Amazon.com Inc. will acquire a 20 percent
stake in Internet gift registry operation Della & James Inc. and establish
marketing reciprocal links.
Amazon.com is part of a group investing $45 million in Della & James to help
it evolve from a wedding service to an all-purpose gift registry.
Other
investors include retailers Neiman Marcus Group Inc., Williams-Sonoma Inc.
and Crate & Barrel, which are existing partners of Della & James, and the
venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Trinity Ventures.
Amazon.com will provide a link to the Della & James registry from its site.
Once it expands the service, Della & James will enable its users to include
books, music, toys and other Amazon.com products on registries for birthdays
or other occasions. Buyers who select these gifts will be routed directly to
the product pages on Amazon.com.
Financial specifics of Amazon’s investment were not disclosed.
“Amazon will be filling out their e-commerce strategy, and they’ll provide us
access to their 10.7 million customers,” Rebecca Patton, president and chief
executive of Della & James, told Bloomberg News.
Amazon.com also has stakes in other online businesses, including Drugstore.com, Pets.com and HomeGrocer.com.
Della & James had raised $5 million from the two venture capital firms before
the latest investment.