InfoSpace.com Acquires PrivacyBank.com
In February 1999, Jupiter Communications said that 27% of surveyed users had abandoned shopping carts because they were put-off by forms. PrivacyBank.com has developed a secure technology that provides an automated process for filling in payment forms, so customers don't have to continually enter in payment or shipping information, register at sites, or enter any site-specific passwords.
The technology captures user information through FormL technology. When a consumer enters information on a merchant site, FormL will capture it and record it in the server. Because information is maintained centrally, consumers need only enter their personal information once, regardless of whether they shop from wireless devices, various PCs, or purchase goods from multiple sites.
Agreement Terms
Under the terms of the acquisition, which will be accounted for as a purchase, InfoSpace.com will exchange 148,776 shares of its common stock for all of Millet Software's outstanding shares, warrants, and options. The companies expect to complete the acquisition in Q1 2000, and it is subject to customary conditions, including Millet Software shareholder approval.
PrivacyBank.com's e-commerce technology supports privacy preferences of consumers. In addition to managing the consumer's payment and shipping preferences, this e-commerce technology is unique in understanding consumers' privacy preferences and informing consumers whether online merchant's policies on use of customer data match the consumer's preferences.
Promotions
This service will be integrated with InfoSpace.com's enhanced e-commerce infrastructure that integrates online promotion technologies with merchants' existing credit card processing infrastructure.
The e-commerce infrastructure will target and deliver online promotions to consumers on their wireless devices or while they are looking for goods and services on Web sites. The promotions technology combined with the wireless one-click buying technology will enable consumers to receive promotions on their wireless devices and take advantage of them with one click. Using this e-commerce infrastructure, promotions are seamlessly matched and automatically credited to the user's credit card statement through secure transaction processing.
This e-commerce technology also helps realize the potential of opt-in marketing. By giving consumers control over their personal information and promotions they receive, they will be more likely to share their information with a particular site or merchant. Once that information is gathered, the merchant can use it for targeting promotions and other special offers.
Information Sharing
This new e-commerce technology also enables consumers to request and share information with other users. If a consumer wants a friend's information to buy him a birthday present, he can request access to relevant information. If this person approves the request, the consumer will have instant access to that information. Likewise, if a consumer is gift shopping for a friend, he would simply select the friend's name, and the form would be filled out with the buyer's payment information and the recipient's shipping information, all while respecting the recipient's privacy preferences.
In the future, this new e-commerce technology can be applied to offer enhanced services such as bill presentment and debit-style transactions with maximum purchase limits for children and teens who don't have their own credit cards.