AOL UK and ASDA Announce Strategic Marketing Agreement and Strategic Alliance With ShopSmart.com - Brief Article

Information Superhighways Newsletter, Oct, 2000

AOL UK and Wal-Mart Europe announced a four-year strategic marketing agreement.

Under the agreement, Wal-Mart's ASDA UK operation will distribute disks with AOL UK's PC-based interactive service in its 240 UK retail stores and the two companies will promote ShopSmart.com 's price-comparison services.

As part of the agreement, ASDA and Wal-Mart Europe customers will be offered AOL specially packaged products, which will help them get online right away. ASDA will be integrated into the AOL UK shopping, interests, and lifestyle channels as a preferred food and drink retailer, and ASDA will have special on-line promotions on AOL UK for jointly acquired members. in addition, ASDA will be promoted across the AOL UK service and via special on-line marketing programs for specific ASDA initiatives.

AOL Europe and ASDA also announced that they will jointly rake a 22.5 percent stake in ShopSmart.com, a UK shopping directory. ShopSmart.com will receive permanent exposure in ASDA stores in the UK and in Wal-Mart stores in Germany. ShopSmart will become the exclusive integrated price comparison service on AOL UK and Germany, with an additional guaranteed banner package in each country.

Under the agreement, ASDA will secure its stake in exchange for featuring and promoting ShopSmart in its stores in both the UK and Germany and by transferring its shopping comparison facility, Valuemad, to ShopSmart. ShopSmart.com, the UK's number three retail site after amazon.com and amazon.co.uk, offers user-friendly technology that gives on-I me shoppers access to information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.