America Online Inc. and NetGrocer announced a $15 million agreement today under which NetGrocer becomes the exclusive online supermarket shopping delivery service on AOL and AOL.COM.
AOL said it will receive a guaranteed minimum payment of $15 million over the duration of the agreement which runs for three years on the AOL online service and two years on AOL.COM.
AOL will also share in advertising and transaction-related revenues once certain thresholds are met, and will receive warrants to purchase shares in NetGrocer.
NetGrocer is a service designed to let shoppers across the United States purchase non-perishable supermarket items online. Products are available in categories including groceries, pet care, health and beauty and housewares.
According to NetGrocer, its service is scheduled to be available in the
next few days to AOL’s more than
11 million U.S. members, as well as AOL.COM visitors. The firm’s
products will be promoted on the AOL service in areas such as the Shopping Channel, the Interests Channel, the Lifestyles Channel, the Personal Finance Channel and the Health Channel.
“The NetGrocer service embodies AOL’s hallmark ease-of-use and
convenience–offering a wide array of products consumers need, making it simple to order them, and then delivering them straight to their doorsteps,” said Bob Pittman, AOL’s president and chief operating officer in a statement. “We expect NetGrocer’s offerings to
be a big hit with our convenience-minded audience.”
