Interactive Week reporting that "eBay Storefronts" will be launched in two to three months:
EBay Offers Storefronts to Challenge Amazon, Yahoo!Reports Interactive Week
NEW YORK, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Ebay (Nasdaq: EBAY), the person-to-person Internet trading community, will soon move on a new leg of its strategy to become the Internet's dominant commerce company with "eBay Storefronts." In an exclusive story appearing in the April 2 issue, Interactive Week describes the initiative as an e-commerce hosting service for businesses that want to set up standard online stores to sell products with fixed prices in addition to auction-based listings.
An executive with knowledge of eBay's plans told the newsweekly that the launch of eBay Storefronts is about two or three months away. Meg Whitman, eBay's president and chief executive officer, has made the storefronts project a "top priority" for the company, according to the source. And it's a central part of eBay's long-term goal of rivaling Amazon.com and Yahoo! as the biggest Internet commerce company in the world.
"They've been working on this for a while," the executive told Interactive Week Matrix Editor Todd Spangler
EBay started developing the storefront offering about four months ago, according to the source. In mid-January, eBay registered two domain names -- "ebaystorefront.com" and "ebaystorefronts.com" -- although neither one is currently live.
Kevin Pursglove, an eBay spokesman, acknowledged only that the company is in the process of evaluating whether to launch such a storefront offering, and he said no firm launch date or timetable has been set. Pursglove also said that "eBay Storefronts" is not necessarily the official name of the project.
EBay is, in fact, moving very aggressively to roll out the storefront plan, the source familiar with the initiative told Interactive Week. The reason: Storefronts are a critical missing link that will help eBay extend its power in auctions to other forms of e-commerce by further locking buyers and sellers into its system.
In addition to being published in the April 2 issue, the full story, "Ready to Rumble," will be posted to the newsweekly's Web site, interactive-week.com. Interactive Week Senior Writer Laura Lorek contributed to the report.
About Interactive Week
Interactive Week, a Ziff Davis Media publication, delivers a controlled circulation of 300,100 business and technology managers who are charged with driving their organizations' interactive strategies and initiatives. Interactive Week is the ultimate source for information on the technologies and market issues that are shaping digital communications and interactivity today.
About Ziff Davis Media Inc.
Ziff Davis Media Inc. (http://www.ziffdavis.com) is the leading information authority for buying, using and experiencing technology and the Internet. It is the largest technology and Internet magazine publisher and the sixth largest magazine publisher in the United States. The company is also at the forefront in creating a new generation of consumer and business media that educate, entertain and empower people. In the U.S., Ziff Davis Media publishes 13 industry-leading business and consumer publications: PC Magazine, Ziff Davis SMART BUSINESS for the New Economy, Yahoo! Internet Life, FamilyPC, Expedia Travels, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, Computer Gaming World, Expert Gamer, eWEEK, Interactive Week, Sm@rt Partner and The Net Economy. Through a joint venture with International Data Group (IDG), the company also publishes Macworld. Other Ziff Davis Media business units include Ziff Davis Custom Media, which provides custom and contract media solutions within the technology industry; Ziff Davis Media Brand Development, which manages brand development and licensing; eTesting Labs, the industry leader in Internet and technology testing; and Ziff Davis Internet, an Internet-related development group. The company also produces conferences, seminars and Web casts.
SOURCE Interactive Week
CO: Interactive Week; Ziff Davis Media Inc.; Ebay
ST: New York
IN: MLM PUB ECM
SU: PDT
04/01/2001 13:00 EDT prnewswire.com |
