News April 26, 07:09 Eastern Time
E*TRADE RECORDS 1 MILLION ACTIVE CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS
Destination E*TRADE Web Site Doubles
New Customer Accounts in Only Seven Months
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- E*TRADE Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGRP) today announced it has surpassed 1 million customer accounts, more than doubling its customer accounts in the seven months since launching Destination E*TRADE, the company's one-stop financial services hub designed to empower individual investors.
(Photo: newscom.com ) Lisa Dossey, a 39-year-old software publishing consultant, wife, and mother from Roswell, Ga., opened the 1 millionth account. To mark this milestone, E*TRADE is rewarding her with a trip to New York; 100,000 United Airlines Mileage Plus(TM) miles; and a cash prize of $10,000.
"We're thrilled to welcome Lisa to the online investing revolution," said Christos M. Cotsakos, chairman and chief executive officer of E*TRADE. "Lisa and millions of other self-directed investors have discovered the power of the tools, content and investment choices that now exist online. Our goal with Destination E*TRADE is to create and continually enhance an environment in which investors can more easily make informed investment decisions.
"The dramatic growth seen in online investing reflects the relevance of electronic financial services to an ever-increasing number of consumers, " continued Cotsakos. "By enabling visitors to gain familiarity with much of our site's content prior to opening an account, we're striving to develop a more informed and educated consumer base that is empowered to take greater control over personal investing decisions."
"Opening an online investing account was a way for me to learn about, and take advantage of, the opportunities that exist in today's markets," said Dossey. "My husband and I did our homework and decided on E*TRADE because it provides the best overall investing experience -- lots of research, low commissions, and quality customer service -- with a multitude of products and services that complement our financial goals. We decided, as E*TRADE says in its advertising, that 'It's Time For E*TRADE.'"
In opening her account with E*TRADE, Dossey has joined the ranks of hundreds of thousands of E*TRADE investors who have moved to online services. According to the research firm Gomez Advisors, there are now more than 7.5 million online investor accounts, and that number is expected to grow to 18 million by 2001. In its second quarter alone, E*TRADE added 233,000 new active accounts, representing more new accounts than the company added in all of 1998, excluding acquisitions, and more than the total of the new accounts added from 1992, when E*TRADE Securities, Inc. was founded, through the end of fiscal year 1997.
At the close of its second fiscal quarter in March, E*TRADE hosted 16.0 million visits, up 72 percent from the first quarter. Total page views equaled 510 million, up 94 percent from the first quarter of fiscal 1999. E*TRADE had the greatest Internet reach of any online investment services site, according to Media Metrix(TM), which measures the Internet reach of major web sites. Destination E*TRADE attracted more unique visitors than Charles Schwab and Ameritrade combined, according to figures released by Media Metrix for the month of March.
"From all walks of life, consumers are realizing that online investing is a viable alternative for them," continued Cotsakos. "This realization is reflected in our new consumer brand advertising campaign. We're telling consumers that online investing isn't going mainstream -- it is mainstream. And now is the perfect time to discover the advantages of self-directed investing through E*TRADE. Our campaign shows that anyone, from novices to experienced investors, can find at E*TRADE the tools necessary to help make more effective, better-informed investing decisions."
Note: No assurance can be given that the addition of the company's 1 millionth customer account is representative of any trend in the company's business, or that accounts will stay at this level, and the company undertakes no obligation to update its number of customer accounts in the future |
