Community site operation KOZ.com launched Community Commerce for small-
to mid-sized businesses.
In partnership with Orbit Commerce Inc., an e-commerce application service
provider, and Vicinity Corp., the venture combines community interaction and
local e-commerce.
Financial arrangements were not disclosed.
It will be available to businesses through KOZ.com’s network of more than 300
local media affiliates beginning Sept. 20.
Community Commerce draws on KOZ.com’s Community Publishing System (CPS) 4.0
and features directories; storefronts, community-enabled business sites,
electronic catalogs; and media-affiliate branded malls.
“KOZ.com has always believed that community and commerce are inexorably
linked: one cannot exist without the other,” said Mike Moran, CEO of KOZ.com.
“E-commerce will never truly emerge on the local level unless it comes from
some form of community, whether it be a geographic, interest, organizational,
client or customer affinity.”
Vicinity’s directory and mapping solution
will facilitate sales at local merchants’ virtual and brick-and-mortar
locations by providing customers with geographic and retail information.
Orbit Commerce, will provide small
businesses with its SiteBuilder end-to-end e-commerce solution.