APII Pushes E-Commerce Strategy--OCALA, Fla., Dec. 1 // -- Action Products International, Inc. (Nasdaq: APII - news) today announced that it is further expanding its Internet capabilities and enhancing its websites to capitalize on the ever-growing market potential of the Internet, and is commenting on its broadened e- commerce strategies.
''Though e-commerce represents only a small percentage of APII's sales at present, that percentage is expanding rapidly.'' Robert Muniz, APII's Director of Sales continued, ''We began to see increases in our Internet sales in the third quarter of this year, and more in the fourth quarter. We certainly expect this growth trend to continue and intensify into next year as we continue to seek out and add new Internet clients.''
The Company's educational toys and books currently appear and are available for retail purchase on several websites including its own Yahoo! based website as well as E-Toys, The Space Store, Watermelon, Einstein's Emporium and numerous others.
Action has also recently upgraded its own website (www.apii.com) to provide password-protected on-line ordering capabilities to its established retailers. This service provides customers with a means of researching, pricing, and placing their wholesale orders directly to the Company via the Internet. The results are faster turnaround times, lower costs of communication, increased overall efficiency, and new business.
Action's new Space Voyagers™ website (www.spacevoyagers.com) is the Company's first brand-specific site. It is being renovated to include more interactive activities such as games, discussion groups, and downloadable screensavers, and will provide the individual consumer with links to sites where APII products are available for retail purchase. The purpose of the improvements is to make the site educational and interesting to visitors of all ages and to promote and make available APII products to a wider audience, without competing with its retail clients.
President and CEO Ronald Kaplan commented, ''We are a young-minded company and we realize the significance of moving ahead forcefully with a solid e- commerce strategy. Currently, our approach is to measure and continually increase the number of sites on which APII products are available for purchase. We achieve this by continually seeking out, providing full support to, and maintaining close ties with our e-commerce retailers and by making it as easy as possible to post images and detailed information about our educational toys and books to their sites. In other words, we support on-line retailers and view them equally as important as our traditional retail partners. We feel that this is the best strategy to ensure success for our shareholders and, in line with our strategic goals, it provides both a rapidly expanding distribution medium and promotes APII product awareness.''
''Our strategy for e-commerce success is to support all of the players. Though aggressive about the Net, we do not think that we are better positioned than established on-line retailers to compete for and drive Internet traffic and execute retail sales. We'd rather sell to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, E-Toys, Noodle Kidoodle, Zany Brainy, Red Rocket, and all the others, than to compete with those companies for traffic. We'd rather place our bets on ALL the horses. Currently, APII products appear on well over a dozen heavily trafficked sites, and my charges have their orders to push this presence much further. We soon expect the Internet to be the fastest growing segment of our business and within a few years, it is likely that we will be transacting millions of dollars of sales volume via the Net.''
Educational toy maker/publisher Action Products International, Inc. designs, markets, and produces educational toys and published products including books and CD-ROMs. Its products are marketed and sold to toy stores, specialty retailers, museums, zoos, theme parks, attractions, catalog companies, internet retailers, and education markets in the United States and worldwide.
For further information, please contact: Action Products International, Inc., Rebecca Garrett, Investor Relations at 344 Cypress Road, Ocala, Florida 34472-3108, (352) 680-3516, or visit us on the World Wide Web at: apii.com.
Copyrights and trademarks for Action Products, Space Voyagers, E-Toys, Yahoo!, The Space Store, Watermelon, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Noodle Kidoodle, Zany Brainy, Red Rocket, Einstein's Emporium, and Books-A-Million mentioned herein are held by their respective owners. |
