Fingerhut Takes Stake In Freeshop.Com
biz.yahoo.com
Fingerhut Makes Strategic Investment in Fast-Growing Online Shopping Portal, FreeShop Receives Marketing and Backend Support
MINNEAPOLIS and SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 1998-- Fingerhut Companies, Inc. (NYSE: FHT - news), one of the nation's largest direct marketers and online retailers, and FreeShop International, Inc., which operates www.freeshop.com, the starting place for smart online shopping, today announced that Fingerhut has acquired a 19.9 percent equity interest in a major new alliance with FreeShop.
A hub for online shopping, FreeShop offers thousands of free and trial offers, as well as a wide variety of popular and brand name products at discount prices, a shopping assistant search engine and membership clubs to its 1.2 million online customers. In announcing the investment in FreeShop, Fingerhut CEO Ted Deikel said the company intends to become one of the nation's leading full service electronic commerce companies. ''Our investment in FreeShop expands our Internet portfolio, strengthens our e-commerce position, and most importantly brings us access to FreeShop's 1.2 million Internet customers for cross-selling opportunities. FreeShop will benefit from the new alliance through leveraging Fingerhut's services and direct marketing expertise and the infusion of Fingerhut capital will help fuel FreeShop's rapid growth in the highly competitive e-commerce arena. ''
''FreeShop has created a unique niche in online consumer marketing through the use of free and trial product offers,'' said Fingerhut President Will Lansing. ''They have become a resource to millions of consumers and an invaluable channel of consumer contact for the thousands of companies, organizations and retailers interested in bringing merchandise and offerings to the public through the Internet. FreeShop's experience in the e-commerce arena is a perfect fit with our direct marketing expertise and our state-of-the-art fulfillment and distribution capabilities.''
''This investment gives FreeShop the resources it needs to solidify and grow its position as one of the top 20 e-commerce players on the Internet,'' said Tim Choate, President and CEO of FreeShop. ''Fingerhut's world-class database and fulfillment capabilities combined with FreeShop's online marketing and merchandising expertise are a perfect combination to lead the next wave of e-commerce growth.''
''Fingerhut can leverage its infrastructure to support FreeShop's e-commerce activity and use its promotional advertising and marketing expertise to drive traffic to FreeShop's web site,'' said Lansing. ''In addition, the investment provides Fingerhut new customers and incremental streams of revenue.'' Fingerhut will provide ''backroom'' operations for the FreeShop web site including order processing, fulfillment services, merchandise integration, and database management.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
FreeShop International, Inc., headquartered in Seattle, Washington, operates www.freeshop.com, the starting place for smart online shopping featuring hundreds of free and trial offers, a shopping assistant search engine and a savings club featuring over 500,000 products at up to 60 percent off manufacturer suggested list prices. To date, FreeShop has generated over 3.7 million orders for hundreds of major marketers. FreeShop's 1.2-million customer database includes over 460,000 subscribers to FreeShop's weekly newsletter. FreeShop has promotional relationships with CNET/Snap! (NASDAQ: CNWK - news), Lycos/Tripod (NASDAQ:LCOS - news) and GTE SuperPages. FreeShop clients include Ebay(NASDAQ:EBAY - news), Egghead.com (NASDQ:EGGS), Columbia House and The Wall Street Journal (NYSE:DJ - news). FreeShop's mission is to bridge the gap between marketers and consumers, leveraging the online platform to drive electronic commerce.
Fingerhut Companies, Inc. is a leading database marketing company selling a broad range of products and services through catalogs, direct marketing, and the Internet. The company also owns Popular Club, a membership-based cataloger of general merchandise, Arizona Mail Order, a catalog apparel company, and Figi's, a food and gift catalog company. Fingerhut owns approximately 20 percent of PC Flowers & Gifts, a leading on-line provider of flowers, gift baskets and gourmet food and approximately 20 percent of MountainZone.com. Based in Minnetonka, Minn., the company and its subsidiaries employ approximately 9,000 people. Fingerhut can be found on the Internet at www.fingerhut.com, www.andysgarage.com, www.thehut.com, www.figis.com, www.pcflowers.com, www.mountainzone.com, www.skiresorts.com, and www.freeshop.com. |
