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Technology Stocks : Autoweb IPO 3/22/99 AWEB -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Sammy Adams who wrote (118)3/24/1999 3:53:00 PM
From: Peter Blanchard  Respond to of 696
 
Autoweb.com is not just about buying and selling a new car. It helps identify a potential car you'd like to buy and gets you in contact with where that car is sold. Instead of going from dealer to dealer which can take days even weeks, shop the virtual showroom, then go to the dealer and touch and feel. I don't think anyone is "buying" the car over the internet. There are plenty of uses for the site from quotes on insurance to just plain looking up information about cars. Income is generated from dealers and retailers signing up with them.

A recent independent user audit by I/PRO, the leading World Wide Web traffic analysis institute, revealed that Autoweb.com (http://www.autoweb.com), the largest online automotive retailer, received more than 2.1 million unique visits for the month of August. Autoweb.com is one of the most visited commerce sites and is involved in over $660 million worth of car sales each month. Consumers utilizing Autoweb.com discover an online purchasing process that is faster, better, and easier than any other form of car buying.




To: Sammy Adams who wrote (118)3/24/1999 4:41:00 PM
From: Mike 2.0  Respond to of 696
 
Re: Books vs. cars...

<Your comments sound like the same ones somebody made about Amazon.com, "who would wanna buy a book online when I can go to the bookstore and look at it and buy it now?" Look at Amazon now.>

NOT A VALID COMPARISON... you cannot compare a $10-30 product with a $15,000 - $60,000 + product purchase.


Agree, but OTOH, there is no pent-up consumer resentment with the way books are currently sold. Barnes & Noble is IMO a great store and very pleasant shopping experience. Amazon is merely providing convenience...counting shipping costs the savings over going to the store is miniscule. So the valuations of AMZN do indeed flabergast me. Ditto for supermarket delivery stocks like PPOD...enlightened grocery chains are working hard to make their shopping experience actually exciting! Check out latest issue of Fast Company for a particularly innovative example. IMO convenience is not compelling enough a reason to invoke the internet to make the purchase. You need more.

Now...contrast relatively pleasant environment of book shopping vs. car shopping. You already know the drill...high pressure sales jerks, rustproofing and extended warranty "special offers" which border on being (or are outright) scams...and women still are treated as if it's still the 1950's. Consumer disgust over this process has been festering for decades!

My .02...AMZN, PPOD, etc. merely provide convenience, but there really IMO no "problem" per se with the shopping experience they replace. Quite the opposite for cars...AWEB, ABTL are solving a serious, widespread consumer problem: the current way cars are sold is unacceptable, and in many cases fraudulent.

BTW, nor is the status quo particularly great for dealers, ethical or no. They get cars pushed to them, where they sit on the lot and sit and sit...very inefficient.

Its not even apples and oranges... more like pees and watermellons!

Well I for one don't want to be "peed" on by 'Honest Lenny' at the ethics-free car dealership down the street either! :-)



To: Sammy Adams who wrote (118)3/25/1999 9:27:00 AM
From: mikekell  Respond to of 696
 
AutoTradeCenter.com Inc. Announces the Opening of Operations to Serve Nevada and Cumulative 11 Month Sales Figures
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1999-- AutoTradeCenter.com (OTC BB:ANWK - news) announced today that the company has agreed in principle to open an office in Nevada to serve the Las Vegas market.

Vice-President and CFO Mark Moldenhauer stated, ''We are excited to announce this operation which continues the national expansion of our company. Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S. and we are pleased to add it to our growing presence.''

The company also disclosed that sales for the eleven months ending Feb. 28, 1999 have reached the $85 million mark.

The company also announced the opening of the ''Wish List'' section of its Internet site www.autotradecenter.com. ''This addition has been a major request by our dealer base and we are pleased to offer it as an additional service.

''As the automobile industry evolves to the Internet, as evidenced by the success of the recent offering of Autoweb.com (Nasdaq:AWEB - news) and the anticipated offering of Autobytel, Inc. (Nasdaq:ABTL - news), we intend to be a leader in the evolution of the wholesale segment of the industry,'' stated Moldenhauer.

The web site www.autotradecenter.com utilizes auction formats similar to eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY - news) and uBid, Inc., (Nasdaq:UBID - news), allowing wholesale dealers to bid on listed cars. This auction format has undergone one successful live test and will launch its second live test next week.

The site will be used by dealers throughout the country as a central location to buy, sell, and trade used automobiles and to meet other dealers with similar needs.

The company's Internet service represents a significant addition to the ''business-to-business'' service application of the Internet and complements its wholesale automobile business. The web site is a revolutionary online service that allows automobile dealers to view available inventory for more efficient dealer-to-dealer buying, selling and trading.

The database of automobile inventory will be for wholesaling only, limiting access over a secured connection to registered dealers. Posting to the database is currently a free service for dealers. In addition, the site provides large dealership groups an Intranet service, allowing access to internal inventory through controlled security access.

AutoTradeCenter.com, Inc. is the fastest growing, publicly-held wholesaler of used late model and luxury automobiles in the country. The company is capitalizing on the billion-dollar wholesale market by focusing operations in strategic segments of the country.

AutoTradeCenter.com's strategy is to gain market share in key urban areas by acquiring and consolidating the independent automobile wholesaling companies. This strategy will provide the company with access to a large and growing volume of high-quality late model and luxury automobiles. It will also allow AutoTradeCenter.com to take advantage of geographical disparities in the value of cars.

For more information on AutoTradeCenter.com, please visit www.AutoTradeCenter.com or the company's home site www.anwk.com .

Statements regarding financial matters in this press release other than historical facts are ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of section 27 A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21 E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company intends that such statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements (future operational results and sales) involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the company's actual results may differ materially from expected results.

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