Tuesday Report - September 12, 2000

BarterNet Acquires Majority Interest In BXI Exchange

BarterNet Corporation has acquired a controlling interest in TAHO Enterprises, Inc., doing business as BXI Exchange. (Cover story, BarterNews issue #52.)

BXI is the oldest and largest retail trade exchange in the U.S. having 20,000 businesses as clients in 85 markets. BarterNet was previously a minority shareholder.

The current issue of BarterNews has an extensive cover story on BarterNet, a company backed by Wand Partners, Alignment Capital, and the partners of Parthenon Capital. See our home page for (a look at) the cover and Editor's Note on BarterNet.

Airlines "Private Currency" Expanded Into Online Currency

Bob Crandall, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines (the airline that introduced frequent-flier miles), says a new program set to launch in October called MilePoint.com will be a winner. "This is the natural and logical evolution of the current frequent-flier programs," Crandall reports.

In short, the new program will enable frequent-flier customers to convert their "miles" into an online currency. For each frequent-flier mile customers will receive two-cents in MilePointMoney which can then be used to pay up to 25% of a purchase from more than 100 online merchants including Amazon.com, Sharper Image, the Wine Enthusiast, Brooks Brothers, Radio Shack, and others.

Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways, America West, Trans World Airlines, and Hilton Hotels are all participants and equity owners in MilePoint.

Other Loyalty Programs Announced

Yet another loyalty model just announced is by Stockback.com. This new site will allow consumers to earn up to 20% cash back when they make purchases at any of Stockback's 85 merchant partners, including Buy.com, Dell Computer, and Land's End. The money "earned" will be invested in a group mutual fund, the Stockback Fund, which will be managed by Merrill Lynch. A new slant on loyalty programs is the one by UPromise. It offers consumers the opportunity to earn cash that can be placed in a tax-deferred savings account earmarked for financing a college education.

Radio Is Surprise Hit of Dot.Com Marketing

Radio has become the surprise marketing hit of the New Economy. Today, most experienced dot.com marketing managers believe radio is more effective than buttons or banners, according to a Forrester Research survey.

And a recent PaineWebber study found that 90 established dot.com companies planned to spend 50% or more of their overall ad budget on radio this year.

PaineWebber expects total dot.com radio ad spending to increase to $1.8 billion in 2000. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, that figure would account for 10% of total radio ad sales this year.

Here And There. . .

BarterTrust.com, an online/off-line barter company has received another $5 million in funding from Venture Strategy, an early stage venture capital firm located in San Francisco.
Network Commerce, parent of Ubarter.com, has been recognized by Deloitte & Touch, Merrill Corporation, NASDAQ and Perkins Coie as one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Washington state.
Monica Lewinsky and her legal counsel are traders...in her 20/20 interview with Barbara Walters, ABC made a big deal about the fact that they didn't pay her anything. In fact they did, in a big way. It wasn't a cash payment. ABC did pay her in that they bartered for her interview by giving Monica the international broadcast rights to the interview. Which the 27-year-old former intern turned into $1 million by selling them overseas!
Steve Zanazzi of Traderewards.com, an online barter company, reports that they now have 3,887 members and 818 business listings.
Bigvine.com, an online barter company announced the winner of their Dream Office Sweepstakes. The winner, Lydia Wilson of Wilson Textiles, received a $10,000 certificate for Herman Miller Office Furniture.
Another business model, soon to be launched by iDerive.com, is a new web site for consumers that's basically a "supplier put option." Consumers will order a particular product with a price and the date for order fulfillment, along with a cash payment--which will be refunded if the order isn't fulfilled at the time and price requested.

The supplier than has a specific time period to try and sell the product elsewhere at a better price. If that happens, the supplier compensates the consumer with the promised cash payment. If not, they've made the sale at the agreed upon price.
European companies have added significantly to their U.S. holdings over the first half of the year, announcing a total of 595 mergers or acquisitions of U.S. companies worth $160.7 billion by mid-July, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data. (One hundred more deals than in the same period last year.)
LocoTrade, an internet site for trading goods and services is now available through MuyBueno.Net, the web gateway to business, community, culture, and education for Latinos in the San Francisco Bay Area. It represents a first step towards building an integrated barter service geared to Latinos throughout the U.S., and eventually Latin America.

MuyBueno Net Swap, powered by LocoTrade provides users with substantial flexibility, allowing multi-item trades to be negotiated through a series of offers and counter-offers. The site is located at: www.locotrade.com/muybueno