Global Sports, Inc. Forms Exclusive Multi-Year Alliance With Bluelight.com to Power the Sporting Goods Department
GLOBAL SPORTS, INC. (NASDAQ: GSPT), an Internet company that develops and operates the online sporting goods businesses of leading retailers and Internet/media companies, announced today that it has formed an exclusive multi-year alliance for the sporting goods department with BlueLight.com, an independent company formed to operate the e-commerce businesses of Kmart (NYSE: KM).
Expected to launch this summer, BlueLight Sports is positioned as a leading online sporting goods department within the BlueLight.com e-commerce shopping portal. Consumer traffic will be driven to BlueLight Sports by leveraging BlueLight.coms relationship with Kmart. The nationwide retailers powerful brand, supported by more than $40 billion in annual sales, will be utilized to actively promote BlueLight.com throughout its more than 2100 retail stores and via its 72 million weekly advertising circulars.
The alliance with BlueLight.com represents a number of significant milestones for Global Sports. BlueLight.com is the 8th partner for this leading sporting goods Internet company and is the 2nd new partner added in 2000 for the Company. In addition, BlueLight.com is the first Global Sports partner to represent the online sporting goods department of a general merchandise retailer.
Global Sports Chairman and CEO Michael R. Rubin said, This new alliance with BlueLight.com is a tremendous achievement for Global Sports. Kmart is the 3rd largest retailer of sporting goods, with estimated annual sporting goods sales in excess of $2 billion. Global Sports is clearly the sporting goods e-Commerce partner of choice for several different types of successful merchants, including general sporting goods retailers, specialty sporting goods retailers, general merchandise retailers, and Internet/media companies. Furthermore, Global will continue to pursue its growth strategy of adding meaningful strategic relationships such as BlueLight.com, rather than relying primarily on substantial marketing expenditures to grow sales. This partnership further leverages Globals infrastructure and utilizes our scalable e-Commerce solution.
As Kmarts exclusive e-commerce solution, BlueLight.com is uniquely positioned to capture a large portion of their customers that shop online. BlueLight.com also represents an important new category of growth for Global Sports - the general merchandise retailer.
Global Sports will be responsible for merchandise procurement and fulfillment for BlueLight Sports. BlueLight.com will coordinate the Web site development, merchandising, customer service, and order processing components of the business. The sporting goods inventory on the BlueLight Sports store will consist of items from Global Sports, enhanced by a range of current Kmart product offerings.
Mark H. Goldstein, CEO of BlueLight.com, commented on the new alliance, I am very excited to have the leading sporting goods Internet company help power BlueLight.coms sporting goods business. This partnership will allow BlueLight.com to greatly broaden the selection of goods available on our e-commerce shopping portal, thus benefiting the consumer.
Coming this summer, BlueLight.com will launch its full e-commerce shopping portal featuring a wide array of goods and services, including exclusives available only on the site. The current BlueLight.com site is a preview of the upcoming shopping portal, featuring selected special merchandise.
Global Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSPT) (http://www.globalsports.com) is an Internet company that operates under exclusive long-term agreements the online sporting goods businesses of general sporting goods retailers, specialty sporting goods retailers, general merchandise retailers, and Internet/media companies. The companys partners include The Sports Authority (http://www.TheSportsAuthority.com), The Athlete’s Foot (http://www.TheAthletesFoot.com), Sport Chalet (http://www.SportChalet.com), MC Sports (http://www.MCSports.com), Dunhams Sports (http://www.DunhamsSports.com), Oshmans Sporting Goods (http://www.Oshmans.com), Healtheon/WebMD (http://store.WebMD.com), and BlueLight.com (http://www.BlueLightSports.com), Kmarts (NYSE: KM) exclusive e-Commerce solution.
BlueLight.com was formed in 1999 by Kmart Corporation and SOFTBANK Venture Capital with investments by Yahoo! Inc. and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. By servicing Kmart’s vast consumer base, BlueLight.com is uniquely positioned to become an industry-leading integrated e-commerce company. BlueLight.com offers online shopping and totally free Internet access nationwide. For more information, visit www.bluelight.com.
*Source: Sports Trend Magazine 10th Annual Top 100 Retailers Report
# # #
Contact:
BlueLight.com Contact
Dave Karraker
Communications Director
415) 277-0100 x221
dave@bluelight.com
Global Sports Contact:
Dana Stein Grosser
Director of Corporate Communications
610) 491-7000
grosserd@globalsports.com
