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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (26256)	11/16/1998 7:28:00 PM
From: Sowbug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Sounds a little hard to believe. Is it true? I don't see the story there now... Not sure which part is hard to believe, but CNBC just reported the part about the video sales.

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (26256)	11/17/1998 7:32:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Randy, Here it is: "Amazon.com Moves Beyond Books By RACHEL BECK .c The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) -- Amazon.com, the Internet's leading book merchant, is taking its biggest step yet into becoming a leading Web department store in a drive to lure online shoppers and make them repeat customers. Starting Tuesday, it will look more like shopping mall than a bookstore, with the addition of everything from Barbie dolls to Palm Pilot electronic organizers to its Web site. The Seattle-based company told The Associated Press on Monday that it will launch an online gift shop featuring products far more varied than most specialized retailers currently dominating the Internet. The venture is planned to run through Christmas, giving traditional retailers a run for their money in their busiest time of the year. In addition, Amazon.com also plans to initiate online video sales on Tuesday, offering more than 60,000 VHS-formatted and 2,000 DVD-compatable movie titles. That expansion is to be a permanent addition to its stable of products. ''This is just the latest sign of Amazon getting bigger,'' said Jae Kim, an analyst at Paul Kagan & Associates in Carmel, Calif. ''It costs a lot of money to win a shopper on the Internet. Once you get that shopper, you want to keep that shopper.'' While Amazon.com has yet to turn a profit since its was founded in 1995, quarterly sales more than tripled and the number of customer accounts more than quadrupled from a year ago. Its first foray outside of books came in June, when it added music to its site. Within three months of the launch, music sales topped $14 million, putting Amazon.com ahead of rivals CDNow and Music Boulevard. This week's expansion into general merchandise was widely expected in the industry since two strategic purchases in the summer. Amazon.com acquired Junglee Corp., which offers one-stop electronic shopping services to World Wide Web sites, and PlanetAll, a provider of online address books. It said at the time that it planned to use the technology from the two Internet companies to ''personalize'' the shopping experience on its Web site and better know its customers. Among the hundreds of items Amazon.com will promote in its new gift shop are Motorola Walkie Talkies, Nintendo video games, Panasonic DVD players and Sony Walkman stereos. Amazon.com said it looked for products that would match the interests of its existing customers. The online shop will include services such as free batteries and a gift matcher to aid shoppers pick their holiday purchases. The company would not elaborate on its long-term plans for the expanded services. With the new video service, shoppers have access to thousands of movie titles as well as cast lists, movie quotes and reviews featured in Internet Movie Database, which Amazon.com bought earlier this year. AP-NY-11-16-98 1731EST Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. "