Webvan pulls sleigh for beauty products e-tailer
The online grocer strikes a deal with Eve.com to help the Net beauty products retailer with delivery for the holidays.
The deal is the first of its kind for Foster City, Calif.-based Webvan, the company said. Its couriers will hand-deliver gift sets premade by San Francisco-based Eve.com, which include skin care, bath, fragrance and makeup products.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal comes as online retailers are feeling the heat of the holiday season. Though analysts predict this year's holiday season will break sales records, already e-tailers have faced problems including outages and shortages of popular products such as Pokemon toys.
"We are excited to leverage Webvan's delivery infrastructure to complete the last mile of e-commerce," George Shaheen, chief executive of Webvan, said in a statement.
Another challenge facing Net retailers is getting products to shoppers on
time for the holidays. In an effort to one-up rival Amazon.com, Barnes &
Noble recently began quietly
testing a service in Manhattan to deliver books ordered from its Web
site within 24 hours via messenger.
"Eve.com is excited to be able to offer the ultimate luxury in customer service this holiday season--a unique, convenient delivery option," Mariam Naficy, Eve.com co-founder and co-president, said in a statement. "We recognize Webvan's lead in the last mile of e-commerce and want to leverage their one-of-a-kind service to deliver our prestige products directly to holiday shoppers' doorsteps."