AuctionWatch.com Expands Model to Include Additional Marketplaces; New buyer offering to provide choice and convenience, more comprehensive online experience
SAN BRUNO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2000--AuctionWatch.com, the leading provider of solutions that enable buyers and sellers to effectively leverage online commerce, today announced the addition of new marketplaces into its service offerings.
The move cements AuctionWatch.com's position as the industry's most comprehensive e-commerce enabler for both buyers and sellers, and marks the beginning of its expansion beyond auctions.
In response to the growing demand from its rapidly expanding customer base, AuctionWatch.com is broadening its business, offering buyers the most convenient shopping experience and providing sellers seamless access to multiple marketplaces to sell their goods. AuctionWatch.com will integrate fixed price partners into Universal Search as the first step of its expansion. Early participants include Egghead.com and Djangos.com, with others to follow shortly as AuctionWatch.com continues to quickly expand its partner base.
"AuctionWatch.com's addition of new partners within the fixed price channel strongly supports our overall goal of enabling users to efficiently buy and sell across multiple marketplaces," said Rodrigo Sales, CEO and co-founder of Auctionwatch.com. "AuctionWatch.com offers a richer and more useful solution that encapsulates all potential users, answering the dynamic needs of the auction audience as well as the needs of the entire online shopping community. We've seen online auction demand grow and evolve since its inception, and we're expanding our offerings to ensure we're delivering the best tools out there."
By 2003, Jupiter Communications predicts that dynamically priced models such as auctions, aggregate buying and reverse auctions will grow to $21.8 billion and that general online shopping will grow to $78 billion. AuctionWatch.com's inclusion of additional marketplaces offers buyers the ability to conveniently comparison shop and purchase based on personal preferences such as privacy, efficiency and cost. For sellers of any size, AuctionWatch.com will offer unmatchable exposure and promotion opportunity and selling power across a multitude of sales channels.
Consumer demand in the auction space has grown beyond trend items and collectibles such as Beanie Babies and Pez dispensers, to more commoditized items like consumer electronics as evidenced through AuctionWatch.com's daily searches. AuctionWatch.com currently conducts over 3 million product searches per month, and with the Universal Search expansion, is the largest provider of cross-channel commerce solutions for buyers and sellers.
Sellers currently recognizing the benefits of dynamic-priced channels are also interested in maximizing profit and growing a customer base through extended channels. The demographic of the online auction user has evolved and includes millions of consumers looking for new and used products across all possible product categories, from manufacturing filter systems to the newest desktop computer. AuctionWatch.com's addition of retail products offers retailers exposure to the auction-buying audience and provides buyers a more rounded experience.
"Our partnership with AuctionWatch.com offers an unmatched opportunity to reach an extremely large and untapped customer base," commented Kanth Gopalpur, vice president of e-commerce for Djangos.com, a clicks and mortar retailer of new and used CDs, videos and DVDs. "By including our products in Universal Search, we're offering the best consumer experience to not only our current users, but to millions more."
About AuctionWatch.com
With nearly four million unique visitors a month and hundreds of thousands of registered sellers, AuctionWatch.com is widely recognized as the company of choice for businesses looking to efficiently distribute merchandise to auction and cost effectively acquire customers. In addition to its suite of powerful seller services, AuctionWatch.com offers buyers an industry-leading search capability, allowing them to conveniently locate items across hundreds of auction sites. The company also publishes daily content on the auction industry, hosts the industry's premier online appraisal service, and has the most active independent message boards of its kind. Based in San Bruno, California, AuctionWatch.com is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures, CMGI @Ventures, meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund I (NYSE:MVC), Angel Investors LP, Bulldog Capital, Argus Capital and private investors.
CONTACT:
AuctionWatch.com
Cindy Cooper, 650/808-5120
ccooper@auctionwatch.com
or
Edelman Public Relations
Lisa Hagendorf, 415/433-5381
lisa.hagendorf@edelman.com |
