 1,500+ wines and 100+ gift and accessory • OfficeClick.com Inc. (www.officeclick.com)
SKUs • PeoplePC, Inc. (www.peoplepc.com)
Languages: English • Public Broadcasting Service (Regina's Vegetarian
Accepts Advertising: No Table, Great Food, and Master Chef USA programs)
Site Features: General help, contextual help, one click • ShopperConnection (www.shopperconnection.com)
ordering/quick buy • Third Age Media (www.thirdage.com)
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account • WingspanBank (www.wingspan.com)
information, order history, inventory availability, order • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
processing, payment processing, order status, and shipment Affiliates Program: Wine.com Affiliate Program
tracking are integrated into website. Number of Affiliates: n/a
Commission Rate: 8% of order value
Notes
Notes
Section 2
Analysis of
Profiled Companies
Clicks-and-
mortar Firms
39.9%
Pure-play
Internet Firms
60.1%
Privately-held
24.7%
Publicly-held
66.7%
IPO Pending
8.6%
Privately-held
22.4%
Publicly-held
63.3%
IPO Pending
14.3%
Softbank Holdings has been an aggressive investor in the Internet space during
the last four years and leads the list of venture capitalists behind the profiled
companies, followed closely by Benchmark Capital. The leading corporate and
strategic investors included Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Intel (NASDAQ:
INTC), MediaOne Interactive (NYSE: UMG), and Tribune Company (NYSE:
TRB). Other corporate investors included units of CitiGroup (NYSE: C), Oracle
Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), and Bechtel. Prominent individuals, such as Michael
Dell (MSD Capital) and hedge fund operator George Soros also showed-up as major
investors in more than one company each.
# of profiled
companies in
Investor portfolio
Softbank Holdings (and affiliates) 10
Benchmark Capital 7
Sequoia Capital 5
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers 4
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners 4
GE Capital (and affiliates) 3
Intel Corp. 3
MediaOne Interactive 3
Amazon.com 3
General Atlantic Partners 3
idealab! 3
Vulcan Ventures 3
Tribune Company 3
Accel Partners 3
Trinity Ventures 3
Revenue from online sales and Internet-related activity among the profiled
companies is growing at a rapid pace, expanding by an average of 486% during
1999 and a median rate of 224% over the same period. Median annualized revenues
for the first quarter of 2000 and for all of 1999 were $124.72 million and $51.25
million respectively. Almost one-in-ten (8.5%) of the profiled companies will
generate more than $1 billion in online revenue during the 2000 fiscal year; the
largest, Dell Computer, should generate more than $10 billion in online sales during
2000 based on current run rates.
ActivMedia reports that revenues among the sites tracked in its ‘Real Numbers
Behind Net Profits’ increased by an average 464% from 1998 to 1999. The average
projected growth rate for 2000, among the same companies, is 656% and 40%
expect their top line revenues to more than double over 1999.
$500mn -
$250mn - $999mn
$499mn > $1bn
5.6%
5.6% 7.4%
< $1mn
$100mn -
1.9%
$249mn
14.8%
$1mn - $9mn
13.0%
$10mn - $24mn
$25mn - $99mn
18.5%
33.3%
400% - 499%
13.3%
100% - 199%
22.2%
300% - 399%
4.4%
200% - 299%
15.6%
> $1bn
14.3% $10mn - $24mn
9.5%
$500mn -
$999mn
9.5%
$250mn -
$499mn
$25mn - $99mn
11.9%
33.3%
$100mn -
$249mn
21.4%
500 - 999
Employees
11.9%
250 - 499 > 1,000
Employees Employees
22.0% 16.9%
< 50 Employees
1.7%
50 - 99
Employees
100 - 249 15.3%
Employees
32.2%
500,000 - 100,000 -
999,999 499,999
14% 27%
The largest proportion of profiled companies’ websites had between one and five
million customers/users at the end of 1999. A majority (55%) had at least 500,000,
compared to 39% one year earlier. Total customers and registered users among the
sites increased by an average 117% during 1999. At the end of 1999, the average
profiled company’s site had approximately 2.1 million customers or registered users
compared with 969,529 one year earlier.
2.06 Customers and Registered Users per Profiled Website (1998 vs. 1999)
Percent of profiled websites
1998 1999
40%
32%
30%
Percent of w ebsites
27%
25%
22%
19%
20%
14% 14% 14% 15%
10% 8%
5% 6%
0%
< 10,000 10,000 - 100,000 - 500,000 - 1mn - 5mn > 5mn
99,999 499,999 999,999
Num ber of custom ers/users
500% - 999%
9.1% 50% - 99%
24.2%
200% - 499%
30.3% 100% - 199%
15.2%
< 1mn
12.5%
> 50mn
37.5% 1mn - 9mn
18.8%
10mn - 49mn
31.3%
100%
80%
64.2%
60%
40%
11.1%
9.9%
20%
6.2%
4.9%
3.7%
0%
None 1-9 10 - 99 100 - 499 500 - 999 > 1,000
Mixed
Audience
28%
Business-to-
consumer
56%
Business-to-
business
16%
60%
50%
40.6%
34.3%
40%
28.6%
28.4%
23.5%
30%
20.4%
18.5%
18.4%
16.3%
16.0%
12.5%
20%
10.2%
8.6%
6.3%
6.1%
4.9%
3.1%
3.1%
10%
0%
< 12 Mos. 12 - 24 Mos. 25 - 36 Mos. 37 - 48 Mos. 49 - 60 Mos. > 60 Mos.
10,001 - 50,000
50,001 -
items 29.5%
250,000 items
17.9%
250,001 - 1mn
items 5.1%
All of the profiled companies’ websites provide general customer service and
help pages; almost one-half (47%) also offer at least a limited “contextual help”
feature which answers questions related to content or functions provided on specific
pages or areas located inside the site. Other popular features include one-click
ordering or a quick-buy function (38%) that enables returning customers to by-pass
re-keying their shipping and payment details, real-time customer service (32%) --
either through an online chat window or through a call-back button that prompts a
customer service agent to contact the customer at that moment by telephone -- and
customer-created content (29%), such as reviews, comments, and even free personal
websites. For context, an October 1999 survey of e-commerce websites by Jupiter
Communications found that 90% had a customer service FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) but only 10% had deployed real-time chat/messaging for customer
service.
A substantial majority of the sites have implemented at least some type of
integration to back-end systems. The most common feature enabled by such
integration is providing web access to customer account information; this access is
also the key to offering a one-click or quick-buy feature. Other popular forms of
back-end integration include providing customers access to the status of open orders
(71%), access to order history (58%), and indications of product availability in
online catalogs based on current inventory (57%).
100%
100%
80%
Percent of w ebsites
60%
47%
38%
40%
32%
29%
24% 22% 21%
20% 15%
3% 4%
0%
IP Telephony
Text-Only
Customer Chat
Created Content
Contextual Help
Quick Ordering
Language
Language
General Help
Real-Time
Discussions
Customer
Version
Ordering
Content
Foreign
Foreign
Threaded
Service
Customer
100%
88.3%
79.2%
80%
71.4%
Percent of websites
58.4% 57.1%
60%
50.6%
40.3%
40%
20%
0%
Account Order History Inventory Order Payment Order Status Shipment
Information Availability Processing Processing Tracking
Accepts
Advertising
23.4%
No Advertising
on Site
76.6%
A majority (54%) of the profiled companies’ websites receive more than one
million unique visitors per month, according to data from PC Data. The average
number of unique visitors per site during the first three months of 2000 was 1.87
million and the median was 1.1 million. The largest proportion of sites (33.8%)
received between one and two million unique visitors during March 2000.
The number of unique visitors to the sites expanded by an average of 213% and a
median of 100% from March 1999 to March 2000, according to PC Data. Almost
one-half (49.9%) of the sites experienced an increase in visitors of 100% or more
during the period while traffic at 16% of the sites actually declined by an average
24.6%.
4.08 Growth in Unique Visitors to Profiled Websites (March 1999 vs. March 2000)
Percent of profiled websites
50% - 99%
100% - 149% Visitor Growth
Visitor Growth
(21.4%)
(19.6%)
Managed
Hosting
8%
Co-located
Servers
54%
Four or More
Providers
6%
One Provider
53%
Share of Profiled
Connectivity Solution Provider Websites
Exodus Communications 32%
UUNET/MCI Worldcom 20%
Akamai Technologies 11%
Global Crossing/GlobalCenter 11%
Genuity 10%
InterNAP Network Services 9%
Sprint Internet Services 9%
AT&T 8%
IBM Corp. 4%
Digex 4%
Cable & Wireless 4%
Planned
4%
No
72%
60%
50%
44.2%
30%
24.7%
20.8%
20%
9.1% 9.1%
10%
5.2% 5.2%
2.6%
0%
Sun Dell Computer IBM Compaq Hew lett VA Linux Generic Other
Microsystems Packard Pentium
80%
59.7%
60%
Percent of websites
45.5%
40%
20%
11.7%
6.5% 5.2% 5.2%
0%
Windows NT Windows 2000 Solaris Linux IBM-AIX Other
with 44% of sites including them in their server farms. Among the sites which
standardized on a single manufacturer’s servers, Sun was the most frequently
selected platform.
As is the case with server hardware, many of the profiled websites deployed more
than one operating system. Microsoft’s Windows NT was the most widely
deployed, showing up in almost 60% of the sites; Microsoft’s new Windows 2000
also showed up in almost 7% of sites. Sun’s Solaris is the second most widely
deployed OS (46%) and the most popular flavor of UNIX among the sites.
Although Linux has received a great deal of attention during the last 12 months, only
5% of the sites have deployed any servers in their Internet infrastructure which use
the OS. Other operating systems deployed by the sites include HP-UX, Compaq
Tru64, and JOSP.
Microsoft IIS
Other 47%
3%
Apache
22%
Netscape
Enterprise
28%
Share of
Commerce Platform
Profiled Sites
Proprietary applications 52%
Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition 25%
Broadvision 7%
IBM Net.Commerce 5%
ART Technology Group Dynamo Server 4%
Interworld Commerce Exchange 4%
Bluestone Total-e-Business 3%
Other solutions 10%
With almost 60% of the profiled companies’ websites running Windows NT, it
should be no surprise that Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) is the most
widely deployed web server software, running on almost one-half (47%) of the sites.
Netscape (iPlanet) Enterprise Server and Apache are the next most popular web
server software.
A slim majority of the profiled sites (52%) have opted to develop their own
home-grown commerce platforms -- online storefront, catalog, customer data
management, and order processing applications -- over deploying off-the-shelf
Sites with no
Personalization
Features
27% Sites Employing
Personalization
Technologies
65%
Sites Planning
Personalization
8%
Share of
Solution Sites With
Personalization
Proprietary applications 43%
Net Perceptions GroupLens
Recommendation Engine 29%
Microsoft Site Server Personalization 20%
Personify Essentials 12%
BroadVision One-to-One 10%
Vignette Content Management
& Personalization 8%
Other solutions 32%
60%
51%
50%
44%
Percent of websites
40%
30%
20%
10% 7%
4% 4% 3%
0%
Oracle Microsoft SQL Informix IBM Proprietary Other
Server
Cybercash
Not Used 7.6%
15.1%
Cybersource
13.6%
Other
Applications
12.2%
Signio
7.6%
Proprietary
Application
43.9%
Other
10% Proprietary
Applications
27%
Be Free
34%
LinkShare
29%
America Online, with its 20+ million members worldwide, is the most popular portal
marketing partner among the profiled companies. Approximately one-half of the
companies have inked either advertising agreements or operate online storefronts on
AOL’s proprietary online service. AOL’s other portal sites are almost as popular, with
AOL.com, Netscape.com, and Compuserve occupying the next three positions after the
Deals With
Profiled
Portal Sites Companies
America Online Service 42
America Online/AOL.com 37
America Online/Netscape.com 36
America Online/Compuserve 33
Yahoo! 30
Microsoft Network 26
Excite@Home/Excite.com 21
Lycos 16
Earthlink 12
Buena Vista Internet/Go Network 11
Excite@Home/@Home Network 7
Deals With
Profiled
Web Destinations and Services Companies
Netcentives/Click Rewards 13
Inktomi Shopping Engine 12
Amazon.com 11
GiftCertificates.com 11
America Online/Digital City 10
Wingspan Bank.com 9
ShopperConnection 8
USA Today Online 8
Intuit/Quicken.com 7
Giftpoint.com 7
iVillage 7
100%
80% 74.7%
68.0%
40.0%
40%
20%
4.0%
0%
Radio Television Newspaper Consumer Business Direct Mail No Offline
Periodical Periodical Media
of the profiled companies have used television advertising during the last 12 months
and 68% have advertised on radio. More than one-half have also used national or
local newspapers, consumer periodicals, and direct mail in their marketing and
branding campaigns.
Almost two-thirds of profiled companies (64%) have established an affiliates
program, paying commissions to complementary websites in return for referring
registered users or paying customers. The concept is most popular among
companies whose websites focus exclusively on serving retail consumers. They are
almost as popular among sites serving a mixed audience of businesses and retail
consumers. None of the profiled companies’ sites which focus exclusively on
business customers have implemented an affiliates program.
The average affiliates program among the profiled companies has almost 72,000
members; 9% have less than 500 members, 27% have less than 5,000 members, and
50,000 -
> 100,000
100,000
Members
Members 9%
6% < 500 Members
9%
25,000 - 49,999
Members 500 - 4,999
18% Members
18%
10,000 - 24,999
Members 5,000 - 9,999
25% Members
15%
Hybrid
Commission
Model
10.9% < 5%
Per-lead Commission
Commission 13.0%
21.7%
> 12%
Commission
8.7% 5% - 8%
Commission
9% - 12%
39.1%
Commission
6.5%
9% have more than 100,000 members. Amazon.com, which pioneered the concept
for the online marketspace, operates the largest network of referring sites with more
than 430,000. Amazon.com competitor BarnesandNoble.com operates the second
largest program with 360,000 members, followed by online music retailer CDnow
with 260,000, and Reel.com with more than 200,000.
Almost one-third (32.6%) of the affiliates programs employ a per-lead/order
commission or a hybrid model that combines a per-lead/order payment with the
traditional percentage commission. The balance of programs offer commissions that
range from 1% to 20% of sales, with a mean of 7.49%. The average per-lead/order
commission is $12.38 and the median is $5.50. The highest per-lead/order
commission is $50.00, which is paid by financial services aggregator OneCore.com
for each converted lead.
As the Internet matures into a mainstream sales channel, companies are working
aggressively to expand their back-end customer support infrastructure to keep up
with demands created by increasingly comprehensive websites and the rapidly
expanding number of online prospects and customers. Clicks-and-mortar
In-house
75.3%
Outsourced
8.2%
In-house and
Outsourced
5.5%
None
11.0%
50%
35.9%
40%
23.4%
30%
17.2%
20%
9.4%
7.8%
6.3%
10%
0%
< 25 25 - 99 100 - 249 250 - 499 > 500 Not
specified
Auction/
Negotiated Price
Model
5% Combination
Fixed/Negotiated
Price Model
10%
Commission/Fe
e-based Model
Fixed Price 14%
Model
71%
Online revenue per employee averaged $405,489 during 1999 and the median
revenue per employee was $147,771 during the same period. Computer software
and hardware retailers generally reported the highest revenue per employee. Online
auctioneer eBay and “name your own price” Priceline.com reported more than $1
million in revenue per employee during 1999. The online drugstores -- PlanetRx
and drugstore.com -- and the online grocers -- HomeGrocer.com, Peapod, and
Webvan Group -- were in the bottom quartile in terms of revenue per employee.
Actual revenue numbers – rather than gross sales or bookings – were used to
calculate employee productivity for the online travel sites, auto sites, and auction
sites.
The average revenue per unique visitor among the profiled companies ranged
from a high of more than $100 -- on several of the business-to-business sites -- to a
low of $0.28 during the first quarter of 2000; the mean value was $17.43. The office
products, computer hardware and software, and home products sites -- the online
grocery shopping sites, specifically -- generally realized the highest top-line revenue
per visitor while the toys and sports, and books/CDs/videos/DVDs sites produced
the least revenue per visitor.
The revenue per visitor estimates are calculated by dividing the number of unique
visitors, according to PC Data, into each company’s top line revenue. It’s important
to emphasize that these estimates are based on the number of unique visitors to each
company’s site(s) during the first quarter of 2000 as opposed to the total visitor
traffic of the site(s). Inasmuch as most sites -- especially in the business-to-business
sectors -- receive multiple visits from many individuals, revenue per visitor based on
$30.00 - $39.99
per Visitor 7.7%
$10.00 - $19.99
per Visitor 12.8%
$5.00 - $9.99 per
Visitor
12.8%
$50
$40
$0
Apparel Autos Books, Computers Financial Gifts Home Office Toys & Travel
Videos & Products Products Sports Services
CDs
total traffic would be some fraction of the value based on unique visitors. Indeed,
buyers -- as opposed to browsers -- frequently visit a site more than once, and spend
more time on the site, according to PC Data, which estimates that buyers view
approximately three times as many pages as browsers before completing a purchase.
Average revenue per pageview among the profiled companies ranged from a high
of $2.76 to a low of $0.01 during the first quarter of 2000; the mean value was $1.10
and the median was $0.35. The highest revenues per pageview were generally found
in the computer hardware and software, automobile, and office products sectors
while the lowest returns on pageviews were among the travel services,
books/CDs/videos/DVDs, and apparel sites.
$1.00 - $1.99
per Pageview $0.10 - $0.24
11.6% per Pageview
16.3%
$0.75 - $0.99
per Pageview
7.0%
$0.50 - $0.74 $0.25 - $0.49
per Pageview per Pageview
7.0% 23.3%
$1.50
$1.25 $1.18
$0.72
$0.75
$0.64
$0.50 $0.39
$0.29
$0.25
$0.25 $0.18 $0.17
$0.00
Apparel Autos Books, Computers Financial Gifts Home Office Toys & Travel
Videos & Products Products Sports Services
CDs
Sales and marketing were in most cases the largest expense item below the gross
profit line among the profiled companies during 1999. Although it is quite possible
that there is long-term brand-building value in these expenditures, it is impossible to
quantitatively separate this “investment” component from the cost of acquiring new
customers in the current year. Estimated customer acquisition costs were therefore
calculated by dividing total 1999 sales and marketing expenditures by the number of
new customers acquired during the year. By this measure, the mean cost to acquire
a new customer during 1999 was $461 among the profiled companies. The median
cost over the same period was $78. Several companies -- including online loan
brokers E-LOAN and iOwn -- invested more than $1,000 to acquire each new
customer; eliminating those companies dropped the mean cost to $185. The largest
proportion of the profiled companies (29.7%) spent between $10.00 and $49.00 to
acquire each new customer during 1999 and a slim majority (51.3%) spent $100.00
or less.
$100 - $199
18.9% $50 - $99
16.2%
The average budget for sales and marketing among the profiled companies which
are publicly-held -- or have filed a registration statement with the SEC -- was $63.31
million in 1999, up from $24.95 million in 1998; as a percentage of total revenue,
expenditures were equal to 126% and 127% during 1998 and 1999 respectively. For
the first quarter of 2000, annualized sales and marketing spending among the same
companies averaged $119.34 million, however, expenditures as a percentage of total
revenue dropped to 91%.
The largest marketing budgets during 1999 belonged to Amazon.com ($413
million), E*Trade Group ($302 mn), Charles Schwab & Co. ($242 mn), eToys
($121 mn), and BarnesandNoble.com ($112 mn). In the first quarter of 2000, the
biggest spenders were Amazon.com ($140 mn), E*Trade Group ($178 mn), Charles
Schwab & Co. ($101 mn), eBay ($34 mn), and CarsDirect.com ($33 mn).
100% -149%
11.4%
75% - 99%
8.6% 25% - 49%
25.7%
50% - 74%
14.3%
The mean share of revenue derived from repeat customers has increased steadily
since 1997 among the profiled companies as a group. The largest proportion of
companies (31%) are generating more than 75% of their online revenue from repeat
customers, however, a majority (59%) still depend on new customers for 50% or
more of their revenue. Companies selling consumables -- such as PeaPod, Webvan
Group, and Grainger.com -- or delivering online banking and brokerage services,
generally reported the highest share of revenue from repeat customers. Sites with a
lower than average proportion of revenue from repeat customers generally focused
on high-end durable goods or services with an extended cycle between purchases,
such as autoweb.com, autobytel.com, E-Loan, and iOwn.
A slight majority (52%) of purchases from the profiled companies’ websites were
less than $100.00 and the overall average purchase price was $164.17 during 1999.
The largest proportion of online purchases (38%) were valued between $50.00 and
$99.00.
26% - 50% of
51% - 75% of
Revenue
Revenue
27%
18%
> $500
< $50
9%
14%
$200 - $499
10%
$50 - $99
$100 - $199
38%
29%
Profitable
22.1%
Unprofitable
77.9%
"Profitable"
7.4%
> (500%)
6.2% "Unprofitable"
22.3%
(201%) - (500%)
16.0% >10%
3.7%
10% - 0
(101%) - (200%) 11.2%
8.6%
(51%) - (100%) 0 - (10%)
3.7% 4.9%
Notes
Notes
Section 3
eCommerce
Market Briefing
Definitive data on the number of Internet users and the penetration rate for Internet
access among U.S. households is impossible to find. Every analyst offers an estimate
and no two are the same due to differing methodologies, samples, and survey periods as
well as the rapid evolution of the Internet itself. In May 1999, estimates ranged from
37.2 million (Roper Starch) to 84 million (Opinion Research) individual users in the
U.S. and Forrester Research estimated that approximately 34 million U.S. households
had Internet access. One year later, the estimates have grown to between 80.8 million
(Boston Consulting Group) and 123.6 million (Nielsen/NetRatings). Media Metrix
estimates that 35.9 million Americans used the Internet on any given day during the
month of March 2000 while a March 2000 poll by the Pew Research Center found that
55 million Americans are online on an average day.
Cahners InStat estimates that 46% of U.S. households had Internet access at year-
end 1999. The company expects 8% of PC-equipped households will go online during
2000 and that 6% of households will purchase both a PC and Internet access. Harris
Interactive estimates that 81% of all computer users at the end of 1999 were already
Internet users. Internet use is growing rapidly among minority groups, according to
Forrester Research.
The number of African-American households online will increase by 74% during
2000, followed by Caucasian households at 28% and Hispanic households at 20%.
Growth in Internet use by Asian-American households is the slowest among ethnic
groups, primarily because 64% of them are already online, representing the largest
proportion of any group.
Although numbers for the overall Internet population vary widely, estimates of
active users -- those individuals who have used the Internet at least once in the last 30
days -- are much closer among the leading firms. Nielsen/NetRatings estimates that
81.6 million individuals went online during March 2000 while Media Metrix puts the
number at 76.8 million; MRI estimated the number of adults (18 years or older) who
used the Internet during the last 30 days at 86.3 million based on a Spring 2000 survey.
The penetration rate of Internet access varies significantly between markets,
according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Among the top 20 markets alone, the penetration rate
in February 2000 swung from 61% in the San Francisco metro area down to 37% in
Cleveland. The nationwide penetration rate ranges from Harris Interactive’s estimate of
56% of households to CyberDialogue’s estimate of 32%. CyberDialogue has also
identified a growing segment within the category of adults without Internet access: an
estimated 27.7 million individuals who have tried the Internet and subsequently
discontinued use; approximately 9 million of these individuals, however, indicated that
they expect to go back online at some point soon.
200
177.0
148.6
150
126.0
103.1
100 80.8
62.8
50 38.9
23.2
9.7
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Source: IDC
Cahners InStat predicts that women will comprise 49% of Internet users by mid-
2000, up from 45% at the beginning of the year. Nielsen NetRatings and the Pew
Research Center both estimate that the number of women and men using the Internet is
already at parity while Mediamark estimates that women actually comprise a slim
majority (50.2%). The number of female users increased by 32% during 1999,
according to NetRatings, while the number of men grew by only 20%. Although Pew
estimates the number of men and women online are roughly equivalent, the group also
found that men use the Internet more frequently; on an average day, only 47% of
Internet users are women while 53% are men.
As the Internet has become more mainstream, the demographics of its users have
begun to look more like those of the U.S. at large. The proportion of Internet users with
college degrees has declined from 39.6% in the Fall of 1999 to 33.6% in the Spring of
2000, according to Mediamark. The company also estimates the number of users with a
household income of $50,000 or less has increased from 33.1% to 38.3% during the
same period.
College
graduate
26.9%
No college
36.0%
Attended
college
37.0% Source: Mediamark CyberStats
$75,000 -
$149,999 $50,000 -
29.4% $74,999
25.7%
Source: Mediamark CyberStats
18 - 24 years
18.1%
35 - 44 years
21.0%
25 - 34 years
20.7%
Source: PC Data Online
Baby-boomers and seniors -- individuals between 45 and 64 years old -- were the
fastest-growing age groups during 1999, expanding to approximately 20% of Internet
users according to Media Metrix, while the proportion of users between 25 and 44
declined.
Jupiter Communications paints a portrait of U.S. Internet users as 47% are college
graduates, 80% are less than 50 years old -- with the largest age group between 19 and
34 -- 43% have an annual household income of more than $60,000, and 37% are
involved in professional or managerial occupations.
Almost four-in-five Internet users have been online for more than one year,
according to both Boston Consulting Group and PC Data Online. PC Data estimates
that 42% of Internet users have been online for more than three years and that 15% have
been online for more than five years. The Pew Research Center’s Pew Internet &
American Life project found that approximately 28% of Internet users had been online
for three or more years.
1 - 3 Years
49%
Source: Boston Consulting Group
80%
60%
51%
% of adults (18+)
47%
41% 42%
39% 40%
40%
26%
23%
20% 17%
0%
January 1998 January 1999 December 1999
Source: Harris Interactive
More than one-half (51%) of adults in the U.S. used a PC at home at the end of
1999, according to Harris Interactive, up from 42% one year earlier. PC Data Online
estimates that 58% of U.S. households in March 2000 had a computer and Ziff-Davis
estimates the number at just over 60% for the same point in time. The penetration rate
for PCs is higher than average among families and higher-income households. The rate
of PC ownership in households with children is almost 70%, according to Ziff-Davis,
and it exceeds 70% among households with more than $75,000 total income;
conversely, the Ziff-Davis data indicates that PC ownership drops below 40% among
households with total income of $30-$40,000 and less than 20% among those with a
household income below $10,000.
Washington, DC 71%
Seattle, WA 69%
Portland, OR 69%
Austin, TX 69%
Denver, CO 68%
Boston, MA 66%
Sacramento, CA 63%
The average PC penetration rate among households was 59% across 64 U.S. markets
surveyed in 1999 by Scarborough Research. Markets with the highest penetration rates
are Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The lowest penetration rates
are in Memphis, TN (49%), Pittsburgh, PA (48%), Birmingham, AL (48%), Wilkes-
Barre, PA (47%), and Charleston, WV (46%). Almost one-in-five (19%) of the
households that did not already own a computer at the time of survey planned to buy
one sometime during the next 12 months, according to Scarborough Research.
Although specific numbers vary from survey to survey, the consensus is that
significantly more Americans access the Internet from home than from work. Harris
Interactive estimates that 48% of the adults who are online access the Internet primarily
from home while only 30% do so primarily from work, and 21% from other locations
such as school and the library. PC Data Online estimates that 6.7% of users access the
Internet primarily from home-based offices. MediaMark estimates that 69% of adults
have Internet access at home and that 45% have access at work.
60%
48%
40%
30%
21%
20%
0%
Home Work Other
Although the proportion of men and women using the Internet is at or near parity,
men generally spend more time online than women. Men spent an additional two hours
twelve minutes online on average during December 1999, up from one hour thirty-five
minutes in February 1999, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
The amount of time spent online is also correlated with the level of experience an
individual has with the Internet, according to Boston Consulting Group. The company
estimates that individuals who have used the Internet for three or more years spend an
average of 2.9 hours per week online while those who began using the Internet during
1999 spent an average 2.7 hours per week online. America Online reports that its
subscribers spend an average 65 minutes online per day.
The amount of time users spend online varies between different age groups and
different geographic locations. Individuals between the ages of 25 and 35 years old
spend the most time online -- 2.7 hours per week compared to a mean of 2.1 hours --
according to Media Metrix, while individuals between 18 and 24 are online the least --
1.3 hours per week.
Nielsen/NetRatings reports that the amount of time spent online varies by geography
almost as much as it does between different age groups. Among 20 different U.S.
metro areas tracked by NetRatings in the forth quarter of 1999, individuals in San
Diego and Denver generally spent the most time online -- 2.6 and 2.5 hours per week
Tampa 7:12:30
Minneapolis 7:23:21
Atlanta 7:38:28
Phoenix 7:40:01
Boston 8:00:39
Chicago 8:11:23
Seattle 9:11:50
Portland 9:13:21
Cleveland 9:27:17
Washington, DC 9:28:58
Detroit 9:46:18
Dallas 9:46:52
Miami 9:49:17
Houston 9:54:52
Denver 10:46:51
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings
400 347.8
200
0
18 - 24 25 - 35 35 - 44 45 - 64
respectively -- while individuals in Tampa and Minneapolis spent the least amount of
time online -- approximately 1.7 hours per week. Internet users in the high-tech centers
of Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area spent an average 2.1 and 2.4 hours per week
online respectively.
The total time spent online by the average Internet user has increased steadily since
the beginning of 1999, according to NetRatings, from an average 1.97 hours per week
at the beginning of February 1999 to 2.9 hours during the first week of June 2000. The
NetRatings data also indicates that Internet users spent an average 2.7 hours online per
week -- and viewed an average 155.3 pages per week -- over the 16 month period
between January 31, 1999 and June 4, 2000. Total pages viewed during the period
fluctuated between a low of 185 during the week of January 10, 2000 and a high of 222
during the week of April 17, 2000.
2.05 Total Time Spent Online at Home and Pages Viewed (1999-2000)
Time spent online in minutes and pageviews per user per week
300 250
250
200 Time online per week
Pageviews per week
200
150
150
100
100
50
50
0 0
1/31 - 2/6
2/21 - 2/27
3/15 - 3/21
4/5 - 4/11
4/26 - 5/2
5/17 - 5/23
6/7 - 6/13
6/28 - 7/4
7/19 - 7/25
8/9 - 8/15
8/30 - 9/5
9/20 - 9/26
10/11 - 10/17
11/1 - 11/7
11/22 - 11/28
12/13 - 12/19
1/3 - 1/9
1/24 - 1/30
2/14 - 2/20
3/6 - 3/12
3/27 - 4/2
4/17 - 4/23
5/8 - 5/14
5/29 - 6/4
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings
35
30
25
20
1/31 - 2/6
2/21 - 2/27
3/15 - 3/21
4/5 - 4/11
4/26 - 5/2
5/17 - 5/23
6/7 - 6/13
6/28 - 7/4
7/19 - 7/25
8/9 - 8/15
8/30 - 9/5
9/20 - 9/26
10/11 - 10/17
11/1 - 11/7
11/22 - 11/28
12/13 - 12/19
1/3 - 1/9
1/24 - 1/30
2/14 - 2/20
3/6 - 3/12
3/27 - 4/2
4/17 - 4/23
5/8 - 5/14
5/29 - 6/4
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings
The average online session between January 1999 and June 2000 was 28.7 minutes
in duration, according to NetRatings. The average session length varied from a low of
25.2 minutes for the week of March 22, 1999 to a high of 31.3 minutes during the week
of January 24, 2000.
E-mail 91%
Get information for hobbies 76%
As the tenure of Internet users increases, their online activity becomes more
deliberate and time spent randomly “surfing the web” declines, according to PC Data.
Three-in-four Internet users surveyed by the company in late 1999 either strongly
agreed (33.4%) or agreed somewhat (42.0%) with the statement: “I typically go onto
the web because I have a specific task or objective in mind.”
The most popular Internet activity is communicating by e-mail, with more Internet
users engaged in sending and receiving e-mail (91%) than any other online activity,
according to the Pew Research Center. Eighty-one percent of Internet users indicated
that communicating with friends/family/others was one reason for initially going online
and 38% said it was their top reason, according to Boston Consulting Group.
Researching topics of interest was the next most commonly mentioned reason for going
online, cited by 76% as one reason and by 13% as the top reason; shopping online was
cited by 26% as one reason and by 2% as the top reason while managing personal
finances -- online banking and trading stocks online -- were cited by 15% as one reason
and by 2% as the top reason.
Almost one-in-four (23.5%) Internet users indicate that they go online most
frequently for the purpose of sending e-mail, according to PC Data, followed by
searching for information (14.9%) and downloading software/files (10.6%). Almost
three-in-four (74%) Internet users use the Internet to research products/services and
48% actually make purchases online, according to Pew, while 17% do their banking
online, and 12% trade stocks online. PC Data reports that shopping online and
checking stock quotes/trading online were the most frequent online activities of 4.6%
and 3.4% of Internet users respectively.
The typical Internet users divides his or her time online between sending and
receiving e-mail (33% of total time spent online), engaging in other forms of
communication (e.g., chat, instant messaging, etc.) (10%), gathering information (27%),
playing games and visiting entertainment sites (13%), managing personal finances
(8%), and researching products/services and making online purchases (8%), according
to Boston Consulting Group.
amazon.com 14,812
ebay.com 14,032
cdnow.com 6,654
barnesandnoble.com 5,401
ticketmaster.com 4,223
iprint.com 3,865
enews.com 3,395
bmgmusicservice.com 3,099
ubid.com 2,749
buy.com 2,378
Source: PC Data
Amazon.com and eBay are the busiest Internet commerce sites with almost twice as
many unique visitors as the next closest sites -- CDnow and BarnesandNoble.com --
according to PC Data.
In the financial services sector, credit card issuer NextCard is the busiest site
followed by online brokers E*Trade and Ameritrade and competitor Aria.com.
Priceline.com and Expedia are the busiest individual sites in the travel sector,
according to PC Data. The total traffic of the Travelocity.com and Preview Travel sites
-- whose respective owners merged late last year -- when combined, however, places
that enterprise ahead of both Priceline.com and Expedia with approximately 20% more
unique visitors.
nextcard.com 5,181
etrade.com 2,461
ameritrade.com 1,867
aria.com 1,724
firstusa.com 1,563
fidelity.com 1,519
americanexpress.com 1,322
wellsfargo.com 1,320
bankofamerica.com 1,199
paymybills.com 1,158
Source: PC Data
priceline.com 6,050
expedia.com 4,396
AOLTravel 3,730
travelocity.com 3,479
previewtravel.com 2,851
Source: PC Data
yahoo.com 39,569
aol.com 37,987
msn.com 27,426
go.com 23,039
lycos.com 20,082
tripod.com 16,571
excite.com 16,353
altavista.com 14,519
about.com 13,116
ask.com 13,113
Source: PC Data
The top four Internet commerce brands increased their name recognition by an
average 30 percentage points among adults in the U.S. between September 1998 and
August 1999, according to Opinion Research. Amazon.com is the best known Internet
commerce brand with its name recognized by almost two-thirds of U.S. adults (60.1%).
Priceline.com, eBay, E*Trade, and eToys round out the top five properties which are
recognized by an average 46% of all U.S. adults. eBay was the most successful among
the companies tracked at improving its brand during 1999, increasing its name
recognition more than eight-fold.
Estimates of the number of individuals who completed online purchases during 1999
vary in a manner similar to estimates of the overall population of Internet users.
Yankee Group offers the most aggressive estimate (58.4 million) and investment
bankers Volpe Brown the most conservative (30 million). Yankee also estimates that
the top 25% of online buyers accounted for 84% of all spending between September
1999 and February 2000. Harris Interactive estimates that 26.8 million individuals
made at least one purchase each month during the first quarter of 2000, up from 23.3
million in the previous quarter.
Ernst & Young estimates that approximately one-half of the U.S. households that are
online made at least one online purchase during 1999, generating an estimated $25-30
million in total sales. Among the remaining 50%, more than three-in-four (79%) expect
to make at least one online purchase during 2000 and an average of four online
purchases. Online purchases accounted for approximately 1% of overall consumer
spending during 1999, according to Gartner Group, which also predicts that the share
will increase to 5-7% by 2004.
Jupiter Communications predicts that consumer online spending will total $199
billion in 2005 and that offline spending influenced by online research will total $632
billion during the same year. The company estimates that 68% of consumers have
already researched products online and then purchased them in a store; consumers will
spend more than $235 billion offline during 2000 as a direct result of online research,
according to Jupiter.
Consumers appear to be increasingly comfortable with the concept of Internet
commerce as evidenced by the shrinking time lag between when an Internet user first
goes online and when they make their first purchase. Consumers who initially went
online more than four years ago took an average 22 months before making their first
online purchase while individuals going online in 1998 took an average 13 months to
make their first purchase and individuals who started using the Internet in 1999 took an
average four months before making their first purchase, according to data from
ActivMedia and CyberDialogue. ActivMedia also reports that many new users in 1999
made their first online purchase within as little as a month after initially going online.
Total consumer Internet commerce spending was $8.16 billion in the U.S. during the
first three months of 2000, according to Forrester Research. Airline tickets ($1.1 billion
in sales) and computer hardware ($695 million) were the largest consumer categories.
Travel-related spending of all types accounted for almost one of every four dollars
spent by consumers online during the first quarter -- $1.99 billion or 24.3% of all
consumer spending.
Books 22%
Travel 11%
Apparel 10%
Computer Hardware 9%
Electronics 4%
Toys 4%
Office Supplies 3%
Home Furnishings 2%
Sporting Goods 2%
Appliances 1%
Total online spending by U.S. consumers declined sharply from January to February
2000, according to Forrester, before recovering in March. Spending in small-ticket
categories (i.e., music CDs, videos, jewelry, and sporting goods) softened throughout
the entire quarter, declining by an average 21.8% from January to March, with the
largest declines occurring in the software (down 45.1%), toy (down 40.7%), and book
(down 38.0%) categories. Spending in Forrester’s so-called big-ticket categories,
however, increased by an average 60.7% during the same period. The biggest increases
occurred in the appliances (up 136.3%), hotel reservations (up 69.9%), and the
food/beverages (up 68.5%) categories. The increase in spending for big-ticket items
more than offset declines among small ticket items, according to the company, which
estimates that overall monthly online spending by consumers increased 9.2% between
January and March.
Airline tickets and computer hardware are the two largest categories in terms of
dollars spent online by consumers -- accounting for 16.9% and 10.5% of total spending
respectively -- but they only rank fourth and sixth respectively in terms of the number
of individuals who have purchased them, according to Boston Consulting Group. The
most popular categories among online buyers are books -- almost one-in-four Internet
users have made a purchase in the category despite the fact that it accounts for only
4.6% of total online sales during the first quarter -- followed by computer software
(3.4% of total spending) and videos/music CDs (6.4% of total spending) which have
each been purchased by an estimated 15% of Internet users.
26 - 40 1-5
12% 32%
16 - 25
15%
6 - 10
11 - 15 19%
12%
Source: Boston Consulting Group
$1,001 - $2,000
13%
$201 - $500
$501 - $1,000
20%
16%
The average online buyer completed 10 purchases during 1999 and spent $460.00,
according to Boston Consulting Group. The Direct Marketing Association estimates
the value at $559.00. Ernst & Young estimates the average number of purchases at 13
with a significantly higher total value of $1,205.00; approximately 52% of buyers spent
less than $500.00 and the balance (48%) spent $500.00 or more during 1999. Thirty-
five percent of online buyers completed between one and four purchases, 26%
completed between five and ten, and 39% completed more than 10 purchases last year,
according to Ernst & Young.
The total amount spent online and the average transaction amount are both highly
correlated with the tenure of Internet users, according to ActivMedia. The average
online transaction by individuals who have been online five or more years is more than
twice that of individuals online less than two years. ActivMedia also reports that the
online share of Internet users’ total purchases increases with the length of time they
have been online.
Appliances $385.27
Air tickets $367.42
Furniture $257.24
The average online business-to-consumer transaction during the first quarter of 2000
was $115.24, according to Forrester Research. The average transaction size was less
than $70.00 in one-half of the product categories tracked and less than $100.00 in two-
thirds. Categories with the highest average transaction were appliances ($385.27),
airline tickets ($367.42), and furniture ($257.24). The smallest average transactions
occurred in the books ($32.84), videos ($31.33), and music ($30.87) categories.
4.09 Total U.S. Online Holiday Spending: Q4 1999 vs. 1998 (Billions $)
The amount spent online by consumers during the holiday shopping period increased
from approximately $3.5 billion in 1998 to $7.8 billion during 1999. Holiday 1999
sales are estimated to have accounted for between 25% (Forrester Research) and 47%
(Jupiter Communications) of the year’s total online consumer sales.
Jupiter estimates that approximately 10 million individuals began shopping online
during 1999 and that many of them made their first purchases during the holiday
season. Ernst & Young estimates that one-in-four (26%) Internet users made at least
one online purchase during the holiday shopping season, spending a total of $10-13
billion. America Online reports that two-thirds of its 20+ million members shop online
and that 2.5 million of them made their first online purchase during the 1999 holiday
season. AOL members collectively spent approximately $2.5 billion online between
Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to the company. Greenfield Online estimates
that the average online shopper spent $357 for gifts; 29% spent less than $100, 43%
spent between $100 and $399, and 7% spent more than $1,000.
$904.8 $884.4
$900
$600 $545.1
$494.8
$274.2
$300 $199.3 $221.7 $208.2
$0
Oct. 31 Nov. 7 Nov. 14 Nov. 21 Nov. 28 Dec. 5 Dec. 12 Dec. 19 Dec. 26
Source: PC Data
Friends/Colleagues 18.7%
Search engines and portals remain the most frequently used point of entry with 28%
of Internet users using them to learn about new websites, according to several surveys
during 1999 and the first quarter of 2000. The value of branding, however, is becoming
increasingly apparent with 19% of Internet users learning about new sites from friends
and colleagues; Boston Consulting Group also estimates that 43% of online buyers have
entered Internet commerce sites from bookmarks and 31% have typed-in a URL
directly. This suggests that many buyers are developing loyalties to specific Internet
commerce sites.
< 2.5%
> 10.0%
5%
23%
2.5% - 5.0%
27%
7.6% -
10.0%
25%
5.1% - 7.5%
20% Source: PC Data
The average browser-to-buyer conversion rate in March 2000 among the 40 largest
consumer Internet commerce sites -- based on traffic -- was an estimated at 7.7%,
according to PC Data, and the median conversion rate was 7.2%. The largest
proportion of the sites tracked converted between 2.5-5% of unique visitors into buyers.
The company also found that buyers spent considerably more time on a given site than
their counterparts who were simply “kicking the tires.” Buyers, on average, viewed
almost three times as many pages as browsers, according to PC Data.
Boston Consulting Group reports that the average browser-to-buyer conversion rate
was 3.2% during 1999 among 412 online retailers that it surveyed for the trade
association, Shop.org. The same group of companies reported an average conversion
rate of 2.8% for 1998. In a similar survey of 41 leading Internet commerce sites,
Forrester Research found that conversion rates ranged from 1-4% and that 70% of the
sites reported conversion rates of less than 2%.
11%
10.2%
9.7%
10%
9.2%
8.8%
Avg. browser to buyer rate
9% 9.5%
8.2%
8% 7.6%
7.6%
7% 7.4%
6.6%
6%
5%
4%
Jun-99 Jul-99 Aug-99 Sep-99 Oct-99 Nov-99 Dec-99 Jan-00 Feb-00 Mar-00
Source: PC Data
8%
Other
11%
15%
Price
23%
Convenience of home 2%
delivery 23%
9%
Saves time
1%
10%
Ability to shop 24/7
3%
10%
Avoid in-store hassle
4%
12%
Ease of process
15%
Chemicals $76.1
Computer Hardware
$54.0
and Software
Agriculture $34.6
Energy $29.0
Government
$16.1
Procurement
Aerospace/Defense $15.0
non-defense electronics sectors are expected to still retain their status as the industry
sectors with the largest penetration rate for Internet commerce, which by that time is
predicted to account for 30%, 28% and 20% of total sector-wide sales respectively.
> $10,000
8% < $50
5%
$51 - $100
$1,001 - 5%
$10,000
41%
$101 - $500
36%
$501 - $1,000
5% Source: ActivMedia
6.05 How Electronic Commerce Transactions Are Conducted (1998 and 2003)
Percent of all B-to-B electronic commerce transactions
1998 2003
($671 bn total activity) ($2,780 bn total activity)
Internet-based
Internet-based
Transactions
Transactions
71.9%
13.7%
EDI
Transactions
86.3%
EDI
Transactions
28.1%
40%
32.8%
29.3%
% of e-com m erce firm s
30%
22.2%
22.1%
20.6%
20.2%
19.0%
18.1%
16.0%
20%
12.8%
12.7%
12.4%
11.7%
11.1%
11.1%
11.0%
10%
4.3%
3.2%
2.7%
2.0%
1.6%
1.6%
1.0%
0.5%
0%
Profitable 2000 2001 2002 2003 After 2003 Don't Don't
Now Know Measure
Source: IDC
In late 1999, IDC surveyed “dot-com” executives at 651 firms on the profitability of
their online operations and found that 27% were already earning a profit. Companies
targeting a mixed audience of both businesses and consumers were the most likely to be
profitable (32.8%) while those focused exclusively on the retail consumer were least
likely to be profitable (22.2%). Almost 60% of the firms overall expect to earn a profit
by year-end 2001. Approximately one-in-five (21%) do not specifically measure the
profitability of their online operations but instead view them within the context of their
overall business.
Forrester Research estimates that “dot-com” companies spent approximately $1.7
billion on national advertising during 1999, or roughly double what they spent the
previous year. Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) estimates that that Internet
commerce companies alone spent approximately $3.17 billion on offline media -- in
both local and national buys -- during 1999, up from $649 million in 1998 (see 7.02).
Magazine and network television were the most popular offline media, accounting for
almost one-half (43%) of all offline ad buys, according to CMR, and television
advertising of all types -- network, cable, spot, and syndicated -- comprised more than
one-half (51%) of all offline expenditures.
The top five Internet commerce companies in terms of offline ad spending for 1999
were E*Trade Group ($124.2 million), Ameritrade ($103.7 million), Priceline.com
($49.6 million), eToys ($45 million), and Amazon.com ($35 million), according to
CMR.
$687.27
Magazines $153.65
$667.56
Network TV $131.73
$486.51
Cable Network TV $95.67
$424.66
Spot TV $87.95
National $300.06
Newspapers $61.11
$295.75
National Spot Radio
$47.29
$133.92
Newspapers
$27.23
$72.90
Network Radio
$26.87
$44.89
Outdoor
$5.98
$36.13
Syndicated TV
$7.87
$25.00
Sunday Magazines
$3.99
The cost of acquiring a new customer varies significantly among Internet commerce
companies. A majority (51%) of firms surveyed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers invested
$200.00 or more to acquire each new customer during 1999 while one-third invested
$40.00 or less (see 7.04). Boston Consulting Group estimated that the average
customer acquisition cost during the same period was $38.00 -- up 15% from the
previous year -- among the 412 Internet commerce companies covered by its own
survey. Most of the increase was driven by higher acquisition costs among pure-play
online retailers, which paid an average $82.00 for each new customer, while the
acquisition costs of multichannel retailers actually declined to an average $12.00.
Financial firms and the online grocers generally invested the most for each new
customer while book and music/video retailers generally invested the least. The
average estimated customer acquisition cost for companies in each major market sector,
according to Jupiter Communications, is between $200-$400 for online brokers, $150-
$200 for online travel firms, $100-$200 for computer hardware retailers, $50-$100 for
software retailers, $40-$50 for CD/DVD/Video retailers, $30-$100 for toy and game
retailers, and $30-$70 for online booksellers.
Amazon.com $39
Ameritrade $138
$413
Ashford.com
autobytel.com $58
BarnesandNoble.com $33
Beyond.com $60
Bluefly $128
Bolt Inc. $7
Buy.com $42
CDnow $40
drugstore.com $88
E*TRADE $300
eBay $12
Egghead.com $72
eToys $78
FTD.com $19
Garden.com $38
HomeGrocer.com $154
iPrint.com $23
NetB@nk $152
NextCard $137
Outpost.com $152 $424
Peapod
Pets.com $295
PETsMART.com $186
PlanetRx.com $217
Priceline.com $22
< $1.00
> $200.00 4%
51% $1.01-$10.00
12%
$10.01-$40.00
16%
$40.01-$80.00
$100.01-
8%
$200.00 $80.01-$100.00
7% 2%
Source: PriceWaterhouseCoopers
The average 1999 budget for website maintenance and operation, excluding hosting
or ISP expenses, among a large cross-section of companies -- including many smaller
enterprises -- was $36,579, according to ActivMedia. The company also found that
business-to-consumer companies which employ the Internet as their exclusive sales
channel spent an average of $67,853, or almost twice as much as the overall average.
The largest proportion of sites -- 34% of all sites and 31% of online retailers -- spent
between $1,001 and $5,000 on site maintenance and operation. The next most
frequently mentioned budget range was $10,000 to $99,000, which applied to 22% of
all sites and 27% of online retailers. Approximately 8% of all sites -- and 9% of online
retailers -- spent between $100,000 and $1 million; only 1% of all sites and 3% of
online retailers spent in excess of $1 million on site maintenance and operation during
1999.
The median development and technology budget among large-scale Internet
commerce companies tracked by The eCommerce Almanac was $8.5 million during
1999, up from $1.6 million the previous year; the average budgets for the same time
periods were $17.0 million and $8.1 million respectively. These expenditures include
not only website maintenance and operation but also spending related to the back-end
systems development and integration which are unarguably key to remaining
competitive in most sectors of Internet commerce. The average percentage of total
revenue spent on development and technology declined to 50.4% in 1999 from 72.4%
the previous year as the companies tracked have scaled rapidly -- average revenue
growth among companies tracked by The eCommerce Almanac was 486% during 1999
-- but the median remained fairly level, dropping to 16.1% of total revenue during 1999
from 17.0% in 1998.
The website features companies are most likely to implement during 2000,
according to IDC, include personalization -- 39% plan to implement some type of
personalization during the year -- community features (27%), comparative shopping or
competitor pricing information (19%), and online auctions (15%). Approximately three
times as many business-to-consumer sites have plans to add online auctions as business-
to-business sites (21% vs. 7%) while community features figure slightly more
prominently in the plans of business-to-business sites (26% vs. 21%).
Approximately 29% of the Internet commerce companies surveyed by IDC plan to
implement some type of services -- or dedicated sites -- for broadband users during
2000. Aggressive broadband strategies were more common among business-to-
FY 1998 FY 1999
Dev. & % of Dev. & % of
Company Revenue Tech. (1) Revenue Revenue Tech. (1) Revenue
Amazon.com, Inc. $609.8 $46.4 7.6% $1,640.0 $159.7 9.7%
autobytel.com, Inc. 23.8 8.5 35.8% 40.3 14.3 35.4%
autoweb.com inc. 13.0 0.6 4.5% 32.8 5.1 15.6%
BarnesanNoble.com 61.8 8.5 13.8% 202.6 21.0 10.4%
Beyond.com Corp. 36.7 4.1 11.3% 117.3 10.4 8.9%
BUY.COM, Inc. 125.3 1.0 0.8% 596.9 7.8 1.3%
CarsDirect.com Inc. 0 0 n/a 15.2 2.2 14.7%
CDnow Inc. 56.4 8.0 14.2% 147.2 23.4 15.9%
drugstore.com, inc. 0 2.2 n/a 34.8 14.9 42.8%
eBay Inc. 86.1 4.6 5.3% 224.7 23.8 10.6%
Egghead.com, Inc. 356.5 11.8 3.3% 514.8 15.5 3.0%
E-LOAN Inc. 6.8 1.4 19.8% 22.1 3.6 16.3%
eToys Inc. 30.0 3.6 12.1% 151.0 43.4 28.8%
E*TRADE Group, Inc. 335.8 76.9 22.9% 621.4 78.5 12.6%
Expedia, Inc. 13.8 18.5 133.8% 38.7 21.2 54.7%
Fogdog Inc. 0.2 1.3 660.0% 7.0 3.5 49.4%
FTD.com 30.7 1.4 4.6% 49.6 2.2 4.4%
Furniture.com Inc. 3.7 1.1 29.3% 10.9 6.7 61.3%
Garden.com, Inc. 1.3 1.2 92.3% 5.4 3.2 59.3%
IMX Exchange 0.6 1.1 180.6% 0.3 1.7 545.5%
InsWeb Corp. 4.3 10.1 233.9% 21.8 8.9 40.6%
iOWN 1.3 4.8 365.7% 14.8 10.4 70.4%
iPrint.com inc. 0.6 0.9 157.9% 3.3 3.5 108.6%
NetB@nk 18.8 0.3 1.7% 56.4 1.4 2.5%
NextCard, Inc. 1.2 0.5 41.7% 26.6 22.1 83.0%
1-800-Flowers, Inc. 26.8 1.8 6.7% 52.9 8.1 15.3%
Outpost.com 22.7 1.1 4.7% 85.2 3.7 4.4%
Peapod, Inc. 69.3 3.4 4.9% 73.1 3.5 4.8%
Pets.com, Inc. 0 0 5.8 6.5 112.0%
PETsMART.com Inc. 0 0 10.4 2.4 22.6%
PlanetRx.com Inc. 0 0 9.0 13.0 144.1%
Priceline.com Inc. 35.2 11.1 31.5% 482.4 14.0 2.9%
Staples.com 16.9 0.9 5.6% 94.4 4.1 4.3%
Travelocity.com Inc. 35.5 10.2 28.7% 90.9 12.1 13.3%
Webvan Group Inc. 0 3.0 13.3 15.2 114.5%
(1) Covers expensed items only; does not include amortization or capitalized equipment costs.
Source: SEC filings
consumer sites, with 36% planning to do something within 12 months compared to 28%
of business-to-business sites.
IDC also found that almost one-in-four (22.3%) Internet commerce companies are
planning to implement some type of services or support for wireless users and other
non-PC devices during 2000; 7% of the companies surveyed already provide at least
some type of support for non-PC users. Business-to-business sites were the least likely
to have plans for new or additional investments in this area (only 16% of sites) while
sites serving a mixed audience of both businesses and consumers were most likely
(29%) and approximately 23% of business-to-consumer sites were planning to add
some type of support for non-PC devices over the next 12 months. (See also “Wireless
Internet Commerce,” August 2000, by Intermarket Group.)
Ashford.com, Inc.6
CEO Kenneth Kurtzman 225,962 50,000
CIO James Whitcomb, Jr. 200,923 0
CFO David Gow 175,606 0
Vice President, Technology Jeffrey Helms 163,885 0
autobytel.com inc.
CEO Mark Lorimer 323,958 156,000
COO Ann Delligatta 225,000 108,000
Sr. Vice President, Marketing Michael Lowell7 149,000 167,200
Sr. Vice President and CFO Hoshi Printer 165,593 138,800
Autoweb.com
CEO Dean DeBaise 250,000 100,000
COO Samuel Hedgpeth III 166,875 36,000
CTO Gordan Kass8 156,479 0
Vice President, Marketing Michele Hickford 110,000 30,101
Vice President, Global Sales Robert Shapiro 128,333 66,154
Vice President, Sales David Greene 144,000 90,018
BarnesandNoble.com Inc.
CEO Jonathan Bulkeley9 431,606 0
CTO Gary King 275,000 100,000
Sr. Vice President, Marketing
& Sales Carl Rosendorf 300,000 100,000
Vice President, Operations William Duffy 292,040 112,880
BUY.COM, Inc.
CEO Gregory Hawkins10 217,755 0
CFO Mitch Hill11 33,846 0
Vice President, Advertising &
Marketing John Herr 184,462 10,000
Vice President, Sales
Operations Brent Rusick 184,731 0
Vice President, Global
Business Development Murray Williams 127,062 0
drugstore.com, inc.
CEO Peter Neupert 249,184 250,000
COO Kal Raman 174,171 36,954
CFO David Rostov 123,794 21,615
Vice President, Business
Development Mark Silverman 171,564 60,083
Vice President, Marketing Suzan Del Bene13 135,092 6,879
eBay Inc.
CEO Margaret Whitman 195,000 97,500
COO Brian Swette 160,000 56,000
President, eBay Technologies Maynard Webb14 184,327 108,000
Chief Scientist Michael Wilson 150,000 52,500
Egghead.com, Inc.
CEO S. Jerrold Kaplan 100,000 0
COO Jeffrey Sheahan 255,705 50,000
CFO John Labbett 229,006 0
Sr. Vice President,
Merchandise Acquisition Merle McIntosh 193,750 0
Sr. Vice President, Marketing Bari Abdul 142,167 0
800.com Inc.6
CEO Gregory Drew 112,500 0
E-LOAN Inc.
CEO Chris Larsen 125,000 0
COO Joseph Kennedy15 160,000 0
CFO Frank Siskowsky 170,000 0
Sr. Vice President, Operations Harold Bonnikson 144,808 0
Vice President, Secondary
Marketing Steven Magerus 135,000 28,700
eToys Inc.6
CEO Edward Lenk 105,000 0
CIO John Hnanicek 150,000 45,000
CFO Steven Schoch 125,500 20,833
Sr. Vice President, Marketing Janine Bousquette 132,553 75,000
Sr. Vice President, Operations Louis Zambello III 200,000 71,250
Fashionmall.com
CEO Benjamin Narasin 180,000 40,000
FatBrain.com16
CEO Chris MacAskill 110,003 31,260
COO Dennis Capovilla 173,079 52,936
CFO Donald Alverez 140,789 28,785
Exec. Vice President, Product
Development Kim Orumchian 133,079 40,784
Exec. Vice President,
Operations Sean Cumbie 146,388 43,179
Fogdog Inc.
CEO Timothy Harrington 170,000 50,000
President Timothy Joyce17 116,667 15,271
CFO Marcy von Lossberg18 115,000 17,986
Vice President, Engineering Robert Chea 110,000 17,204
Vice President, International Brett Allsop 135,000 17,952
FTD.com
CEO Michael Soenen 153,846 0
CIO Frederick Johnson 235,039 0
Furniture.com Inc.
CEO Andrew Brooks 212,885 0
Sr. Vice President, Product Carl Prindle 159,449 0
Development
Vice President, Marketing Kirsten von Hassel19 132,693 2,500
Vice President, Sales Peter Halunen 75,000 60,000
Vice President, Merchandising Rose Mauriello20 108,174 35,000
Garden.com, Inc.
CEO Clifford Sharples 113,670 n/a
COO James O’Neill 113,670 n/a
CTO Andrew Martin 143,000 n/a
Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Sharples 113,670 n/a
Vice President of Publishing Douglas Jimerson 102,870 n/a
HomeGrocer.com, Inc.
CEO Mary Alice Taylor21 63,846 0
President J. Terrance Drayton 172,446 0
CIO Robert Duffy 124,788 38,438
Sr. Vice President, Marketing
& Sales Jonathan Landers 182,150 56,209
Vice President, Storefront Ken Deering 131,388 41,137
InsWeb Corp.
CEO Hussein Enan 196,750 31,125
President, Insurance Services Kevin Keegan24 182,916 27,548
COO Mark Guthrie 174,583 26,292
CFO Stephen Robertson25 170,416 25,709
iPrint.com, inc.
CEO Royal Farros 100,001 0
CFO James McCormick26 34,091 11,364
Chief Marketing Officer Edward Sanden27 100,000 33,333
Vice President, Strategic
Relationships Nickoletta Swank 108,333 0
Vice President, Technology David Hodson 130,000 0
Vice President, Operations Gregory Korjeff 108,333 0
KBkids.com LLC
CEO Srikant Srinivasan28, 29 77,885 0
CFO Michael Wagner28 70,096 0
Vice President, Product
Development Scott Wilder28 67,500 0
Vice President, Business
Development Marty Smuin28, 30 25,962 0
Vice President, Merchandising David Novitsky28, 31 32,308 0
NetB@nk Inc.
CEO D.R. Grimes 200,000 50,000
COO Donald Shapleigh, Jr.32 40,000 0
CFO Robert Bowers 150,000 0
CTO Thomas Cable 120,000 0
NextCard, Inc.
CEO Jeremy Lent 262,500 325,000
CFO John Hashman 146,667 100,000
COO Timothy Coltrell 155,000 100,000
Chief Marketing Officer Daniel Springer 155,000 100,000
Outpost.com33
CEO Robert Bowman34 73,076 0
CFO and Exec. Vice President Katherine Vick 164,250 56,000
Business Development
Chief Sales Officer Philip Rello 129,782 22,000
Chief Purchasing Officer Raymond Maccio 119,254 22,000
Chief Fulfillment Officer Bruce Schellinkhout 132,426 17,000
Peapod, Inc.
CEO Andrew Parkinson 154,307 9,039
CTO Thomas Parkinson 146,903 9,039
CIO John Furton 138,981 6,402
CFO Dan Rabinowitz 134,096 4,860
Sr. Vice President, Marketing Michael Brennan 129,096 4,665
Pets.com, Inc.
CEO Julia Wainwright 147,568 0
President Christopher Deyo37 134,009 0
CFO Paul Manca38 175,000 0
Vice President, Engineering Paul Melmon 111,009 0
Vice President, Marketing John Hommeyer 103,395 20,000
Vice President, Operations Diane Hourany 99,802 10,000
Vice President, Distribution &
Logistics Ralph Lewis39 200,000 0
PETsMART.com, Inc.
CEO Thomas McGovern 77,000 0
CTO Eric Kidd40 34,470 15,000
PlanetRx.com Inc.
CEO William Razzouk41 160,000 160,000
CFO Steve Valenzuela42 129,583 0
CTO James Chong 175,000 100,000
Vice President, Merchandising Allan Goldman 150,000 0
Vice President, Distribution
Services John McAlpin 130,000 0
Priceline.com Inc.
CEO Richard Braddock 300,000 0
CFO Paul Francis43 225,000 0
CIO Ronald Rose 172,273 37,850
Exec. Vice Presdent, Travel Timothy Brier 250,000 0
Vice President, Finance Thomas D’Angelo 158,125 10,000
Rowe.com Inc.
CEO Richard Rowe 253,000 0
CTO Walter Crosby 145,000 61,000
CFO Louis Hernandez, Jr.44 149,000 0
Vice President, Design &
Development Ronald Grigg 93,000 34,000
Vice President, Content Steven Woit45 92,000 0
Vice President, Fulfillment Stephen Vozella 125,000 39,000
SportsLine.com, Inc.
CEO Michael Levy 330,000 0
President, Sales & Marketing Mark Mariani 230,000 0
Travelocity.com Inc.
CEO Terrell Jones 308,750 160,000
Exec. Vice President of Sales
& Services James Marsicano 152,063 45,619
Notes:
1. Hired June 1999; bonus amount was signing bonus 27. Hired May 1999
2. Hired July 1999; bonus amount was signing bonus 28. Salaries paid between inception in June 1999
3. Hired February 1999 through December 1999
4. Retired November 1999 29. Resigned May 2000
5. Hired March 1999 30. Hired November 1999; resigned March 2000
6. Fiscal year ending March 31, 2000 31. Hired September 1999
7. Left company in April 2000 32. Left company in April 1999
8. Hired February 1999 33. Fiscal year ending February 29, 2000
9. Left company in January 2000 34. Hired September 1999
10. Appointed CEO in March 1999 35. Fiscal year ending June 27, 2000
11. Appointed CFO in November 1999 36. Hired January 1999
12. Left company in July 1999 37. Appointed to position April 1999
13. Left company in October 1999 38. Hired August 1999 at annual salary of $175,000
14. Annual salary is $450,000 39. Hired November 1999 at annual salary of $200,000
15. Promoted from Sr. Vice President of Marketing & 40. Hired October 1999; bonus paid as signing bonus
Business Development October 1999 41. Served as CEO until April 2000
16. Fiscal year ending January 31, 2000 42. Appointed CFO March 1999
17. Hired August 1999 at annual salary of $280,000 43. Left company March 2000
18. Left company in April 2000 44. Left company November 1999
19. Hired February 1999 at annual salary of $150,000 45. Left company September 1999
20. Hired March 1999 at annual salary of $125,000 46. Appointed CEO December 1999
21. Appointed CEO in September 1999 47. Appointed CEO March 1999; left company in
22. Left company in April 2000 December 1999
23. Hired October 1999 at annual salary of $240,000 48. Left company November 1999
24. Left company in January 2000 49. Hired September 1999
25. Left company in March 2000 50. Received signing bonus equal to purchase price of
26. Hired October 1999 1.25 million Webvan shares or $13,487,500
84.3%
100%
77.6%
77.0%
76.0%
72.3%
72.0%
68.4%
65.2%
80%
64.0%
60.0%
59.5%
52.6%
45.0%
60%
32.6%
30.8%
40%
20%
0%
Medical Dental Profit Sharing 401 (k) Continuing Stock Options
Insurance Insurance or Bonuses Education
2,500 80%
1,777
2,000
Online Ad Expenditures (millions)
60%
1,217
40%
934
1,000
692
656
491
20%
423
351
336
500
227
214
130
110
76
52
30
0 0%
Q1-1996
Q2-1996
Q3-1996
Q4-1996
Q1-1997
Q2-1997
Q3-1997
Q4-1997
Q1-1998
Q2-1998
Q3-1998
Q4-1998
Q1-1999
Q2-1999
Q3-1999
Q4-1999
Source: IAB
Online ad spending during 1999 totaled $4.7 billion in the U.S., according to the
Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), an increase of 144% over 1998. Jupiter
Communications’ online ad spending estimates for 1999 were $3.5 billion for the U.S.
and $4.3 billion worldwide.
Total U.S. spending for 2000 is predicted to reach $5.3 billion, according to both
Forrester Research and the IAB. Jupiter’s forecasts are slightly higher at $5.4 billion
for the U.S. and $7.0 billion worldwide. Spending on online advertising is expected to
account for approximately 2.3% of aggregate U.S. advertising expenditures during
2000, according to all three firms.
$12.2
12
$9.8
9
$7.4
6 $5.4
$3.5
3 $2.1
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
15 15%
13.0%
Reach (%)
6.0%
5.5%
4.6%
5 5%
4.8 4.4
3.7
1.1% 0.9% 0.8%
Engage/Flycast
DoubleClick
ValueClick
avenue a
AdForce
LinkExchange
Advertising.com Source: PC Data
The number of web properties accepting advertising essentially kept pace with total
online advertising expenditures during 1999, according to AdKnowledge. The
company estimates that such sites expanded from 1,430 to 3,347 -- a 135% increase --
between December 1998 and December 1999.
The cost of online advertising generally declined during 1999 as the number of web
properties competing for advertiser dollars more than doubled. The average cost-per-
thousand (CPM) declined steadily from $34.96 during the first quarter of 1999 to
4,500 4,070
3,347
3,500
2,560
2,500 2,111
1,815
1,430
1,500 1,033 1,175 1,264
1,139
500
Dec-97 Mar-98 Jun-98 Sep-98 Dec-98 Mar-99 Jun-99 Sep-99 Dec-99 Mar-00
$37.78
$38
$37.20
$36.29
$36.63
$36
$34.96
$35.13
$33.96
$33.59
$34 $34.23
$33.75
$32
Dec-97 Mar-98 Jun-98 Sep-98 Dec-98 Mar-99 Jun-99 Sep-99 Dec-99 Mar-00
Sponsorships
27%
Interstitals
4%
Others
Banner & Tile 11%
Ads
56%
e-mail
2%
Source: IAB
Performance-
based Ads
7%
"Hybrid" Ads
53%
Source: IAB
The pricing model for online advertising during 1999 was essentially unchanged
from 1998, according to the IAB, with a majority (53%) of expenditures based on some
combination of cost per thousand and performance-based charges such as per-click or
per-lead. Only 7% of advertising was sold with entirely performance-based pricing
during 1999 and the remaining 40% was priced entirely on a conventional cost per
thousand basis.
As the Internet becomes more mainstream and the typical user is less technically
oriented, the nature composition of online advertising is changing. Computer-related
advertising continued its decline in market share, from 20% of total expenditures in the
fourth quarter of 1998 to 16% one year later, while consumer advertising increased
from 29% to 31% during the same period. Spending by new media advertisers showed
the biggest change among the various sectors during 1999, increasing from 7% to 15%
of total expenditures.
Q4-1998 Q4-1999
40%
31%
29%
30%
25%
20% 19%
20% 17%
16% 17%
12%
10% 7% 7%
n/a
0%
Computing Consumer Financial New Media Business All Others
Related Services Services
Source: IAB
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
6/28 - 7/4
9/6 - 9/12
2/28 - 3/7
4/5 - 4/11
5/29 - 6/4
8/2 - 8/8
10/11 - 10/17
11/15 - 11/21
12/20 - 12/26
1/24 - 1/30
5/10 - 5/16
6/14 - 6/20
7/19 - 7/25
8/23 - 8/29
9/27 - 10/2
11/1 - 11/7
12/6 - 12/12
1/10 - 1/16
2/14 - 2/20
3/20 - 3/26
4/24 - 4/30
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings
Click-through rates for online banner ads continued to decline during 1999, from an
average 0.71% in January to 0.31% in December, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, and
fluctuating between a high of 0.79% and a low of 0.27%. The average click-through
rate during the first five months of 2000 was fairly steady at an average 0.29% versus
an average 0.49% for calendar 1999.
Total U.S. advertising expenditures across all media during 1999 were
approximately $189 billion, according to McCann Erikson. The largest advertising
categories were newspapers ($46.6 billion), direct mail ($41.6 billion), and broadcast
television ($41.0 billion). Online advertising during the same period ranked between
outdoor advertising ($1.1 billion) and business newspapers ($4.4 billion), accounting
for approximately 1.8% of total advertising expenditures during 1999. Forrester
Research and Jupiter Communications both expect online advertising to increase its
share to approximately 2.3% of total advertising expenditures during 2000.
Newspapers $46.6
Broadcast TV $41.0
Radio $16.9
Magazines $11.1
Cable TV $9.8
Outdoor $1.7
Notes
Notes
Notes