The Knot Signs Marketing & Distribution Partnership With Prefer Network; Deal Provides Largest Online Bridal Audience With One-Stop Catalog Shopping

Business Wire, Oct 31, 2000

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2000

The Knot (www.theknot.com; AOL keyword: weddings) the leading online wedding resource, and Prefer Network's e-commerce affiliate (www.prefer.com), home of online catalog shopping, today announced a marketing and distribution partnership.

The agreement will provide members of The Knot with a selection of consumer products from many of the most popular online catalogs while giving Prefer Network increased product exposure through The Knot's online and offline distribution channels.

Under the terms of the agreement, The Knot will become the exclusive wedding gift and supply resource to Prefer.com, the company's consumer shopping portal. Also, consumer products from Prefer Network partner catalogs will be featured in The Knot's boutique shopping area called The Knot Shop. Products provided by Prefer Network will include home, gift and entertaining items from high-end catalogs including Orvis, J.Jill, OmahaSteaks.com and Panache, among others.

Additionally, Prefer Network will be featured in The Knot AOL areas (AOL Keyword: weddings). Prefer Network will also create a special wedding version of its offline catalog that will be featured in The Knot Wedding Box - a membership wedding-planning kit sent to newly enrolled brides on The Knot with a wedding date at least five months from registration.

"Partnering with The Knot represents an incredible opportunity for Prefer Network and our retail partners to receive increased brand and product exposure," says Doug Platt, CEO of the Prefer Network. "The Knot has an enormous audience of brides and grooms that are a demographic fit for us. Shopping online is a great solution during this hectic time in their lives and these couples have a strong interest in the high-quality, well-known home, entertaining and gift brands that the Prefer Network offers."

"This is a beneficial partnership that brings best of class wedding gifts and supplies to Prefer Network while offering the convenience of online catalog shopping to The Knot," says Adam Sandow, Vice President of Sales at The Knot. "The Prefer Network boutique features name brands that reflect the high level of quality our members have grown to expect."

About The Knot

The Knot (NASDAQ: KNOT) is the leading online wedding destination and the premier wedding content provider on America Online and several other of AOL's leading brands, located at www.theknot.com and at AOL keyword: weddings. Combining comprehensive content and an active online community with wedding-related commerce, The Knot's online sites provide extensive resources to help couples plan their wedding and future lives together as a couple.

The Knot also provides certain offline services to the wedding market such as a series of books with Random House's Broadway Books, a semiannual gown magazine called Wedding Gowns, and Weddingpages, a regional wedding magazines that reaches over 50 U.S. markets. The Knot is based in New York and has several other offices across the country.

This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are (i) The Knot's unproven business model and limited operating history, (ii) The Knot's history of losses and expectation of significant losses for the foreseeable future, (iii) the significant fluctuation to which The Knot's quarterly revenues and operating results are subject, (iv) the seasonality of the wedding industry and (v) other factors detailed in The Knot's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

About Prefer Network

Founded by retailers for retailers, Prefer Network is a b2b e-commerce accelerator that uses proprietary technology to unite high-quality retailers with high-traffic web sites, creating low-maintenance revenue streams for both groups. The Prefer Network is a b2b2c growth solution that leverages a suite of tools - a collaborative consumer database, best of breed product database, and innovative consumer-friendly shopping tools - to enable retailers to grow their businesses online via the cost-effective acquisition of new customers and increased distribution opportunities. At the same time, Prefer Network b2b products offer exciting new e-commerce opportunities for the Internet's leading Web sites and opt-in email databases. Prefer.com is backed by an impressive list of investors including Prospect Street Ventures, eCOM Partners, Draper Richards, Pennell Venture Partners, Argus Capital, LLC as well as individual investors like Ted Pamperin co-founder of J. Crew and Tweeds; and Steve Kahn, Chairman and CEO of cataloger Delia*s and iTurf. More information can be found at http://www.prefernetwork.com or by calling 212 395 9898.