• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Amazon in Multiyear Deal to Manage Timex Web Site

Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Monica Soto Ouchi, The Seattle Times

Apr. 13--Amazon.com said Wednesday that it would power the Web site for watch-maker Timex, based in Middlebury, Conn.

Under the multiyear agreement, Amazon Enterprise Services will develop and manage a Timex-branded Web site and give the company access to its shopping technologies, such as one-step checkout, personalization, wish lists and recommendations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Amazon services group has commercial agreements to develop and manage online retail sites for Target, Borders and The Bombay Co., among other retailers. These relationships are important to Seattle-based Amazon because they carry higher profit margins than Amazon's own business of selling goods online.

Under most of these agreements, Amazon provides the retailer with a stable of high-end e-commerce tools, while the retailer assumes the risk of identifying and carrying inventory, plus picking, packing and shipping the items.

Amazon last year invested $451 million in technology and content, a 59.4 percent increase from the previous year. The company said it would continue to add more computer scientists and software engineers to improve customers' experience on Amazon's Web sites and those it powers for other companies.

Amazon's stock inched up 7 cents to $36.13 Wednesday.

-----

To see more of The Seattle Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.seattletimes.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Seattle Times

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

AMZN, TGT, BGP, BBA,

Source: The Seattle Times

More News in this Category