Online PC sales expand
Egghead.com inks a deal with Yahoo to gain a prominent position on the search directory's site for peddling computer and software products.
Today Egghead.com inked a deal with Yahoo to gain a prominent position on the Internet search directory's site for peddling computer and software products. Under the deal, Egghead.com icons are integated throughout the computer-related areas of the Yahoo directory, as well as the Yahoo and AltaVista search results pages.
"This agreement is a major element in Egghead.com's strategic move to the Internet," Egghead.com chief executive George Orban said in a statement.
As reported, Egghead said last month that it would close its network of retail stores and sell computers and software on the Net instead. The announcement, which resulted in companywide layoffs, is one of the strongest examples yet of the way the Net is changing long-established business practices.
Also today, another Web-based shopping guide for computer products called BuyinGuide made its debut. "With this detailed information, users can easily zero in on the particular product category they need, evaluate competitive products, compare prices and buy directly from vendor's Web sites," the company said.
Along with books and music, computer products are among the hottest selling items on the Net, according to analysts. They are a natural fit because Net users already have a computer on their desktop. But e-commerce still faces hurdles with the public at large, often because of consumer concerns about the security of online transactions.
(CNET: The Computer Network offers its own guide to buying computer at COMPUTERS.COM. Egghead also has a broad-based marketing relationship with CNET.)