The eCommerce Almanac

252 Pages·2000·3.83 MB·English

The
June 2000 edition
Intermarket Group
Reference Series
The eCommerce
Almanac:
Profiles from the Internet economy
Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com Home Page
1200 12th Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98144, U.S.A.
Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]
Unique Visitors (March 2000): 14,812,000
Reach: 21.9%
Rank: 13
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Books and Music/Videos, Consumer
Electronics, Computer Hardware and Software, Toys and
Sporting Goods, General Merchandise
Founded: July 1994
Employees: 7,600
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Seattle, WA headquarters
• Seattle, WA distribution facility
• New Castle, DE distribution facility
• Fernley, NV distribution facility
• Coffeyville, KS distribution facility
• Campbellsville, KY distribution facility
• Lexington, KY distribution facility
• McDonough, GA distribution facility
• Grand Forks, ND distribution facility
• Marston Gate, UK distribution facility
• Bad Hersfeld, Germany distribution facility
Telecenter: In-house call centers located in Seattle and
Tacoma, WA; Huntington, WV; Grand Forks, ND; Slough,
England; The Hague, Netherlands; and Regensburg, Germany
-- Continued on page 5 --
The eCommerce Almanac
Table of Contents
Company Profiles Merisel, Inc.................................................113
Amazon.com................................................ 1 MVP.com, Inc.............................................114
Ameritrade................................................... 8 [email protected]
AMP Electronic Commerce..........................10 NetGrocer Inc..............................................118
Art.com Inc...................................................11 NextCard, Inc..............................................119
Ashford.com, Inc..........................................13 OfficeDepot.com.........................................122
autobytel.com inc..........................................15 OfficeMax.com...........................................124
autoweb.com.................................................17 1-800-FLOWERS, Inc................................125
BabyCenter Inc.............................................19 OneCore.com..............................................128
BarnesandNoble.com Inc..............................21 Outpost.com................................................130
Beyond.com Corp.........................................24 Peapod, Inc..................................................132
Biztravel.com, Inc.........................................26 Pets.com, Inc...............................................134
Bluefly, Inc...................................................28 PETsMART.com, Inc.................................136
Bolt, Inc........................................................30 PlanetRx.com Inc........................................138
BUY.COM, Inc.............................................32 Priceline.com Inc........................................141
CarsDirect.com Inc.......................................34 Quicken Loans Inc......................................143
CDnow, Inc...................................................37 Recreational Equipment Inc........................145
CDW Computer Centers, Inc........................39 Reel.com, Inc..............................................147
CompUSA Inc..............................................41 Charles Schwab & Co. Inc..........................149
Crutchfield New Media LLC........................43 Sharper Image Corp....................................151
Dell Online....................................................44 SportsLine.com, Inc....................................153
drugstore.com, inc........................................45 Staples.com.................................................156
eBay Inc........................................................48 Tower Records............................................158
Eddie Bauer, Inc...........................................50 Toysrus.com, Inc.........................................160
Egghead.com, Inc.........................................52 Travelocity.com Inc....................................162
800.com Inc..................................................54 Wal-Mart.com Inc.......................................164
E-LOAN Inc.................................................56 Webvan Group, Inc.....................................166
eToys Inc......................................................59 Wells Fargo & Company............................169
E*TRADE Group, Inc..................................61 Wine.com....................................................171
Expedia, Inc..................................................65 Analysis of Profiled Companies
FastParts.com................................................67 Profiled companies at a glance....................177
FirstAuction..................................................68 Measuring the size of
Fogdog Inc....................................................70 profiled companies.................................179
Food.com Inc................................................72 Offline presence of profiled companies......182
FTD.com.......................................................74 Profiled websites at a glance.......................183
Furniture.com Inc.........................................76 Technologies deployed by
Gap Inc. Direct..............................................78 profiled websites....................................188
Garden.com, Inc............................................80 Driving traffic to profiled websites.............193
Gateway, Inc.................................................82 Customer support infrastructure..................196
Grainger.com................................................84 Financial performance of
HomeGrocer.com, Inc...................................86 profiled companies.................................197
HomePoint Corp...........................................88 eCommerce Market Briefing
IMX Exchange..............................................90 The Internet user.........................................209
Ingram Micro Inc..........................................92 Internet user activities.................................214
InsWeb Corp.................................................94 Leading Internet sites and brands................218
International Business Machines..................96 Sizing B-to-C Internet commerce...............221
iOwn.............................................................97 Internet shopper/purchaser behavior...........227
iPrint.com, inc...............................................99 Sizing B-to-B Internet commerce...............230
iQVC...........................................................101 Trends in managing Internet
J. Crew Group Inc.......................................103 commerce initiatives...................................233
JCP Internet Commerce Solutions, Inc.......105 Internet Commerce
KBkids.com LLC........................................107 executive compensation..............................238
Lands’ End, Inc...........................................109 Online advertising overview.......................245
L.L. Bean, Inc.............................................111
2 copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group
The eCommerce Almanac
List of Charts and Tables 8.06 Revenue Per Pageview by Sector (Q1 2000).........200
Section 2 8.07 Customer Acquisition Cost (1999)........................200
1.01 Types of Companies...............................................177 8.08 Marketing Expenditures (1998 - Q1 2000)............201
1.02 Ownership of All Profiled Companies...................177 8.09 Marketing Budget as a Percentage
1.03 Ownership of Pure-Play Internet Companies.........178 of Revenue (Q1 2000)..........................................202
1.04 Most Active Investors............................................178 8.10 Revenue From Repeat Customers (1999)..............202
2.01 Online Revenue (1999)..........................................179 8.11 Average Order Value (1999).................................203
2.02 Online Revenue Growth (1999 vs. 1998)...............179 8.12 Profitability of Profiled Companies (1999)...........203
2.03 Annualized Online Revenue (Q1 2000).................180 8.13 Net Margins of Profiled Companies (1999)..........204
2.04 Internet Employees per Company..........................180
Section 3
2.05 Customers and Registered Users per Profiled
1.01 U.S. Internet Population (1999/2000)....................209
Website (1999)......................................................181
1.02 Top 5 Markets by Internet Access (1999).............210
2.06 Customers and Registered Users per Profiled
1.03 U.S. Internet Population Growth (1995-2003) .....210
Website (1998 vs. 1999)........................................181
1.04 Gender of Internet Users (2000)............................211
2.07 Growth in Customers and Registered
1.05 Education Level of Internet Users (2000).............211
Users (1998 vs. 1999)...........................................182
1.06 Household Income of Internet Users (2000)..........211
3.01 Hardcopy Catalog Circulation................................182
1.07 Age of Internet Users (2000).................................212
3.02 Storefront Locations of Profiled Companies..........183
1.08 Number of Years Online (2000)............................212
4.01 Audience of Websites.............................................183
1.09 PC Penetration Rates at Home and
4.02 Age of Profiled Websites.......................................184
at Work (1998-1999)............................................213
4.03 Size of Profiled Websites.......................................184
1.10 Top 10 Markets by PC Penetration (1999)............213
4.04 Features in Profiled Websites.................................185
2.01 Where Users Access the Internet (1999)...............214
4.05 Website Back-end Integration................................185
2.02 Total Time Spent Online (1999-2000)..................215
4.06 Advertising on Profiled Websites...........................186
2.03 Time Spent Online by Metro Area (1999).............215
4.07 Unique Visitors to Profiled
2.04 Time Spent Online by Age Group (1999).............216
Websites (March 2000).........................................186
2.05 Time Spent Online and
4.08 Growth in Unique Visitors to Profiled
Pages Viewed (1999-2000)..................................216
Websites (March 1999 vs. March 2000)...............187
2.06 Time Spent Online per Session (1999-2000).........217
5.01 Hosting Practices of Profiled Websites..................187
2.07 Leading Online Activities (2000)..........................217
5.02 Number of Hosts & Connectivity Providers
3.01 Leading Internet Commerce Sites
Used by Profiled Websites....................................188
by Visitor Traffic (2000)......................................218
5.03 Connectivity Solution Providers Used by
3.02 Leading Financial Services Sites
Profiled Websites..................................................188
by Visitor Traffic (2000)......................................219
5.04 Use of Mirrored Sites by Profiled Websites...........188
3.03 Leading Travel Services Sites
5.05 Hardware Platforms of Profiled Websites..............187
by Visitor Traffic (2000)......................................219
5.06 Operating Systems Deployed by
3.04 Leading Portal Sites by Visitor Traffic (2000)......220
Profiled Websites..................................................189
3.05 Brand Recognition of Internet
5.07 Webserver Software Deployed by
Commerce Sites (1998-1999)...............................220
Profiled Websites..................................................190
4.01 U.S. Population of Online Buyers (1999/2000).....221
5.08 Commerce Platforms Deployed by
4.02 Total U.S. Consumer Internet
Profiled Websites..................................................190
Commerce (1999-2003).......................................221
5.09 Profiled Websites Employing Personalization.......191
4.03 Consumer Internet Commerce Spending
5.10 Personalization Solutions Deployed by
by Category (Q1-2000)........................................222
Profiled Websites..................................................191
4.04 Top Consumer Internet Commerce
5.11 Database Platforms Deployed by Profiled
Categories (Q1-2000)...........................................223
Websites................................................................192
4.05 Online Purchasing Penetration
5.12 Payment Processing Applications Deployed
by Category (1999)...............................................223
by Profiled Websites.............................................192
4.06 Number of Online Purchases per Buyer (1999).....224
5.13 Affiliate Management Technology Deployed
4.07 Total Spending per Online Buyer (1999)..............224
by Profiled Websites.............................................193
4.08 Average Transaction Value
6.01 Partnerships With Web Portals...............................193
by Category (Q1 2000).........................................225
6.02 Partnerships With Leading Web Destinations
4.09 Total Online Holiday Spending (1998/1999)........226
and Services..........................................................194
4.10 Weekly Online Holiday Spending (1999).............226
6.03 Offline Media Employed by Profiled Websites......194
5.01 How Internet Users Find Websites (1999/2000)...227
6.04 Size of Profiled Websites’ Affiliate Programs.......195
5.02 Browser-to-Buyer Conversion Rate (2000)...........227
6.05 Affiliate Program Commission Rates.....................195
5.03 Browser-to-Buyer Conversion
7.01 Call Centers at Profiled Companies.......................196
Rate Trend (1999-2000).......................................228
7.02 Call Center CRM Representatives..........................196
5.04 Why Buyers Make Online Purchases (1999).........229
8.01 Business Models of Profiled Websites...................197
6.01 Total U.S. Business-to-Business
8.02 Revenue per Employee (1999)...............................198
Internet Commerce (1999-2003)..........................230
8.03 Revenue Per Visitor (Q1 2000)..............................198
6.02 Top Business-to-Business Internet
8.04 Revenue Per Visitor by Sector (Q1 2000)..............199
Commerce Categories (2000)...............................230
8.05 Revenue Per Pageview (Q1 2000)..........................199
copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group 3
The eCommerce Almanac
6.03 Business-to-Business Internet Commerce 8.02 Compensation Levels of Internet Management
Spending by Category (1999-2003)......................231 and Operations Personnel (2000).........................244
6.04 Average Value of Business-to-Business 8.03 Fringe Benefits of Internet Management
Internet Commerce Transactions (1999)...............232 and Operations Personnel (2000).........................244
6.05 How E-commerce Transactions are 9.01 Total Online Advertising
Conducted (1988/2003).........................................232 Expenditures (1996-1999)....................................245
7.01 Profit Expectations of Internet Commerce 9.02 Online Advertising Expenditure
Companies (1999-2003)........................................233 Growth (1998-2003).............................................245
7.02 Off-line Advertising by Internet 9.03 Reach of Leading Ad Networks (2000).................246
Companies (1998-1999)........................................234 9.04 Websites Accepting Advertising (1998-1999)......246
7.03 Estimated Customer Acquisition Cost of Leading 9.05 Cost of Online Advertising (1998-1999)...............247
Internet Commerce Companies (1999)..................235 9.06 Online Advertising Categories (1999)...................247
7.04 Average Customer Acquisition Cost (1999) .........236 9.07 How Online Ads Are Priced (1999)......................248
7.05 Technology Spending of Leading Internet 9.08 Online Ad Spending by Sector (1998/1999)..........248
Commerce Companies (1998/1999)......................237 9.09 Ad Banner Click-Through Rate (1999-2000)........249
8.01 Executive Compensation of Leading Internet 9.10 Total Offline Advertising Expenditures
Commerce Executives (1999)...............................238 by Category (1999) ..............................................249
Published June 2000 ISBN 1-882113-13-6 Copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group, L.P. All charts and data quoted from third-party sources and contained herein
remain the property of and are copyright by their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the
copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to: The Intermarket Group, L.P., P.O. Box 500126, San Diego, California
92150-0126, USA. All information contained in this publication is believed to be obtained from reliable sources. The publication is designed to provide accurate and
authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the authors nor the publisher is engaged in offering legal,
accounting or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. From a Declaration of
Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers.
4 copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group
The eCommerce Almanac
Amazon.com, Inc. - con’t. • Nextel (provides access from wireless devices)
• Nokia (provides access from wireless devices)
Ownership: Public • OneClick.com (www.oneclick.com)
Trading Symbol: AMZN (NASDAQ) • OracleMobile (www.oraclemobile.com)
Major Shareholders: • Palm Computing (www.palm.com)
• Jeffrey Bezos, Chairman and CEO (36%) • Prodigy Shopping Network (www.prodigy.com)
• Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers (14%) • Sprint PCS (provides access from Sprint PCS phones)
• Jacklyn Gise Bezos and Miguel Bezos (3%) • WingspanBank (www.wingspan.com)
Financing: $2.68 billion ($1.2bn in equity and $1.5bn in • wisecity.com (www.wisecity.com)
long-term convertible subordinated debt) • Yahoo!, Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
Profitable: No ($719.968 million loss for FY ’99) • Yahoo! Inc. (www.geocities.com)
Affiliates Program: Amazon.com Associates Program
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
No. of Affiliates: 430,000+
Website: www.amazon.com
Commission Rate: 5-15%
Site Launch: July 1995
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
MANAGEMENT
Business Model: Fixed pricing, Auction/Negotiated
Jeffrey P. Bezos, Chairman. and Chief Executive Officer.
pricing
Previously employed by D.E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street
Site Size: 18+ million product SKUs
investment firm, as a sr. vice president and prior to that as
Languages: English, German
a vice president at Bankers Trust Company. B.S. in
Accepts Advertising: No
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from
Site Features: General help, contextual help, one-click
Princeton University.
ordering, customer created content, foreign language help
Joseph Galli, Jr., President and Chief Operating Officer.
pages, low bandwidth version
Previously served in a variety of positions with The Black
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
and Decker Corp, including president of Black and
information, order history, order processing, payment
Decker's Worldwide Power Tools and Accessories. B.S. in
processing, order status, and shipment tracking are
Business Administration from the University of North
integrated into website.
Carolina and M.B.A. from Loyola College.
Warren Jenson, Senior Vice President and Chief
MARKETING
Financial Officer. Previously served as executive vice
Media: Television and radio advertising, consumer and
president and CFO for Delta Air Lines and senior vice
business periodical advertising
president and CFO for the National Broadcasting
Partnerships:
Company (NBC). B.S. in Accounting and Masters of
• America Online (www.aol.com) Accountancy -- Business Taxation from Brigham Young
• America Online (www.netscape.com) University.
• AltaVista Company (www.altavista.com) John D. Risher, Senior Vice President of Product
• Airtouch (provides access from wireless devices) Development. Previously employed in various marketing
• AppCity Corp. (AppCity Shoplayer) and project management positions at Microsoft Corp.,
• Bell Atlantic Mobile (provides access from Bell including team manager for Microsoft Access and founder
Atlantic wireless devices) and product unit manager for the company’s personal
• Ceiva (Internet-enabled digital picture frame) finance website, MS Investor. B.A. in Comparative
• Dell Computer Corp. (www.dell.com) Literature from Princeton University,
• Della.com (www.della.com) M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
• Earthlink Inc. (www.wizshop.com) Richard L. Dalzell, Vice President and Chief Information
• E*Trade Group (www.etrade.com) Officer. Previously employed by the Information Systems
Division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. as vice president of
• Excite@Home (www.home.com)
information systems and prior to that as business
• Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
development manager for E-Systems, Inc. B.S. in
• Hoovers Inc. (www.hoovers.com)
Engineering from the United States Military Academy,
• Intuit Inc. (www.quicken.com)
West Point.
• Intuit Inc. (selected Quicken software products)
Mark Britto, Vice President, Strategic Alliances.
• iVillage (www.ivillage.com) Previously served as vice president of Accept.com, which
• Liquid Audio Inc. (www.liquidaudio.com) he co-founded, and as executive vice president of credit
• Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com) policy at FirstUSA Bank, and as senior vice president of
• Motorola (provides access from wireless devices) risk management at NationsBank. B.S. in Industrial
copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group 5
The eCommerce Almanac
Engineering and Operations Research and M.S. in Sales to Repeat Customers
Operations Research from the University of California at 1999................................................70%
Berkeley. 1998................................................63%
Joy D. Covey, Chief Strategy Officer. Previously 1997................................................60%
employed as vice president-operations of Avid 1996................................................46%
Technology, Inc.’s Broadcast Division and as vice
president of business development for Avid. Also served Marketing Expenditures
as CFO of Digidesign, Inc., associate at Wasserstein 1999........................................$413.2mn
Perella & Co., and a certified public accountant at Arthur 1998........................................$132.7mn
Young & Company (now Ernst & Young LLP). B.S. in 1997........................................$ 39.0mn
Business Administration from California State University, 1996........................................$ 6.1mn
Fresno, M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, J.D. from
Harvard Law. Development Expenditures
Randy Tinsley, Vice President of Corporate Development 1999........................................$159.7mn
Douglas Boake, Vice President of Business Development 1998........................................$ 46.4mn
Owen Van Natta, Senior Director of Business 1997........................................$ 12.5mn
Development 1996........................................$ 2.3mn
Shawn Haynes, Director of Business Development
Total Customers (end of period)
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE 1999............................................16.9mn
Design Consultants: None 1998..............................................6.2mn
Site Maintenance: In-house staff 1997..............................................1.5mn
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s) 1996..............................................0.2mn
Access Provider: UUNET/MCI Worldcom, InterNAP
Network Services COMMENTS
Hardware Platform: Compaq AlphaServer, Sun Amazon.com is generally considered to be the leading
Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard online retailer. The company is responsible for many
Operating System: Compaq Tru64 UNIX; HP-UX UNIX, firsts, including creation of the first online affiliate sales
Microsoft Windows NT network and development of the one-click ordering feature
Web Server Software: Stronghold/Apache (which the company has patented). Founded in 1994,
Commerce Platform: Proprietary applications Amazon.com has aggressively expanded its product
Web Servers: Multiple AlphaServer 2000s and HP 9000 offerings from exclusively books to today’s twelve
V-Class severs different top-level product categories. During the last five
Database Platform: Oracle, proprietary application years, the company has launched the following online
Database Servers: Multiple AlphaServer 2000s stores: Books (July ‘95), Music (June ‘98), UK and
Personalization: Net Perceptions GroupLens German Books (October ‘98), DVD/Video (November
Recommendation Engine, proprietary applications ‘98), Auctions (March ‘99), Electronics (July ‘99), Toys
Affiliate Management: Proprietary application (July ‘99), zShops (October ‘99), UK and German Music
Payment Processing: Proprietary applications, CyberSource (October ‘99), UK and German Auctions (November ‘99),
Other Applications: AltaVista Search software, BEA Home Improvement (November ‘99), Software (November
Systems WebLogic Enterprise, BMC Software PATROL ’99), Video Games (November ’99), sothebys.amazon.com
and BEST/1, Epiphany E.4 customer management suite, (November ’99), UK and German zShops (November ’99),
DataSage customer analysis software Tools and Hardware (February ’00), UK and German
DVD/Video (March ’00), Lawn and Patio (April ’00),
OPERATING BENCHMARKS Health and Beauty (April ’00), Kitchen Store (May ’00),
Total Revenue and Home Furnishings (May ’00).
1999........................................$ 1.64bn The zShops program enables individuals and small
1998........................................$609.8mn businesses to open an online store on the Amazon.com
1997........................................$147.8mn site. Participating merchants’ products are also included in
1996........................................$ 15.7mn the site’s search results. An Amazon Payments service
allows merchants to accept online credit card payments --
International Sales direct deposits are made by Amazon to the sellers checking
1999.................................................22% account -- and use the company’s one-click order feature;
1998.................................................20% the service also provides a guarantee to both buyers and
1997.................................................25% sellers. zShops merchants are charged a $0.10 per product
1996.................................................33%
6 copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group
The eCommerce Almanac
listing fee plus a completion fee of 1.25%-5.00% of the convenience products for $60 million in March 2000.
sale price for each item sold. A related three-year agreement enables the company
The company reported $573.89 million in gross revenue to offer one hour delivery for selected products and
for the first quarter ending March 31, 2000 with a loss of points of delivery using Kozmo.com’s services.
$308.43 million. Approximately 3.1 million new • living.com, an online retailer of home products and
customers were added during the quarter -- bringing the services.
cumulative total to 20 million -- and 76% of sales where • NextCard Inc. In December 1999, the company
generated by repeat customers. announced a five year partnership with this online
The company is organized into three principal operating issuer of consumer credit cards to create an
segments: “U.S. Books, Music and DVD/ video” which Amazon.com affinity card. The partnership also
encompasses the U.S. online stores for books, music and granted the company warrants to acquire up to 9.9%
DVDs/videos; “Early-Stage Businesses and Other” which of NextCard.
consists of U.S. online stores for electronics, software, • Della.com, an online service for gift registry, gift
video games, toys, and home improvement products, U.S. advice, and personalized gift suggestions.
marketplace services, and the Amazon.com Commerce • Sothebys. An auctioneer that the company has
Network; and “International” which includes all operations partnered with on an online auction site for art,
in Germany and the UK. antiques and collectibles.
The Amazon.com Commerce Network refers to • eZiba.com.
selected strategic partners that sell products and services
Major acquisitions by the company include the April
under co-branded sections on the Amazon.com Web site.
1998 purchase of online retailers Bookpages and Telebook
The Network currently consists of the following
-- which served as the foundation of its entry into the
companies:
European marketplace -- and the U.K.-based entertainment
• Ashford.com. The company purchased a 17% stake in content site, Internet Movie Database. In August 1998, the
this online retailer of luxury and premium products for company acquired PlanetAll, which provides a Web-based
$10 million in December 1999. address book, calendar, and reminder service, and Junglee
• Audible. The company purchased a 5% stake in this Corp., a provider of advanced Web-based virtual database
provider of Internet-delivered spoken audio for PC- (VDB) technology. In April 1999, the company acquired
based listening and playback devices in January 2000. LiveBid.com, a provider of live-event auctions on the
A related agreement provides for Audible to pay the Internet, and Exchange.com, an online marketplace for
company $30 million over a three year period for used books. In June 1999, the company announced a ten
access to Amazon.com customers. year alliance with Sotheby’s to launch a joint online
• Greenlight.com. The company owns a 5% stake in auction site, sothebys.amazon.com -- which provides an
this online auto purchasing service and inked an Internet marketplace for collectibles and general art and
agreement in January 2000 which provides for enables antiques dealers to reach Amazon.com customers.
Greenlight.com to pay $82.5 million over a five year
period for access to Amazon.com customers.
• Pets.com. The company owns a 30% stake in this
online pet store after investing $58 million between
April and November 1999.
• drugstore.com. The company owns a 24% stake in
this personal and health products retailer after
investing $40 million between February 1999 and
January 2000 and providing technology and
promotional services. A related marketing agreement
provides for drugstore.com to pay the company $105
million -- including an initial payment of $30 million -
- over a three year period for access to Amazon.com
customers.
• Gear.com. The company purchased a 49% stake in
this online discounter of brand-name sporting goods in
July 1999.
• HomeGrocer.com. The company owns a 28% stake in
this online grocery-shopping and home-delivery
service after investing $42.5 million in May 1999.
• Kozmo.com. The company purchased a 28% stake in
this one-hour delivery service for entertainment and
copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group 7
The eCommerce Almanac
Ameritrade Ameritrade Customer Account Home Page
Ameritrade Holding Corp.
4211 South 102nd Street
Omaha, NE 68127, U.S.A.
Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]
Unique Visitors (March 2000): 1,867,000
Reach: 2.8%
Rank: 311
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Banking/Brokerage/Financial services
Founded: 1971
Employees: 2,369 total (600 (approx.) IT staff)
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
MARKETING
Facilities:
Media: Television advertising, business periodical
• Omaha, NE headquarters
advertising, newspaper advertising, direct mail
• Bellevue, NE operations center
Partnerships:
• Ft. worth, TX operations center • America Online (Proprietary dial-up service)
• Baltimore, MD technology development center • America Online (www.compuserve.com)
• Kansas City, MO back-up data center • Prodigy Services Corp. (www.prodigy.com)
• White Plains, NY corporate office • Excite@Home (www.excite.com)
Telecenter: Two in-house call centers with 800+ full-time • Intuit Inc. (www.quicken.com)
equivalent representatives
• MarketWatch.com Inc. (www.marketwatch.com)
Ownership: Public
• Microsoft Corp. (investor.msn.com)
Trading Symbol: AMTD (NASDAQ)
• TheStreet.com (www.thestreet.com)
Major Shareholders:
• J. Joe Ricketts, Chairman and CEO • Yahoo! Inc. (www.yahoo.com)
• Intuit Inc. (link with Quicken)
Shareholder Equity: $309.993 million (3/31/00)
• Microsoft Corp. (link with MS Money)
Profitable: No ($18.509 million loss for six months ending
Affiliates Program: None
3/31/00)
MANAGEMENT
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
J. Joe Ricketts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer -
Website: www.ameritrade.com
Ameritrade Holding Corp.
Related Sites: www.accutrade.com, www.amerivest.com,
Jack McDonnell, President
www.amtd.com, www.advancedclearing.com
James Ditmore, Chief Information Officer
Site Launch: August 1994
J. Peter Ricketts, Senior Vice President of Marketing and
Site Type: Business-to-consumer
Sales
Business Model: Commission-based
Peter D. Horst, Vice President, Marketing
Site Size: U.S. stocks, options, treasury securities, listed
corporate bonds, and 7,800 mutual funds from 400 fund
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
families
Design Consultants: None
Languages: English
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
Accepts Advertising: No
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Site Features: General help and contextual help
Access Provider: UUNET/MCI Worldcom, AT&T
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
CERFnet
information, transaction history, transaction processing,
Internet Connectivity: Multiple DS-3 lines
and transaction status integrated into website.
Mirror Locations: One
Hardware Platform: Sun Microsystems
8 copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group
The eCommerce Almanac
Operating System: Solaris UNIX COMMENTS
Web Server Software: Apache/Stronghold Ameritrade is the largest operating unit of Ameritrade
Commerce Platform: Proprietary; Ameritrade Operating Holding Corp. Ameritrade Holding also operates
System (ATOS) Accutrade -- another online broker -- Advanced Clearing,
Web Servers: Multiple Sun Ultra 4000 and Enterprise and AmeriVest. The company was formed in 1997 when
10000 servers Ameritrade Holding combined the accounts of Ceres
Database Platform: Oracle Securities, K. Aufhauser & Company, and the eBroker
Database Servers: Multiple Sun Ultra 4000 and Enterprise division of All American Brokers.
10000 servers Total revenue for the six months ending March 31,
Personalization: Ameritrade Operating 2000 were $281.16 million with a loss of $18.51 million.
System (ATOS) More than 453,000 new customer accounts were added
Affiliate Management: Not used during the half -- at an average acquisition cost of $250.00
Transaction Processing: Ameritrade Operating System each -- and total accounts (net of closures) reached
(ATOS) 992,000 at the end of the period.
Other Applications: BEA Systems Tuxedo middleware; The company owns a 7.1% minority interest in
InterSystems Cache e-DBMS; Kana Solution customer Knight/Trimark Group, the leading wholesale market
support; System Management ARTS SMARTS InCharge maker in U.S. equity securities. In 1998, the company also
suite; InterVoice-Brite speech-enabled call automation provided funding for OnMoney.com, a personal financial
system; Mercury Interactive Test Director, WinRunner, portal that enables customers to access multiple accounts
Xrunner, and LoadRunner. from banks, securities brokers, mutual funds, insurance
and mortgage brokers through a MyAccounts feature and
OPERATING BENCHMARKS view consolidated account statements. The company
Net Revenue1 worked with Vertical One, a subsidiary of S1 Corp., to
1999........................................$268.4mn build the MyAccounts feature.
1998........................................$134.9mn In August 1998, launched a secure electronic trade
1997........................................$ 77.2mn confirmation option in partnership with PostX Corp.
1996........................................$ 54.3mn In 1999, the company formed an alliance with Deutsche
Bank in Germany, enabling it to offer the bank’s
Customer Assets (end of period)2 customers access to trading in U.S. markets. The company
2000 (Q2)..................................$38.9bn also entered into an agreement with TROY Group in 1999
1999...........................................$22.9bn which enabled it to offer rapid account opening and
1998...........................................$11.4bn funding by new customers.
1997...........................................$ 7.3bn In October 1999, the company partnered with Sprint
1996...........................................$ 4.0bn PCS to provide wireless two-way transactional access to
account information, online trading, and stock alerts using
Customer Accounts (end of period)2 the Sprint PCS Wireless Web.
2000 (Q2)..................................992,000 In November 1999, the company launched a new online
1999...........................................560,000 investment bank -- Epoch Partners -- in partnership with
1998...........................................306,000 TD Waterhouse Group, Charles Schwab & Company,
1997.............................................98,000 KPCB Holdings, Trident Capital Management, and
1996.............................................52,000 Benchmark Capital Partners. Epoch will focus its
activities on information technology and Internet
Transactions (avg. trades per day) 1 companies.
2000 (Q2)..................................149,091 In December 1999, announced agreement with
1999.............................................49,305 MicroStrategy to develop a suite of financial service
1998.............................................18,407 offerings, including personalized investor information
1997...............................................6,571 available by cellular telephone, pager or e-mail.
1996...............................................3,670
Advertising Expenditures1
1999........................................$59.72mn
1998........................................$43.61mn
1997........................................$13.97mn
1996........................................$ 7.54mn
1. Fiscal year October 1 – September 30.
2. Core brokerage accounts at end of period.
copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group 9
The eCommerce Almanac
AMP Electronic Commerce AMP Home Page
AMP Inc.
441 Friendship Road
Harrisburg, PA 17111, U.S.A.
Tel. [phone]
Unique Visitors (March 2000): n/a
Reach: n/a
Rank: n/a
ORGANIZATION
Business Sector: Electronic parts and equipment
Founded: 1941
Employees: 45,000 total
Offline Activity
Storefronts: None
Catalogs Mailed: None
Facilities:
• Harrisburg, PA headquarters
• 200+ manufacturing, warehouse, distribution and sales
facilities in the U.S. and 50 other countries
Telecenter: In-house call centers
Ownership: Private
Trading Symbol: None
Major Shareholders: Wholly-owned subsidiary of Tyco
International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC)
Profitable: Yes
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
WEBSITE OVERVIEW
Design Consultants: Ft. Point Partners
Website: www.amp.com, connect.amp.com,
Site Maintenance: In-house staff
ecommerce.amp.com
Hosting Arrangement: On-site server(s)
Site Launch: January 1996
Access Provider: AT&T
Site Type: Business-to-business
Internet Connectivity: One shared DS-3 line
Business Model: Fixed pricing
Mirror Locations: None
Site Size: 90,000 (approx.) part numbers
Hardware Platform: IBM, Sun Microsystems
Accepts Advertising: No
Operating System: Windows NT, Solaris
Languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian,
Web Server Software: Microsoft IIS 4.0, Netscape
Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Enterprise Server 2.01
Site Features: General help, contextual help, foreign
Commerce Platform: IBM Net.Commerce Merchant
language product information and order pages
Server
Back-end Integration: Access to customer account
Web Servers: Two IBM RS/6000 servers
information, inventory availability, and order status are
Database Platform: Oracle 7; links to IBM DB2 legacy
integrated into website.
database
Database Servers: One Sun server running Step Search
MARKETING
links to mainframe legacy database
Media: Business periodical advertising, direct mail
Personalization: Not used
Partnerships: None
Affiliate Management: Not used
Affiliates Program: None
Payment Processing: Not used
Other Applications: SAQARRA Systems Step Search
MANAGEMENT
Jim Kessler, Director-Global Electronic Commerce
10 copyright  2000 by The Intermarket Group