Overstock.com, which went public in
May at $13 and is now trading in the $8 range, signed a co-branded
shopping services deal with women’s media company iVillage.
Salt Lake City-based Overstock
e-commerce “closeout” retailer offering discounted brand-name merchandise.
The company said the deal provides iVillage with additional revenues and
gives Overstock.com access to a new audience at the co-branded site. Overstock.com
will provide the inventory, fulfillment, site content, customer service, Web
site hosting and e-mail marketing for the co-branded site.
Financial specifics were not disclosed, but iVillage certainly could use the
money – although it has survived the Internet recession so far, its stock is
down to $1 a share and it has never made any money, according to figures from
Multex Investor.
iVillage said it would market the new shopping service via direct e-mail
campaigns, homepage placements and links within relevant content at its site.
The marketing arrangement allows iVillage to provide visitors “with the
ability to purchase brand-name, discounted products without having to control
back office transactional functions …” said Douglas McCormick, chairman and
CEO of iVillage.
Overstock, which reports its second quarter earnings on Monday, has been busy
recently forging similar “powered by” marketing alliances, including one with
the Safeway grocery store chain, which is
planning a national roll-out of its Safeway Club Exclusives, the company’s
first foray into selling non-food items.