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Technology Stocks : OnSale Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Calvin who wrote (4881)	11/24/1999 12:16:00 PM
From: Don Wellington Jr.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4903

General Comments. Wow this string woke-up. Maybe not for the good. 1) Verified with OnSale, atCost will not exist as an ongoing "brand" "symbol" whatever. The atCost concept has been folded into the Egghead Superstore section. They will advertise "wholesale prices" free shipping, etc. just like atCost did. 2) The OnSale brand is not going away. It will represent the Auction Concepts, which is what OnSale is well known for. Egghead will represent fixed price retailing as it always had. 3) Egghead had double the registered users and almost triple the online visits. Therefore the name is more well-known to more consumers than OnSale, thus the decision to change the corporate name. OnSale had double the "close" rate of it's site visitors, therefore OnSale becomes the management team. 4) Egghead only had a bad reputation among vendors and investors. As a company, it went through a number of permutations of ownership, value, bankruptcy etc. But, the consumer never had a problem. Well-Known for low priced software, and then very competitive and well merchandised computer hardware, it was a great specialty store for computer products. But, it had too many small stores in too many expensive locations and malls, to compete in the low margin computer business. Thus, the decision to close the retail store and concentrate on Internet. Long-term, George Orban may be regarded as the forward thinking pioneer with that decision, as other "brick and mortar" retailers give up their real estate liability, altogether. 5) Best info coming out post-merger, is a strong statement as to growth, margins, and profitability in two years. What other new Internet E-Commerce is going on the line and predicting profitability???? 6) I believe the gentleman who posted the conversion ratio may have been mistaken in his formula. I calculate as follows: (1.0)EGGS (old) =.565 ONSL(old)= .565 EGGS(D) (1.0)ONSL(old)= 1.0 EGGS(D) (1.0) EGGS(D)=1.0 EGGS(new) Don

To: Calvin who wrote (4881)	11/24/1999 11:37:00 PM
From: Tom W.	Respond to of 4903

TV commercial already has been changed. Just saw it on my taped Howard Stern show on the E! channel. The old Onsale commercial now says Egghead.com, everything else the same. Not a big fan of the commercial, hope they come up with some new ones. Egghead also needs to take out some full page ads in the Wall Street Journal.

To: Calvin who wrote (4881)	11/29/1999 8:34:00 AM
From: Calvin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4903

November 29, 1999 7:04 AM Strong Retail Sales Fuel Start of Holiday Shopping Season NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Whether it was in cyberspace or at the mall, the holiday shopping season got off to a promising start over the Thanksgiving weekend, with shoppers buying up everything from Pokemon toys to DVD players. "So far the holiday season has shaped up for many retailers brilliantly," Kurt Barnard, president of the consulting firm Barnard's Retail Trend Report, told the Associated Press. "In many cases, this weekend was well beyond their forecasts." Retailers are optimistic about this holiday season, their expectations lifted by high levels of consumer confidence, low unemployment rates and sharp gains on Wall Street. But many merchants are still going to great lengths to lure shoppers and get them buying early in the season, rather than waiting until the days right before and after Christmas, when stores typically slash prices to clear out inventories. Online stores, in particular, are hoping for most purchases to come in the next two weeks, which would give them ample time to deliver goods as well reorder out-of-stock merchandise. To drive people to their stores and inspire them to spend, online and traditional retailers are using deep discounts - some offering as much as 50% off - and aggressive advertising, blanketing television, the Internet and newspapers with promotions. The tactics apparently worked this weekend. TeleCheck Services Inc., a check-approval service, said the amount of sales paid for by check on Friday rose by an unexpectedly strong 6.4% from the same day a year ago. While Friday was undoubtedly the busiest day, retailers reported that sales continued at a steady pace through Sunday. Crowds packed stores such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, with shoppers grabbing up everything from $5 Barbie dolls to $99 televisions. Checkout lines at some stores ran 20 people deep. Sales were also brisk online. Amazon.com reported orders this weekend were up 150% from a year ago. Yahoo! had its biggest day ever on Friday, as did rival Lycos, and sales remained strong through the weekend. Both portals have hundreds of merchants selling goods through their Web sites. According to the Nielsen/NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce Index, there was an 18% growth in online traffic from Wednesday through the weekend. The winners included those selling toys, with an 80% surge in visitors to those sites, and electronics, which saw a 40% gain. Demand was so overwhelming at some Internet stores, such as Toysrus.com and KBKids.com, that their Web sites were inaccessible sporadically throughout the weekend. Not only did many shoppers use the Web to buy, but many also relied on it to help them craft their gifts lists. Many consumers were spotted carrying printouts from the Internet as they walked through the mall. "I got all the information (online) so I can go in and - boom! I know the pricing, I know about the product," said Larry Lynn, who was shopping at the Gwinnett Place Mall outside of Atlanta. Despite the strong start to the season, retailers remained cautious Sunday, because in recent years the Thanksgiving weekend has accounted for less than 10% of all sales tallied during the Christmas season. In addition, merchants know that any stock market volatility or unusual weather in the coming weeks could keep shoppers home. "I am cautiously optimistic about what is ahead," said Bloomingdale's chairman Michael Gould.