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October
22, 2002
For Immediate
Release
DEALTIME¨
REACHES PROFITABILITY ON RECORD THIRD QUARTER RESULTS
Top Shopping
Search Company Leads Industry in Browser-to-Buyer Conversion
New York,
NY Ð DealTime Ltd., the leading shopping search engine,
today reported that it achieved profitability in the
quarter ending September 30, 2002 on record revenues.
The Company expects to be profitable and cash-flow positive
for the year and to record more than $27 million in
revenues, doubling revenues for the second year in a
row.
Online retailers
will spend $2.5 billion in 2002 to acquire customers,
according to a calculation based on data from a Shop.org
study by The Boston Consulting Group in association
with Forrester Research. DealTime is expanding its share
of this market with a scalable business that sends ready-to-buy
shoppers to merchant partners while helping search and
portal affiliates monetize their traffic.
"Our financial
results demonstrate the value that DealTime delivers
to consumers, merchants and traffic aggregators," said
Dan Ciporin, DealTimeÕs Chairman and CEO. "We have solidified
the cornerstones of our business: distribution agreements
with leading search engines and portals, a strong base
of high-quality merchants, and a technologically superior
shopping search engine."
Separately,
DealTime announced that it recently raised nearly $3
million in a private equity placement from its existing
shareholders. The Company will invest the funds to build
on its technology and distribution leadership in the
shopping search sector.
The number
of unique visitors to DealTime has tripled over the
past 12 months, making the Company the InternetÕs fastest
growing shopping directory, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
DealTime is now a top 10 Internet shopping destination,
with more monthly unique visitors than most online stores.
The CompanyÕs rapid growth rate demonstrates that consumers
are choosing shopping search engines to shop the whole
Web at once and avoid the hassle of clicking on numerous
links to find the information they need to make smart
purchases.
Leading merchants,
including Office Depot, Kodak, IBM and Eddie Bauer have
made DealTime a key component of their online marketing
strategy. "Custom-generated analysis shows that visitor
to buyer conversion on DealTime referrals is significantly
higher than that on referrals from well-known pay-for-performance
general search engines and portal shopping channels,"
said Lisa Strand, Nielsen//NetRatings Director and Chief
Analyst, e-Commerce. "DealTime gives shoppers the tools
to do their research before clicking through to merchants.
This allows DealTime to deliver highly qualified leads
to its merchant partners that convert better to sales."
This proven ability to drive sales has helped DealTime
grow its U.S. merchant base from some 300 merchants
in October 2001 to more than 900 merchants today, including
most of the leading online merchants. "DealTime is a
top performing distribution partner for our clients,
including numerous well known consumer brands," said
Stuart Frankel, Chief Operating and Chief Financial
Officer of Performics Inc, a leading performance-based
online marketing services company. "DealTime has been
instrumental in our ongoing effort to drive faster sales
growth for our clients while lowering their customer
acquisition cost."
DealTime
has long-term contracts to provide outsourced shopping
search services to leading portals including Lycos and
AltaVista. The Company also has deep marketing alliances
with leading companies in the search and pay-for-performance
sector including Google, Overture and LookSmart. These
relationships make it more convenient for shoppers to
access DealTime when researching purchases, increasing
the siteÕs value to merchants.
"In difficult
economic times consumers are even more likely to look
for the most efficient and rewarding shopping experience.
Merchants are also highly motivated to find a source
of high-quality leads - leads that are most likely to
convert into sales," added Mr. Ciporin.
About
DealTime¨
DealTime
is the world's leading online shopping search engine,
reaching millions of shoppers worldwide every month.
The Company was recently named the third largest shopping
directory and guide on the Internet, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Through its Web sites, dealtime.com¨, shopping.com,
dealtime.co.uk and other affiliate sites (including
AltaVista, Lycos and Excite Network), shoppers compare
products, prices and stores across the Web. For merchants
and manufacturers, DealTime delivers qualified, in-market
buyers and lower customer-acquisition costs. For traffic
aggregators, portals and other affiliate sites, DealTime
provides a powerful search engine and superior shopping
tools that enable them to monetize their traffic more
easily. For consumers, DealTime provides an easy way
to find the right product and choose the right merchant.
DealTime Ltd. is a multi-national private company, venture-backed
by key strategic and financial partners including Bertelsmann,
AOL Time Warner, Bank of America, Bain Capital, Singapore
Telecom, and others.
DealTime,
DealTime.com, the DealTime logo, and "Shop the Whole
Web at Once" are registered trademarks of DealTime Ltd.
Media Contact:
Krista Thomas
The Blueshirt Group, for DealTime
415/217-4964
krista@blueshirtgroup.com
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