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Amazon.com to add toys, electronics to its web site

By Amazon.com
Johannesburg, 14 Jul 1999

Amazon.com`s online superstore got even bigger Tuesday as the giant Internet retailer added thousands of toys and electronics to its Web site.

The Seattle-based company announced today that it has started to sell everything from Barbie dolls and Pokemon trading cards to DVD players and electronic organizers on its site.

It`s the latest move by Amazon.com to become an online shopping hub. While it has yet to turn a profit in its four years in business, the company hasn`t stopped spending money to diversify its offerings and expand its customer base.

In the last 14 months, the company, once exclusively a bookseller, has added music, videos, auctions and electronic greeting cards. It has more than 10 million customers. Amazon.com also has also invested millions of dollars in online pharmacy drugstore.com, Internet pet shop Pets.com, and cybersupermarket HomeGrocer.com.

Amazon.com had been testing a limited number of toys and electronics on its site since November. Amazon.com`s serious push into toys and electronics comes as analysts expect big growth in both areas. Internet research firm Jupiter Communications predicts online toy sales will rise from $52.6 million in 1999 to $550 million by 2002, while sales of consumer electronics on the Internet will grow from $78 million this year to nearly $800 million in 2002.

In its latest online foray, Amazon.com is working with more than 320 toy manufacturers, including the giants such as Mattel and Hasbro and smaller companies that usually sell only to specialty toy shops. A "Toys for Grownups" area includes office toys, olf favorites and party games. With its toy store, Amazon.com moves into a market now dominated by eToys, which has been online since 1997. Amazon.com will also come up against Toys R Us, the huge traditional American retailer that now is the process of building up its online arm _ toysrus.com.

The new electronics store will feature gadgets and appliances from top manufacturers, including 3Com, Sharp and Panasonic, plus data on the products, warranty policies and the like.

[From E-data]

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