Office.com Joins E-Commerce Partners to Offer Companies One-Stop Access to Best-of-Class Solutions
Gearing up for 4Q launch, Office.com partners with leading providers of products and services for small and medium-sized businesses
NEW YORK, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Office.com(SM), an online business service from Winstar Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: WCII - news) launching this fall, today announced a series of partnerships designed to provide easy and secure access to office products and services for small and medium-sized businesses. The following companies will provide e-commerce functionality and features to Office.com users at launch: barnesandnoble.com, Hello Direct, MasterCard, OfficeMax.com, RoweCom and Stamps.com.
``The business-to-business e-commerce market has become a retail powerhouse, and the category is expanding,' said Jeff Cutler, senior vice president and general manager of Office.com. ``Office.com has partnered with top e-commerce solutions providers to ensure that the best products and services are available to our business users when we launch this fall.'
Following are specific solutions provided by Office.com's e-commerce solutions partners:
barnesandnoble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN - news), through its Business Solutions site, will provide Office.com users with direct access to millions of new, out-of- print and rare books available on its Web site, including the newest business- oriented titles. A powerful search engine, one-click ordering, author chats, book reviews and expert commentary provide a fast, convenient and informed shopping experience, all of which will be accessible on the Office.com site upon launch.
Hello Direct, Inc. (Nasdaq: HELO - news) is the leading developer and direct marketer of telephone productivity tools, including headsets, teleconferencing, wireless and related desktop products. The company will offer Office.com users a broad selection of commercial grade products and information to meet their evolving communications needs.
MasterCard will be the preferred payment alternative on the Office.com site. MasterCard International has the most comprehensive portfolio of payment brands in the world. With 23,000 member financial institutions, serving consumers in 220 countries and territories, MasterCard is the industry leader in quality and innovation. With more than 16.2 million locations, no card is accepted in more places and by more merchants than the MasterCard card.
OfficeMax.com, the public Internet site of OfficeMax, Inc. (NYSE: OMX - news), has been ranked the No. 1 Internet site among office products retailers by Media Metrix, PC Data Online and Business Marketing, as measured by customer visits. More than 8,000 of OfficeMax.com's merchandise selection of over 20,000 office products, business machines, office furniture, computers and related items will be offered for sale online through the Office.com site.
RoweCom (Nasdaq: ROWE - news) develops and operates Web-based services that enable businesses to manage the acquisition of knowledge resources such as magazines, newspapers, journals and books. RoweCom's flagship services, Knowledge Store (kStore) and Knowledge Library (kLibrary), provide new levels of control, convenience, and cost-savings, allowing companies to order, pay for and manage 240,000 titles online.
Stamps.com (Nasdaq: STMP - news) Approved by the U.S. Postal Service, Stamps.com harnesses the power of the Internet to allow consumers to print postage any time of the day or night using only a computer, printer and Internet connection. With Stamps.com's convenient, secure and cost-effective service at Office.com, customers will never have to rush to the post office again.
The initial launch of Office.com is scheduled for this fall. At that time, users will be able to access integrated business news and financial content and take advantage of many commerce and communications tools. The site will also provide timely information on the latest business trends and strategies, discussions with business leaders, and the marketing, legal and technical information necessary to operate a successful business.
About Office.com
Office.com, a service from Winstar, is the first complete and relevant destination site to meet the needs of businesspeople by focusing the power of the Internet for the workworld. Office.com combines deep, industry-specific content, community, commerce and communications services from best of breed partners and in-house experts, helping people in business work smarter, faster and more efficiently.
In 1998, Office.com debuted its ``Business Tools' and related content in Yahoo!'s Small Business channel. In April of 1999, CBS purchased a one-third stake in Office.com in exchange for $42 million in promotion and advertising across CBS properties. Office.com was recently ranked a Top Ten Online Business Center (OBC) by Cahners In-Stat Group, which rated the value to end users, partners and potential investors. |
