On the off chance that consumers won't find their way to Amazon.com's well-trafficked site, the Net's leading bookseller cut a multimillion-dollar deal Tuesday with America Online to bring itself to AOL's nearly 9 million subscribers. Underlining the importance of such outreach, Amazon announced similar tie-ups with directory services Yahoo and Excite.
"We're getting branding and we're getting trial," Amazon president Jeff Bezos said of his company's trio of new alliances. "If people try us once, they're very likely to come back."
That's the key - getting the uninitiated to accept the ease and benefits of online book-buying. Amazon believes its deep discounts and catalog of 2.5 million available titles will prove irresistible, once people give it try.
As such, the company will pay US$19 million over three years for an "above-the-fold" front-screen button on AOL's Web site. The button will whisk visitors directly to Amazon's online bookstore. Perhaps more significantly, the deal includes a promotion on AOL's NetFind search engine that encourages people to buy books on whatever subject they have expressed interest in, with a link to an Amazon page listing recent titles in the category.
Amazon cut similar deals this week with Yahoo and Excite, with search results linking to related books on Amazon's site. The added eyeballs, as Net marketers like to say, will give Amazon a considerable advantage over newer online outlets like Barnes & Noble's ambitious site. Electronic bookstores are proliferating on the Web in light of Amazon's success in finding a ready market for its discount offerings.
"The main reason to do these deals is to accelerate the timeframe in which people learn about our service," Bezos said. "What the big aggregators can do is bring a lot of shoppers to the table and allow you to form a relationship with them."
Amid intensifying competition, real-world considerations like location are playing a greater role in attracting shoppers. Thus, a high-profile site like AOL can be far more valuable (and lucrative) than mere banner placements elsewhere.
"If you have a store, you're going to get more traffic at 57th and Fifth in New York than at Swampscott, Massachusetts," said Wendy Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the world's largest online service. "You come to AOL and people will find you."
This fact allows AOL to develop an important new revenue stream as a way of balancing the limited returns of flat-rate membership. Goldberg said additional agreements are expected soon with other online businesses.
On Tuesday, AOL said it had extended its relationship with online florist 1-800-Flowers, which has maintained a presence on the service since 1994. Under the new four-year agreement, 1-800-Flowers will pay $25 million for links and promotions on AOL, plus give the service a cut of the take from any related sales. The florist said it expects to generate more than $250 million in earnings over the length of the contract.
Last month, AOL reached a $50 million accord with shopping network CUC International, and in March it unveiled a $100 million tie-up with long-distance carrier Tel-Save Holdings. AOL also has a promotional deal with car dealer Auto-By-Tel.
