Online Baby Store Moves to Amazon.com Platform, Extends the Reach of Popular Baby Registry, Improves Shopping Experience for the Web's Best Baby Products Selection. Will Also Feature Exclusive Merchandise and Parenting.com Content
FORT LEE, NJ and SEATTLE—(May 23, 2001)—Babiesrus.com, LLC (www.babiesrus.com), an affiliate of Toys “R” Us, Inc. (NYSE: TOY) and the Internet companion to the world's No. 1 baby and juvenile retailer, Babies “R” Us, and Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) (Nasdaq: AMZN) today announced that the two companies are launching a co-branded Baby store at Amazon.com. The new co-branded Baby store extends the reach of Babiesrus.com, its vast selection and its baby registry to Amazon.com's more than 32 million customers and will allow new and expectant parents to add the thousands of baby and parenting books, music, videos and other related baby products at Amazon.com to their baby registry.
The co-branded Baby store will operate under the terms of the 10-year Strategic Alliance Agreement announced by Toys “R” Us, Inc.'s Toysrus.com subsidiary and Amazon.com in August 2000. Under the Agreement, Babiesrus.com assumes the merchandising, planning, buying and inventory management of the store's baby and juvenile products; Amazon.com manages all aspects of the online shopping experience, including Web site development, order fulfillment and customer service, and will house Babiesrus.com inventory in its U.S. distribution centers.
“Our alliance with Toysrus.com has proven to be a great win for customers, and we've looked forward to taking the next step by introducing the new Babiesrus.com teamed with Amazon.com store since we forged the alliance last August,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. “By teaming with Babiesrus.com, we're able to bring customers vast selection and category expertise from the world's leading resource for baby products and a partner that shares our passionate focus on customer experience.”
“This transition brings a terrific baby product resource to Amazon.com's more than 32 million customers and allows us to showcase our terrific selection in a superior online shopping experience,” said John Barbour, CEO of Toysrus.com, which owns a controlling interest in Babiesrus.com. “Giving Amazon.com customers access to the Babies “R” Us registry allows us to establish an online bond with parents before a child is born and begin a lifelong relationship with even more consumers.”
The Babiesrus.com teamed with Amazon.com site offers a complete solution for new and expectant parents, providing vast product selection, a seamless shopping experience and information resources that support them from pre-conception through pregnancy and the child's first year.
Baby Registry
The new co-branded store gives customers access to the popular Babies “R” Us registry. Customers now have the convenience and versatility of creating, updating and buying from the registry at the Babiesrus.com teamed with Amazon.com site. Those who set up registries at one of 145 Babies “R” Us or 710 Toys “R” Us stores across the United States can also opt to make them available online. The registry also takes the guesswork and geography out of gift buying and allows faraway friends and relatives to go online and select, buy and send the right gift directly to parents-to-be.
New Shopping Tools and Resources
The co-branded baby store now offers the experience customers expect from Amazon.com, with Babies “R” Us product selection. Customers can shop by brand or price or from eight different product categories. In addition, new specially designed features make it easy for new and expecting parents to navigate a huge selection of baby and juvenile products: New Parents' Checklists help parents identify essentials they'll need for themselves and their new baby; a comparison tool lets shoppers compare features on a vast range of products to make selections that best suit their lifestyle and budget; pattern browsers invite customers to select from 20 exclusive swatches and see a complete list of items available in that pattern; and those seeking coordinating nursery items can see them in a full room setting.
To ease the minds of expectant parents—who typically spend more than $7,000 for basics in baby's first year—and help them make informed purchasing decisions, the co-branded Baby store also provides helpful information from third-party experts, editors from the co-branded store and other new and expecting parents. These include “Your Pregnancy, Your Baby and You,”—a free, opt-in e-mail series that sends parents personalized e-mails from the editors at Parenting.com and Babiesrus.com/Amazon.com that include advice and information for every stage of pregnancy and the baby's first year; and Buying Guides, which provide detailed product information to help customers learn about the features, accessories and price points of products such as strollers, car seats and breast pumps.
About Toysrus.com
Toysrus.com, an affiliate of Toys “R” Us, Inc. founded in May 1999 and based in Fort Lee, N.J., is the world's leading online authority for kids, family and fun. In 2000, Toysrus.com teamed up with Amazon.com to form a co-branded online toy store offering customers an unparalleled toy selection and Internet shopping experience. Toysrus.com teamed with Amazon.com was the No. 1 most visited online retailer during the holiday 2000 season (Nielson/NetRatings) and generated $180 million in sales during fiscal year 2000. Toysrus.com also owns a controlling interest in Babiesrus.com, LLC, which operates a co-branded store on Amazon.com and Toysrus.co.jp, the leading online toy retailer in Japan. In addition to its parent company, Toys “R” Us, Inc., Toysrus.com investors include SOFTBANK Venture Capital.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. As such, they involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in such forward-looking statements. Toys “R” Us, Inc.'s forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about, or include statements concerning, many important factors, including, without limitation, consumer confidence, changes in discretionary consumer spending and consumer preferences, particularly as they relate to Toys “R” Us, Inc.'s particular merchandise mix and retail locations; Toys “R” Us, Inc.'s ability to effectively implement its merchandising, inventory control, marketing, store remodeling, electronic commerce, and other strategies; increasing competition from other retailers; unseasonable weather; fluctuating sales margins; product availability; capital spending levels; and other risks detailed in Toys “R” Us, Inc.'s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Toys “R” Us, Inc. undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date such statements were made.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection, along with online auctions and free electronic greeting cards. Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon.com lists millions of unique items in categories such as electronics, kitchen and housewares, books, music, DVDs, videos, camera and photo items, toys, software, computer and video games, tools and hardware, outdoor living and wireless products. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's over 32 million cumulative customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, sellers can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments.
Amazon.com operates four international Web sites: www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de and www.amazon.co.jp. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 275,000 movies and entertainment titles and 1 million cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1891 to 2003.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's anticipated losses, significant amount of indebtedness, competition, seasonality, potential fluctuations in operating results, management of potential growth, risks of system interruption, consumer trends, risk of fulfillment center optimization, inventory risks, limited operating history, risks related to fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and risks of new business areas, international expansion, business combinations, strategic alliances and strategic partnerships. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000, and all subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.