COMMERCE CUBED AWARDS ANNOUNCED FOR ERETAIL SITES WITH LEADING EDGE CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES.

CornerHardware.com, LandsEnd.com, Garden.com, 1800-Flowers.com, REI.com and Amazon.com win recognition for implementing components of a Commerce Cubed strategy.

March 28th, 2000 - The International eRetail Association and eRetailNews announced the first recipients of the Commerce Cubed, or C3, awards today, recognizing Internet retailing sites with a strong commitment to customer retention.

Commerce Cubed, a strategy for increasing customer retention, is introduced as the lead feature "Commerce Cubed - How to wow customers and keep them coming back," in the 2000-3 eRetailNews industry report. The strategy has three key components, all of which must be executed well to maximize customer retention: Customer Care, Content, and Community.

"Many eRetailers recognize the need to build loyalty with customers they have spent millions of dollars getting to their web sites," says Nigel Fenwick, President of the International eRetailAssociation. "Commerce Cubed retains customers over the long-term by bringing together many tools and techniques in use, into a complimentary strategy. By executing a strong Commerce Cubed strategy, eRetailers can build a loyal following that is less price sensitive, helping to increase long-term profitability."

Recognition Awards are given to sites that demonstrate exemplary execution in one or more components, with a Five Star Site award for sites that have executed all three components of a Commerce Cubed strategy in an outstanding way.

The first Five Star Site award goes to CornerHardware.com for its balanced execution of all three components of a C3 strategy.

Winners of the Five Star Care award are LandsEnd.com, CornerHardware.com and 1800Flowers.com.

Winners of the Five Star Content award are REI.com, CornerHardware.com and Garden.com.

Winners of the Five Star Community award are REI.com, Garden.com and Amazon.com.

These awards are not easy to get. "Many sites that appear to have implemented one or more components didn't pass our tests," says Fenwick. "One site had implemented live chat and live call back customer service. When we tested it, the chat didn't work and it took four hours for them to call us back. By comparison, when we tested Lands' End, the call back was immediate."

Information on the Commerce Cubed awards is on the web at www.eretailnews.com/c3/.