Bluefly.com Significantly Expands Marketing Agreement With AOL
Click on our sponsors!
Updated 8:06 AM ET August 18, 1999
Online Retailer to be Featured in Four Departments of New Shop @ AOL Online Shopping Destination
NEW YORK (BUSINESS WIRE) - Bluefly, Inc. (NASDAQ SmallCap: BFLY), a leading Internet retailer of designer fashions and home furnishings at outlet store prices (www.bluefly.com), announced today that it has entered into an expanded marketing agreement with America Online (NYSE:AOL), the world's leading interactive service.
Under the agreement, Bluefly will be an anchor tenant in the Outlet Stores Department, and will also be a Gold level tenant in the Men's Apparel, Women's Apparel, Home Furnishings and Gifts Departments of the new Shop @ AOL, AOL.COM, Netscape and CompuServe online shopping destinations.
"Our growth has been spectacular since launching our Website in September 1998, and AOL has played a key role in our success," said Jonathan Morris, Executive Vice President of Bluefly.com. "During the last quarter Bluefly experienced over 140% growth in both gross sales and unique visitor sessions. We now believe that we are one of the most visited multi-brand apparel retailers on the Internet and we expect that our expanded relationship with AOL will fuel continued growth in terms of both traffic and sales."
With Bluefly's recent entry into the home accessories and gifts markets and the launch of its redesigned Website, its expanded agreement with AOL should allow Bluefly to better promote the added departments and new features of the site.
"Our goal is to provide our users with the highest caliber online merchants - merchants like Bluefly.com," said Greg Shove, AOL Vice President of Interactive Marketing. "For the past nine months, Bluefly has offered our apparel customers tremendous prices and products in a convenient and compelling shopping environment, and we are confident that Bluefly will present the same type of high quality offerings to our customers in other departments. We are delighted to expand Bluefly's presence on AOL as well as have the opportunity to introduce them to CompuServe members and visitors to our Web-based brands."
Bluefly is a NASDAQ SmallCap public company. Headquartered in New York City, in the heart of the fashion district, Bluefly aims to be the most enjoyable way to shop for designer and name brand apparel and home accessories at savings of 25 to 75 percent off of retail prices. Its innovative MyCatalog feature is designed to eliminate the "hit-or-miss" aspect of off-price shopping by allowing shoppers to see only those products that are available for sale and match their interests. The online merchant has established strategic alliances with a number of the most visited Web Sites and portals on the Internet, including AOL, Excite, Go Network, Lycos, MSN, Netcenter, Tripod, Women.com and Yahoo!.
This press release may include statements that constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe", "project", "expect", or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Forms 8-A, 8-K, 10-QSB, and 10-KSB. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: the competitive nature of the business and the potential for competitors with greater resources to enter such business; risk of litigation for sale of unauthentic or damaged goods and litigation risks related to sales in foreign countries; consumer acceptance of the Internet as a medium for purchasing apparel; the Company's limited working capital and need for additional financing; recent losses and anticipated future losses; the startup nature of the Internet business; the capital intensive nature of such business (taking into account the need for advertising to promote such business); risk of litigation for sale of unauthentic or damaged goods; the dependence on third parties and certain relationships for certain services; the successful hiring and retaining of personnel; the dependence on continued growth of online commerce; rapid technological change; year 2000 issues; online commerce security risks; governmental regulation and legal uncertainties; management of potential growth; and unexpected changes in fashion trends.
Contact: Bluefly, Inc., New York Media Relations: Margaret McCann, 212/944-8000 x229 margaret@bluefly.com Investor Relations: Jon Freedman, 212/944-8000 x247 jfreedman@bluefly.com
|
