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

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (27784)	11/23/1998 10:29:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

Glen, most interesting event so far this morning is the first merger of John Doerr's keiretsu . Aol and netscape. I is looking more and more like a keiretsu vs Msft, everytime I wake up. What's next for Aol, the 'Thing'?. Aol already has Bert. I'm confused. Any help out there? <By THOMAS E. WEBER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL NEW YORK -- Nine major Internet retailers, including CDnow Inc. and eToys Inc., are banding together in a new online mall to battle aggressive expansion by Amazon.com Inc. The new effort, a network of Web sites dubbed ShopperConnection, is expected to launch Monday, according to executives at participating Web retailers. The participants each focus on distinct product and service categories, including music, movies, computer software and travel. By teaming up, retailers hope to attract shoppers from each other's Web sites. "We're allying with other top brands," said Julie Wainwright, chief executive of Reel.com, an online video retailer in Emeryville, Calif. "It's a good way to introduce new customers to our shopping." The alliance comes as Amazon.com pushes beyond books into a variety of new markets. Earlier this year, the Seattle company added compact disks to its repertoire, taking square aim at CDnow's market. It has also added videos, competing with Reel.com, and recently began experimenting with toys in a potential challenge to eToys. Electronic commerce analysts say Amazon.com controls a powerful asset: a huge base of customers who like to shop online. If Amazon.com can successfully add new product areas it could evolve into a kind of Wal-Mart of the Web -- potentially squeezing out merchants in each of those categories. ShopperConnection could allow individual merchants to combat that strategy. The merchants will advertise ShopperConnection on their pages, potentially enticing consumers to visit the site and jump over to merchants in other categories. The merchants also plan to add a frequent-shopper program that would reward buyers with points redeemable for merchandise at the participating stores. But past attempts to group electronic stores together in online malls have failed. International Business Machines Corp. ended a high-profile effort called WorldAvenue last year after it didn't pay off. Among the reasons cited was the difficulty in attracting online shoppers to a mall instead of individual Web sites that may have more prominent brands. The ShopperConnection participants -- who studiously avoid using the "mall" label -- argue that their program is different. Rather than attempt to promote ShopperConnection as a starting point, they plan to use it primarily as a conduit from one store to another. "We're not trying to build a branded mall," said Jason Olim, chief executive of CDnow, Jenkintown, Pa. "We're just trying to get people to go to the other stores." One novel aspect, according to Mr. Olim: ShopperConnection will also feature services, such as travel agent Preview Travel Inc., San Francisco, and online brokerage Datek Online Holdings Corp., Iselin, N.J. Yet it is far from clear that the combined strength of these merchants can combat Amazon.com. CDnow, perhaps the most prominent brand in the alliance, was ranked 86th among the most frequently visited Web site in statistics compiled by Media Metrix of New York. Amazon.com ranked 18th.