Paul Nicholls

Online grocery firm Peapod Inc. said it plans to have a nationwide presence with a new specialty grocery service called “Peapod Packages,” available from its Peapod.com Web site. Peapod Packages will be targeted at niche occasions in which consumers find value in bundles of pre-selected products, such as new baby packages, college care packages and […]

E-commerce software provider Open Market, Inc. today announced the release of version 3.4 of its ShopSite Pro and ShopSite Manager store-building software. ShopSite software is an online store-creation system designed to allow merchants to build and maintain catalogs of products to sell on the Internet. Open Market said new features include faster searching tools, improved […]

Paul Kagan, chairman and CEO of Paul Kagan Associates, made an equity investment in BigStar Entertainment, an online video superstore launched May 15. Kagan joined lead investor Morton H. Meyerson in financing the venture, according to the Silicon Alley Reporter. BigStar, founded by former SonicNet CEO David Friedensohn and former Columbia House Marketing Director David […]

Electronic Software Distribution firm Digital River signed an online distribution partnership with interactive software provider Broderbund Direct, a division of Broderbund Software. The partnership provides Broderbund Direct with an added channel for the electronic sale and delivery of its software titles through Digital River’s online dealer network. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. […]

Hollywood Entertainment Corp., doing business as video retail chain Hollywood Video, said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Reel.com Inc., a video-only store on the Internet, for approximately $100 million. Reel.com offers more than 85,000 movie titles, proprietary movie information, and recommendations, and rentals. Hollywood Entertainment will issue five million shares of restricted Hollywood […]

Zona Research Inc. said that Robert Jack Staff, a Harvard-educated financial economist will join Zona Research as chief economist. Staff, a specialist in international financial economics and technology analysis, will be responsible for overseeing Zona’s Electronic Economy Service and will be a senior consultant for Zona’s Internet consulting practice, designed for the producers, consumers, and […]

Auto-By-Tel Corp. today announced it changed its name to “autobytel.com inc.” in conjunction with the launch of an enhanced version of its Web site. Both are part of the auto site’s long-term plans to offer comprehensive services online, including proprietary research tools, pricing information, links to third-party information providers and low-cost car buying, the company […]

Online grocery sales will climb to $33.6 billion by the year 2002, an increase of 3360% versus 1998, according to figures released by eMarketer in New York City. eMarketer, an authority on business online, also projects that the number of online shopping households will grow to 6.9 million by year end 2002, a 77 fold […]

Online grocery firm Peapod Inc. launched a new Internet Traffic Exchange Program to conduct co-marketing programs with Web sites that match the interests and needs of Peapod’s grocery shopping audience. The program expands on typical link trading arrangements, which only exchange text links. “It encompasses a full range of tactics to drive traffic between sites, […]

The Dialog Corp. PLC launched Planet Retail, an Internet-based comparative shopping service for consumers, and said it is planning a business-to-business e-commerce operation. Dialog is a provider of online information, and has service and technology strengths in electronic data indexing, searching, retrieval and alerting systems. “E-commerce is an ideal complement to our online information services […]

Morelli Systems Inc. introduced its OrderStation commerce engine, which combines e-commerce technologies with simplified product maintenance. “OrderStation addresses the issue of ownership for e-merchants,” said Lou Morelli, president of Morelli Systems. “It allows non-technical people to build, edit and update their commerce site easily, making it simple to maintain an e-commerce presence.” Morelli said the […]

Peapod Inc. announced it received its one millionth grocery order on July 24. To mark the occasion, Peapod co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Thomas Parkinson personally made the one millionth delivery to Maureen Schoenbeck in Chicago. Schoenbeck also received a voucher for free groceries for one full year. She opted to donate her winnings to […]