Andersen Portal Targets Middle-Aged Surfers

Computergram International, Sept 1, 1999

Leading IT consultancy Andersen Consulting Inc is behind a new web portal aimed at taking advantage of the under-exploited disposable income of the over 45s. But the venture, known as iFlourish, looks more like a marketing exercise for Chicago-based Andersen's e-commerce services than a serious revenue earner.

Andersen believes iFlourish, which will launch in mid-September after two years in development, breaks the mold for current portal providers which tend to rely mainly on advertising revenue and customer loyalty. Instead most of iFlourish's revenues are intended to come from sales of products and services through integrated information and online transaction processing facilities.

These will initially be centered around a number of areas that Andersen believes are of key importance to the over 45s: community, health, travel, shopping and finance. Each combines the resources of an extensive list of big name content and product suppliers which Andersen has signed as partners. These include online travel booking specialist Uniglobe.com, healthcare product distributor Bergen Brunswig Corp, current affairs from The Washington Post Writer's Group and Reuters, and Wells Fargo bank, among others.

iFlourish represents the first attempt by a provider of e-commerce services to become directly involved in direct selling. However, the purpose of the venture to Andersen would seem to be less about creating a new revenue stream and more about promoting its own e-commerce consulting and integration capabilities. Andersen embarked on a $10m global e-commerce advertising campaign in June.

But whatever the motivation behind iFlourish, even the company's high profile involvement cannot guarantee its success. iFlourish faces a difficult challenge to distinguish itself in what is rapidly becoming a crowded market space. The same demographic group is already being targeted with some success by the likes of Thirdage.com and there is also competition from more general-focus portals such as the ubiquitous Yahoo! and the UK's Virgin Net.

Nonetheless, Andersen is hoping the service will go public within a year of its launch. It is also planning several other internet companies as part of its e-commerce business.