Buy.Com Expands Into Sporting Goods Category Through Alliance With Global Sports
ALISO VIEJO, CA, and KING OF PRUSSIA, PA, July 31, 2000 - buy.com (NASDAQ: BUYX), a leading multi-category Internet superstore, and Global Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSPT), a leading developer and operator of e-commerce sporting goods businesses, today announced a long-term strategic alliance. Under this agreement, Global Sports will power the new sports store on the flagship buy.com Web site. With this new relationship, buy.com has launched a new sports store that provides the ultimate atmosphere for sports participants in the market for sporting goods and equipment. 2004.
According to Forrester Research, the e-commerce sporting goods category reached $165 million in 1999 and is expected to grow to $4.2 billion by
The new sporting goods category on buy.com will feature nearly 1,000 brands of sporting goods and will encompass hundreds of categories, including baseball, basketball, exercise equipment, camping, fishing, tennis, scooters, in-line skates, bicycles, and licensed team apparel.
Greg Hawkins, CEO of buy.com commented, “Our relationship with Global Sports allows us to extend a wide sports product offering to our customers. This new category fits nicely with buy.com’s demographic, which is largely higher income males, ages 25-49. Sporting goods is a natural extension of our online golf store, and is expected to deliver strong gross margins to our virtual operating model as we drive our business toward profitability.”
“Enabling buy.com, the number two e-commerce site in the world, for sporting goods will provide Global Sports with another important opportunity to leverage our infrastructure and further enhance the scalability of our business,” said Michael G. Rubin, Chairman and CEO of Global Sports. “buy.com’s significant customer base and strong brand awareness make it well-positioned to generate high-volume through its new sporting goods category.”
About buy.com
buy.com (Nasdaq ticker symbol: BUYX), a leading Internet superstore and low price leader, offers over 850,000 SKUs in a broad range of categories including computer hardware and peripherals, software, office supplies, consumer electronics, books, videos, DVDs, games, music, golf, clearance equipment, and travel booking services. The buy.com e-commerce portal features products from thousands of popular manufacturers such as Microsoft, Palm Inc, Callaway and many more. Individuals and businesses can shop at buy.com 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as track packages online and have access to personal customer service representatives all day, everyday. buy.com, the recipient of a four-and-a-half star rating from BizRate.com, was recently named “Best of the Web” in the computer and electronics category by Forbes Magazine (Spring 2000) and #1 on the Gomez Advisors Internet Computer Scorecard for the third time (Summer 2000). buy.com, founded in June 1997, is located in Aliso Viejo, California and has expanded Internationally into Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. For more information visit our Web site at www.buy.com.
About Global Sports
Global Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSPT) (www.globalsports.com) is a leading developer and operator of e-commerce sporting goods businesses. Global Sports develops and operates the e-commerce sporting goods businesses of specialty retailers, general merchandisers, Internet companies, and media companies under exclusive long-term agreements. The Company’s current partners include BlueLight.com—the exclusive e-commerce partner for Kmart, Broadband Sports and its AthletesDirect subsidiary, buy.com, Dunham’s Sports, FOXSPORTS.com, Healtheon/WebMD, MC Sports, Oshman’s Sporting Goods, Sport Chalet, The Athlete’s Foot, The Sports Authority, and Toysrus.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, technical risks associated with launching a new store, working with a new fulfillment partner and launching and building consumer awareness for a new product category. Additional important factors, which could cause actual operating results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by buy.com, including its Registration Statement on form S-1, as amended, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 27, 1999, and its final prospectus related to its initial public offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 7, 2000 and its quarterly report for the quarter ended March 31, 2000 on form 10-Q filed on May 12, 2000. Some of these factors include our dependence on third parties to provide distribution and fulfillment services to us that may not be available in the future, our new and unproven business model, the cost and risk of expanding into new product categories, our dependence on the continued growth of the Internet as a viable commercial marketplace and intense competition. buy.com undertakes no obligations to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Statements about Global Sports’ outlook and all other statements in this release other than historical facts are forward-looking statements. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties, they are subject to change at any time and Global Sports’ actual results may differ materially from expected results. Many Global Sports’ forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions, and there are inherent difficulties in predicting certain important factors that could impact these assumptions. These factors, as and when applicable, are discussed in Global Sports’ filings with the SEC.
Contact:
Global Sports Media Contact
Dana Stein Grosser
Director of Corporate Communications
(610) 491-7012
grosserd@globalsports.com
buy.com Media Contact
Robin Zohn
Public Relations Manager
(949) 389-2120
robinz@buy.com
