iVillage Adds iMaternity to E-Commerce Expansion

In an effort to expand its online services dedicated to women’s interests, iVillage Inc. Monday announced a new e-commerce venture targeting expecting mothers.

The New York City-based women’s network will join forces with maternity apparel company Dan Howard Industries to launch iMaternity.com.

iMaternity.com offers more than 700 products across several clothing categories. Products are carried by Dan Howard, which has an approximately 10 percent market share in the $1.2
billion maternity market. The new site includes tools such as a gift finder, site search, and gift registry.

Dan Howard and Mothertime stores will promote iMaternity.com and iBaby.com to the their 1 million annual retail outlet customers. Under the agreement, additional joint marketing initiatives are scheduled to use Dan Howard’s customer database to target special offers online.

“We see our alliance with Dan Howard as a potent advantage in the Web’s fast-growing commerce landscape and critical to our strategy of dominating the baby-products market,” said Candice Carpenter, iVillage’s co-founder chief executive officer.

“The vast capabilities and experience of this world-class partner allow us to strengthen the solutions we deliver to parents, offering them convenience that is especially valuable during pregnancy and parenthood.”

iVillage also appointed Dan Marovitz, former global Web manager for Gateway 2000, as vice president of commerce for iVillage.

“Especially with Dan Marovitz’s leadership and experience, we are confident that maternity in particular and e-commerce in general are set to demonstrate the growth trends demanded by our model,” said Allison Abraham, iVillage’s chief operating officer.

iVillage expects that the new iMaternity.com will bring in more e-commerce business without requiring more infrastructure.

These e-commerce announcements follow iVillage’s acquisition of iBaby.com, which offers infant products and clothing from more than 300 vendors.