NEWS
InfoSpace Drives Mobile Commerce Adoption by Offering Dynamic Pricing Servicesto Millions of Merchants Agrees to acquire The boxLot Company (boxLot.com's)technology and assets to enable local merchants, national retailers ande-tailers to tailor pricing of goods and services based on customer profile,costs, market demand and inventory
Thu Aug 17 08:30:00 EDT 2000
BELLEVUE, Wash., Aug 17, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- InfoSpace (Nasdaq:
INSP), a leading global provider of merchant and consumer infrastructure
services on wireless and other platforms, today announced it is advancing the
development of mobile commerce technologies that drive transactions in both the
online and offline worlds by offering dynamic pricing capability to its growing
base of nearly one million merchant customers.
(Photo: newscom.com )
The new services give merchants a powerful tool to maximize profits and drive
traffic to their stores (whether online, offline or both) by enabling them to
apply variable pricing for their products and services, helping to establish
tighter relationships with preferred customers and extend the value of their
brand. InfoSpace's merchant services are distributed to local merchants through
partnerships with all five regional bell operating companies (RBOCs) that are
subsidiaries of Qwest, BellSouth, SBC and Verizon, merchant banks such as
American Express and Bank of America and other local media networks such as
radio and television stations and newspapers.
Using dynamic pricing, a local merchant can offer more attractive prices on
their products or services to customers who live and work nearby in order to
ensure more return visits. An online office supply store can offer certain
products at lower prices to business customers who order large quantities or who
shop there frequently. A national chain of toy stores can increase the price of
a popular toy the moment demand begins to outrun supply.
This announcement comes on the heels of InfoSpace's recent announcement that
they have entered into an agreement providing for the acquisition of Go2Net,
which, among other services, will bring full back end payment processing to
InfoSpace's existing commerce services, allowing InfoSpace to offer everything a
merchant needs to conduct the entire lifecycle of a transaction, one of the key
drivers of mobile commerce adoption.
Now, with the agreement to acquire The boxLot Company's core technology and
assets for approximately $21.5 million, InfoSpace continues to advance its
commerce solution by offering merchants the ability to dynamically tailor
pricing depending on the number and profile of customers looking for a product
or service they offer. The new services take mobile commerce to the next level
and add fuel to the network effect of consumers and merchants coming together
online via a wide range of wireless and other devices to conduct "real world"
transactions.
"The key to mobile commerce is to leverage the Internet to drive transactions in
the offline market where over 90% of consumer spending flows," said Naveen Jain,
chairman of InfoSpace. "By adding dynamic pricing to our suite of merchant
services we further increase the value of the InfoSpace network for both
consumers and merchants, driving the continued adoption of InfoSpace's cutting
edge mobile commerce services."
About InfoSpace
InfoSpace is a leading global Internet information infrastructure services
company. InfoSpace provides commerce, information and communication
infrastructure services to wireless devices, merchants and Web sites. The
Company's affiliates include a network of wireless and other non-PC devices
including PCs, cellular phones, pagers, screen telephones, television set-top
boxes, online kiosks, and personal digital assistants. These include
relationships with AT&T Wireless, Intel, Ericsson, Nokia, Mitsui and Acer
America. InfoSpace's affiliate network also consists of more than 3,100 Web
sites that include AOL, Microsoft, Disney's GO Network, NBC's Snap, Lycos,
DoubleClick and ABC LocalNet, among others.
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to the development of
the Company's products and services and future operating results, including
statements regarding the Company's successful completion and integration of the
boxLot technologies, that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The words
"believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," variations of such words, and
similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does
not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties
and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors that could affect the
Company's actual results include the progress and costs of the development of
our products and services and the timing of market acceptance of those products
and services. A more detailed description of certain factors that could affect
actual results include, but are not limited to, those discussed in InfoSpace's
Annual Report on Form 10-K, in the section entitled "Factors Affecting
InfoSpace's Operating Results, Business Prospects and Market Price of Stock."
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. InfoSpace
undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to
reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release
or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
SOURCE InfoSpace
CONTACT: Joni Hanson of InfoSpace, 425-201-6100, ext. 8655, or
jhanson@infospace.com
/Photo: newscom.com
AP Archive: photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467
URL: infospace.com
prnewswire.com
(C) 2000 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. |
