News article received, Wednesday, August 25, 1999 5:22:19 PM EST
U.S. Home & Garden to Launch E-commerce Business-To-Business Initiative and Internet Auction Site On egarden.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 25, 1999 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- U.S. Home & Garden Inc. (Nasdaq: USHG) today announced that egarden.com, the Company's lawn and garden portal Web site will begin selling products on the Internet on a business-to-business basis. The Company will also expand this site to include a new Product Auction site that will be accessible from the home page of egarden.com. Beginning November, customers will be able to benefit from increased buying options and conduct business-to-business bidding as well as private non-auction business-to-business on a wide variety of lawn and garden products including the Company's niche garden products. The site isbeing developed in conjunction with a leading provider of Web auction software. The Company's Auction site for egarden.com will be accessed through gardenersauction.com and garden.wholesalexchange.com.
USHG will receive a fee for facilitating a business-to-business online transaction on either a private or auction basis. The Company's products will also be available to retailers who do not purchase through the traditional industry distribution channel. The Company's Web site will be an online resource to manufacturers and lawnand garden industry professionals seeking information on such items as raw material pricing, business trends of public and private companies, merger and acquisition activity, stock quotes, news, industry events, and other helpful information in one convenient location.
Robert L. Kassel, Chairman and CEO of U.S. Home & Garden Inc., stated, "The lawn and garden industry and related businesses is a $69 billion industry. USHG intends to create a forum to connect the hundreds of companies and their respective products and services and provide them access to a business-to-business sales channel that today does not exist. Our new Web sites, both Auction and Private, are the first of their kind in the industry and will provide manufacturing companies at the wholesale level and retail lawn and garden businesses a new channel of distribution and product offerings that will make it easier for them to sell excess inventory, broaden their customer base and create a community of qualified customers. We also believe thatby adding this new auction service to our egarden.com Web site we can enhance brand loyalty and extend brand awareness for USHG, increase our customer acquisition and retention, obtain additional registration and purchasing information and better manage inventory. By creating a branded, new e-commerce channel, we expect to capture the major share of the wholesale business-to-business sales that will be transacted through e-commerce. Most importantly, our core business strategy remains intact and we do not plan to offer our current retail products to consumers through our Internet operation, but rather to build a stand-alone e-commerce business-to-business web site offering special products on a private and auction basis. The Company will contract with other garden product businesses, similar to the Germania Seeds agreement described below, that will expand this new platform for business-to-business e-commerce."
USHG and Germania Seed one of the early E*Garden Associate companies, will be expanding Germania's offering through the new wholesale program. Germania Seeds offers over 4200 varieties of seeds, the largest selection in North America and is unmatched in the size and varieties of perennial plants available.
E*Garden President Linda Watson commented, "Germania Seeds commitment to new technology, new plants, and quick delivery makes them an ideal associate. We're delighted that they will be using E*Garden for auctions and fixed-price sales of their seeds, plants, and tags."
The Company anticipates that its business-to-business Internet initiative will require significantly fewer broad based advertising programs as compared to a consumer direct initiative. Therefore, the Company estimates that the financial impact of the e-commerce initiative will not have a material effect on theCompany's anticipated cash flow for fiscal year 2000. The Company also believes its business-to-business strategy, which does not conflict with the traditional retail channel, will encourage other manufacturers to list their product offering on the egarden.com Web site. Currently the Web site is undergoing the installation of Oracle software to enlarge and expand its overall Internet format.
The Company also announced that its agreement in principle to purchase the Gardenside, Ltd., retail catalog patio and garden furniture business has been ended. However, both companies intend to pursue an agreement involving the key Internet component of the Gardenside business that will enable Gardenside to offer its line of patio and garden furniture on the USHG business-to-business Web site.
Commenting on recent inquiries to the Company regarding the Cumulative Trust Preferred Securities, Mr. Kassel stated, "We are very comfortable with the Company's ability to service the monthly interest payments on the Trust Preferred Securities based on our balance sheet and anticipated cash flow in fiscal year 2000."
U.S. Home & Garden Inc. is a leading manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of consumer lawn and garden products including weed preventative landscape fabrics, weed trimmer replacement heads, fertilizer spikes, decorative landscape edging, shade cloth and root feeders which are sold under various recognized brand names including Weedblock(R), Jobe's(R), Weed Wizard(TM), Emerald Edge(R), Shade Fabric(TM), Ross(R), and Tensar(R). The Company markets its products through most large national home improvement and massmerchant retailers including Home Depot, Lowe's, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Home Base.
To learn more about U.S. Home & Garden Inc.'s business, visit its web site at www.easygardener.com/ushg.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Certain statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements that involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, statements involving the likely range of earnings and revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1999, the ability of the Company to complete the acquisition of Gardenside, Ltd., successfully integrate any future businesses or product lines acquired into existing operations, the Company's growth strategy, customer concentration, outstanding indebtedness, dependence on weather conditions, seasonality, expansion, and other activities of competitors, changes in federal or state environmental laws and the administration of such laws, protection of trademarks and other proprietary rights, the general condition of the economy, uncertainty relating to the Company's Year 2000 compliance efforts and the possible failure of key suppliers and customers to be Year 2000 compliant, and other risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The words "anticipate" and "intend" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statement wasmade. |
