Taxi Interactive Ltd. in Sunnyvale, CA signed 18 partners for its new Internet
shopping solution, a desktop app that offers price comparison and one-click
purchasing.
Anchor partnerships with merchants were established by Taxi Interactive in a
dozen different product categories, such as fashion, music, travel, computing
and sports. TAXI is a free graphical software application that can be
downloaded from www.mytaxi.com.
INTERSHOP, Hilton Hotels, Music Boulevard, Newscorp/Fox, Universal Studios
Online and Onsale.com are among the new partners. Revenues accrue to Taxi from
commissions on sales.
Partners benefit by offering promotions to a targeted audience through
TAXI’s central TV window. The company says TAXI “is the first personal
shopping application with the ability to track user profiles and demographics through
the use of a database-driven system (patent pending).”
TAXI uses this data to deliver promotions to a targeted segment of consumers.
Through TAXI’s one-on-one marketing ability, partners are able to access new
customers within the entire TAXI universe. Partners can brand their own
version of TAXI and allow consumers to download the program from their Web
site for free.
Taxi Interactive is bringing together all of INTERSHOP’s 1,200 online
merchants into the TAXI shopping assistant program. INTERSHOP will promote
TAXI as a way for its merchants to effectively market to their online
customers. Many of these
international sites can be accessed through TAXI’s “World of Shopping,” where
consumers can purchase products from around the world via the Internet.
“The partnership of Taxi Interactive and INTERSHOP is unique in the electronic
commerce industry, creating global marketing opportunities for thousands of
merchants using INTERSHOP software,” said Petra Vorsteher, INTERSHOP’s
president of
business development and strategic alliances.
“Taxi Interactive’s goal is to make e-commerce easier, more efficient and more
personalized for online shoppers,” said Steve McAllister, executive vice
president and general manager of Taxi Interactive. “The success of TAXI will
grow as users realize the benefits of the product and begin using it for their
online shopping needs. Taxi Interactive estimates it will reach one million
registered shoppers by mid 1999.”