Tuesday December 7, 12:42 pm Eastern Time
biz.yahoo.com
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Inflightonline.com
Inflightonline.Com Announces Exclusive Partnership With Toy E-Tailer, ZanyBrainy.com
Airline Passengers Gain Internet Access to Zany's Innovative Educational Products
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Inflightonline.com, the world's first provider of in-flight Internet and Intranet services, announces today that ZanyBrainy.com, an e-commerce venture of Zany Brainy, Inc., (Nasdaq: ZANY - news), will be the exclusive toy retailer on its Internet service. ZanyBrainy.com will be one of the first retailers available on Inflightonline.com's e-commerce marketplace during the pilot program scheduled to begin in the spring of 2000.
''We are pleased to have signed another partnership aimed at increasing access to Zany's innovative educational products,'' said Tom Vellios, President of Zany Brainy, Inc. ''ZanyBrainy.com's partnership with Inflightonline.com will help us to attract new customers as well as invite our loyal customers to shop online while en route to their destination. Online shopping is all about convenience and Inflightonline.com will offer consumers an innovative and efficient way to shop with online retailers.''
Under terms of the agreement, airline passengers will have access to ZanyBrainy.com's broad selection of high-quality, age-appropriate toys such as games, puzzles, audiotapes, videotapes, books, arts and crafts, software, dolls, plush toys and electronic toys. Following the three-month pilot program, ZanyBrainy.com will have the option to extend its relationship as the exclusive toy retailer on the service for two years. The pilot program will reach approximately 300,000 passengers, and the company anticipates nearly two million users per month by mid 2001.
Through a previously announced partnership with Lycos, the fastest growing Internet portal and the world's largest online community, Inflightonline.com will be the world's first provider of a large assortment of content-rich, e-commerce sites encompassing many high-end consumer brands that will appeal to the in-flight audience.
Other services will include faster e-mail capability, hotel/car/flight reservation services, interactive duty-free shopping, audio/video on-demand, gaming, as well as up-to-the-minute news, weather, sports, financial information and a large assortment of reference/research material. The system will be able to carry more than one million Web pages.
ZanyBrainy.com is the e-commerce venture of Zany Brainy, Inc., a leading specialty retailer of high-quality toys, games, books and multimedia products with 103 stores in 26 states across the country.
Inflightonline.com will be using airborne data servers linked to existing seat-back telephone handsets to deliver this service. The connection from server to seat will operate at an extremely fast rate and will offer free Intranet shopping and browsing, as well as access to the Internet.
''We are extremely excited about working with ZanyBrainy.com. Its distinctive product line and superior customer service fits perfectly into the Inflightonline.com philosophy of bringing only the best goods and services to this exciting new aspect of e-commerce,'' said Bob Iversen, chairman and CEO of Inflightonline.com.
Inflightonline is currently in negotiations with three airlines to begin launch service as soon as April of 2000.
About ZanyBrainy.com
ZanyBrainy.com (www.ZanyBrainy.com) is dedicated to offering products that entertain and educate children while instilling a sense of wonder and a lifelong passion for learning. Setting a precedent for e-commerce today, ZanyBrainy.com brings the magic of Zany Brainy's unique in-store experience to the Web to create an innovative toy shopping experience. It provides online shoppers with guidance and recommendations from real-life KIDsultants, allows users to virtually try a product with its exclusive ''Try Me'' feature and permits consumers to shop however they want-by age, category, brand and more.
Contact: For Inflightonline.com
Dan Dailey
954-428-1919
dailey@inflightonline.com
For ZanyBrainy.com
Kelly Disque
Cone Interactive
212-973-1356 ext. 143
kdisque@coneinc.com
The MWW Group
Investor Relations - 212-704-9727
Mary Rogers Ament -mrogers@mww.com
Leon Berman - lberman@mww.com
SOURCE: Inflightonline.com |
