(BSNS WIRE) StarMedia Brings the First Total E-commerce Solution to Lati
StarMedia Brings the First Total E-commerce Solution to Latin American
E-marketplace
Business Editors
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1999--
StarMedia Network and SkyBox Services Corporation break down
barriers to deliver premium brand shopping to Latin America
StarMedia Network, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRM, www.starmedia.com), the
leading online network across Latin America, today announced that it
will provide the region's first total e-commerce solution with SkyBox
Services Corporation and new merchant partners including
1-800-FLOWERS.com, ShopSports.com, and Viajo.com.
The new partners join a stellar merchant roster that includes
barnesandnoble.com, Outpost.com, CIM, and CDnow, enabling StarMedia
to offer a comprehensive selection of premium-brand local and
international goods and services. Moreover, StarMedia is building
the infrastructure to support e-commerce in Latin America, from
banking to selection to fulfillment. Putting particular emphasis on
resolving longstanding Latin American logistics problems, StarMedia
has partnered with SkyBox Services Corporation, a leading provider
of logistics solutions for US retailers and catalogue companies
shipping to Latin America.
"Prior to today, consumers in Latin America could not buy a variety
of premium brands on-line in their own language, nor be assured that
they would receive their products at home quickly and at a
reasonable price. Domestic e-retailers could not easily translate
their stores, understand consumer preferences, nor ship their
products into Latin America without great expense. With SkyBox and
our merchant partners, StarMedia has broken these barriers", said
Fernando Espuelas, CEO and Chairman, StarMedia Network.
As Latin American consumers continue to join the e-commerce
community, StarMedia provides high-end merchants with a reputable
and dependable connection to its Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking
online communities in the Latin American, U.S., and Spain markets.
All partnering merchants will offer in-language storefronts on the
StarMedia Shopping Channel.
Through its partnership with StarMedia, e-retailing pioneer
1-800-FLOWERS.com is expanding its cyber-territory into yet another
international market. Meanwhile, ShopSports.com will offer thousands
of top US name-brand products, and Viajo.com will provide online
travel planning with air, car and hotel reservations.
SkyBox Services Corporation is embarking on a unique Internet
partnership with StarMedia to provide a full-service logistics
solution including shipping, package tracking, customs clearance and
home-delivery services. Shoppers can now register free of charge for
the SkyBox service on StarMedia Network and immediately receive a
U.S. address, enabling them to shop StarMedia's online partner
stores in seconds.
"We are delighted to be partnering with StarMedia and playing a key
role in creating a truly state-of-the-art and seamless solution for
e-commerce in Latin America," said A.J. Hernandez, President, Co-CEO
SkyBox. "StarMedia will bring the best shopping in the world to its
clients' homes-SkyBox will bring their shopping home to them-it
couldn't be more simple. U.S. merchants can now reach international
consumers with the same ease of transaction as handling a U.S. sale.
And, international consumers can shop from the U.S. with an online
service that handles everything for them, from international
transportation and customs processing to delivery to their front
door."
Goods purchased via StarMedia will be delivered more quickly and
reliably than ever before in Latin America. Through its
relationship with SkyBox, which previously focused on the securing
of high-end credit card consumers in Latin America, StarMedia has
overcome the region's frequently unreliable delivery service.
SkyBox's economically priced service handles every aspect of the
delivery for the clients and even includes customs clearance at
destination and online assistance through every step of the process.
This StarMedia-branded service also promotes a secure customer
experience in which users can track their shipments online.
E-commerce revenues in Latin America are expected to increase from
approximately $300 million in 1998 to over $8 billion by 2003
according to Visa International and IDC. In a recent study
conducted by The Laredo Group, Inc., -- a leading research,
training, and consulting firm dedicated to Internet advertising and
revenue generation results reported that --29% of StarMedia users
have already made online purchases, and 59% are likely to make a
purchase on the web in the near future. By providing the first
shopping network with depth and breadth of offering, credit and
distribution, and market education, StarMedia is giving many Latin
American consumers the opportunity they have been waiting for - to
purchase goods from outside the region for the first time.
About StarMedia Network
StarMedia is the leading online network across Latin America.
StarMedia offers Latin Americans and U.S. Hispanics a pan-regional
community experience, combined with a broad array of Spanish and
Portuguese content, tailored for regional dialects and local
cultural norms. StarMedia provides advertisers and merchants
targeted access to Latin American Internet users, an audience with a
highly desirable demographic profile.
Some of StarMedia's strategic relationships include Netscape
Communications, Real Networks, Ziff-Davis, Fox Sports Latin America,
CDNow, USA Networks, Reuters, eBay, National Broadcasting Company,
Hearst Communications, and Europortal Holding S.A. Founded in
September 1996, the company employs 300 people with offices in New
York City; Miami, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Sao Paulo, Brazil;
Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bogota, Colombia;
Santiago, Chile; Montevideo, Uruguay and Caracas, Venezuela.
About SkyBox Services Corporation
SkyBox Services Corporation, headquartered in Miami, FL
is a leading provider of logistics solutions for e-commerce clients
and U.S. merchandisers targeting Latin America. As part of the
SkyBox service its internationally resident clients are provided with
a U.S. suite address at which SkyBox receives correspondence and
merchandise, and from which it then forwards these items to the
clients' international home or office. SkyBox, in effect, provides
its overseas clients with the ability to make purchases with an ease
of transactions similar to those living in the U.S. (Its
computerized systems handle the receipt of merchandise, the
international transportation, customs clearance and home delivery,
all at extremely competitive rates.) In addition, for U.S.
e-commerce merchants, SkyBox provides them with the ability to reach
international consumers with the same transaction and U.S. delivery
point as if their purchase originated in the U.S.
This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature
relating to the future events or future financial results of
StarMedia. Investors are cautioned that such statements are only
predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially.
In calculating such statements, investors should specifically
consider various factors which could cause actual events or results
to differ materially from those indicated from such forward-looking
statements, including the matters set forth in StarMedia's reports
and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
--30--eb/ny*
CONTACT: Romi Schutzer
StarMedia Net |
