Old but the first time I saw it
ter@ctive WeekOctober 5, 1998
JVWeb Banks On Niche Market
By Connie Guglielmo
Category killers - one-stop superstores offering products
and content in a single category - may draw the spotlight,
but Greg Micek says the more explosive growth in
electronic commerce will come from specialty merchants
and publishers targeting niche markets.
But unlike other wannabe Web marketing mavens,
Micek is willing to put his money where his mouth is.
With JVWeb Inc., the year-old commerce services
company he heads, Micek says his goal is to acquire
small-to-midsized businesses looking for someone to
share the risk of building a brand on the Web. What the
Houston-based company says it has to offer: online
technical and marketing expertise, working capital and
soon, a growing network of sites where it will be able to
cross-market its brands.
"The smaller-to-midsized companies they're targeting
need someone like JVWeb because they don't have the
expertise in-house, and it's not affordable to hire that
expertise," says investor John Martin, an institutional
analyst at Coast Capital Group in Biloxi, Miss. "What
makes their business model unique is the fact they're
acquiring equity interest in these brands. That's why
they're going to succeed. They tell potential partners:
'We're not going to make money unless we make money
for you.' "
It's a strategy that seems to be paying off, Micek says, in
part because JVWeb only has eyes for niche players on
and off the Web that have a proven record with
consumers. Among JVWeb's acquisitions: Wall St.
Whispers, a subscription-based, daily news digest of
stock, market and financial sources; and Dad and Me
Inc., a community site with content and games for dads
and kids and a companion online store.
To help it become a "strategic Internet services provider,"
the company in June partnered with Heitmann S.A.C., a
25-year-old technical design and development company
in the U.K. that built its JVWeb corporate Web site and
DadandMe.com. As part of its alliance, JVWeb will
market Heitmann's technical services in the U.S.
Next year, it hopes to build another of its brands,
FamilyLifeStyle.com, into a merchandise mart and
community portal designed to appeal to consumers with a
young family lifestyle.
JVWeb is so eager to find partners that it has posted a
questionnaire at its site that it uses to evaluate proposals
from the businesses with which it hopes to team. Micek,
though, has one caveat: "We will not take on a good idea
- what we take on are proven brands." |
