LAS VEGAS-- BUSINESS WIRE -- PurchasePro.com and America Online launched their co-developed business-to-business destination. In March, the two companies announced a strategic alliance to provide business users of all AOL brands a complete electronic commerce solution powered by PurchasePro.com.
The co-branded site includes a look and feel that aligns with businesses' preferences for an intuitive, efficient user interface. Business users who are current members of AOL and Netscape can immediately access the exchange with their existing user name and password.
The new marketplace allows AOL and Netscape users to both buy and sell to each other, as well as to all 25,000 current members of the PurchasePro.com global marketplace.
Using PurchasePro.com's unique common platform that allows exchange-to-exchange (e2e) functionality, users are connected to members of their own marketplace and to users in other marketplaces such as those operated by Office Depot and Sprint, among others. This interconnection increases the liquidity of both the horizontal and vertical marketplaces, and allows users to easily add their existing customers and suppliers to the network.
Additional functionality will include a registration process and a link to download AOL's Instant Messenger. The exchange will include a common classification system and a methodology that will enable buyers to search across all AOL brands and the entire PurchasePro.com global marketplace. This will provide participants with the efficiency of conducting one search that maximizes results and reduces the time and effort spent on each transaction.
Multiple, co-branded entry points to the exchange will be available across all AOL properties, including Netscape, CompuServe and AOL.com. Registration will take place through the "business card" product developed by the Netscape business portal. A tiered membership strategy leverages AOL and Netscape's existing base of more than three million, non-home-based business customers.
"This announcement solidifies both companies' commitment to deliver the most advanced, scalable, end-to-end e-commerce solution to businesses of all sizes and heralds a new era of interconnected e-commerce," said Chris Benyo, senior vice president of marketing for PurchasePro.com.
