Excite@Home to Sell Services in Stores

Cable Internet provider Excite@Home Tuesday took its marketing strategy up a notch, announcing plans to sell its service in retail stores.

As part of their participation in Excite@Home’s (ATHM) Retail Merchandising Program, consumer electronics retailer The Good Guys!
and Office Depot, the world’s largest office product superstore chain, will
offer the service directly to their customers.

Customers may demo the @Home service, talk to a representative and set up
an installation time and make purchases at participating stores. Stores
will feature an Excite@Home hot-line phone so clients may talk to a
customer service representative who will answer questions and record @Home
Cable Internet Pre-installation Kit orders. The kit will retail for $39.95.

The program also features rebate coupons worth up to $90 in savings on kit installation costs.

The retail program is currently settled in over 140 retail outlets.
Excite@Home hopes this number will increase by at least 100 by the end of the year.

“We’re making it easier for the consumer to get the @Home service,'”said
Dean Gilbert, senior vice president and general manager, Excite@Home
subscriber networks division. “We’ve learned a great deal about selling
@Home subscriptions at retail over this last year and we’re pleased to be expanding our program with prominent retailers in their markets.”

The deal signifies the lateral expansion of Excite@Home, which struck a
global alliance with IBM Corp. last week that will make Excite the default portal on IBM’S Aptiva PC line.