ShopNow.com continues buying spree with Ubarter
The online marketplace says it will buy business-to-business e-commerce site Ubarter.com for $45 million in stock, its second acquisition in the last two days and the third in the last month.
The move is designed to provide the more than 40,000 merchants featured on ShopNow.com--including OfficeMax, Petopia.com, PetSmart and WineBins.com--a way to obtain goods and services without using up their cash, according to ShopNow.com chief executive Dwayne Walker.
"[Bartering lets companies] use their surplus of stock to pay for merchandise," Walker said.
Keeping merchants happy is crucial in this highly competitive online market--which for ShopNow.com includes business and consumer e-commerce. ShopNow.com, along with rivals Go2Net.com and CyberShop.com, depends heavily on popular brand names to draw customers and other businesses to their sites.
This, combined with the current focus on business-to-business e-commerce, is prompting ShopNow.com to continue its expansion in the market, Walker said.
"Right now, over 85 percent of our revenues come from [businesses transacting with other businesses]," he said.
Under the deal, ShopNow.com merchants will be able to log on to Ubarter and trade for merchandise and goods. This is the second acquisition the Seattle-based ShopNow.com has made in the last two days and the third in the last month.
On Monday, the company announced that it had acquired WebCentric, owner of a Web site that lets Internet shoppers compare prices and products, for $50 million in stock. In November, the company took over privately held SpeedyClick, a Web community site for women.
ShopNow.com also generates revenues by helping stores set up shop on the Net, processing transactions and performing direct-marketing services.