In a move to localize e-commerce, YouthStream Media Networks, operator
of college community site mybytes.com, said it will match local
merchants and college students utilizing technology acquired from World Web
Publishing.
World Web specializes in Internet marketing for small, local businesses.
Using World Web Publishing’s technology, mybytes.com will be able to offer
local businesses the benefits larger companies are gaining from their
Internet marketing efforts without making small companies change the way they
conduct business, YouthStream said.
Local merchants will be able to establish and maintain an online presence
through mybytes.com via a standard fax machine.
This allows merchants to have an online presence without having to invest in
a computer or learn a complicated new technology. Merchants can set up their
e-commerce site on mybytes.com and reach students locally for a much lower
price than creating and promoting a site on their own, YouthStream said.
For example, a local pizza shop could update its weekly specials online
simply by faxing in the new menu, which would then be automatically published
on mybytes.com via this new technology.
When students order online, the order is automatically sent from mybytes.com
to the merchant’s fax machine, where it is processed just like a telephone
order.
“This technology overcomes two key limitations that have prevented localized
e-commerce from really taking off,” said Ben Bassi, president of YouthStream.
“The first is a technical limitation: until now, many local merchants have
not had the technical capabilities or equipment to set up shop on the Web.
The second limitation merchants have faced is finding a way to present their
products to a significant number of consumers in their local area.
“We plan to revolutionize the college market by providing local
merchants–many of whom don’t own computers with Internet connections–with
the ability to conduct e-commerce simply by using a fax machine.”
“I am pleased that our unique technology will be implemented into an
innovative Internet site such as mybytes.com,” said Andrew Tschesnok, director of e-commerce products for
YouthStream.