Agreement will enable United Natural Food’s retailers to create customized, full-service, on-line stores.
MotherNature.com (Nasdaq: MTHR), a leading online information source and e-tailer of vitamins, supplements, minerals, and other natural and healthy living products, today announced an agreement to provide MotherNature.com’s web-hosting services to United Natural Foods’ (Nasdaq: UNFI) customer base of over 6,500 retailers. United Natural Foods is the leading independent national distributor of natural and related products in the United States.
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Under the terms of the agreement, MotherNature.com will provide access to its 16,000 natural and organic products and will supply an array of behind-the-scenes support functions including technical development, order-fulfillment, and customer service. The United Natural Foods sales force will market this product to their customer base. Retailers who purchase the service will receive their own URL and a turn-key, full-service e-commerce site. Participating retailers will have the ability to customize a homepage to include their own logo, feature their natural products philosophy, promote in-store events/ specials, and highlight perimeter departments. Each retailer will benefit from an expanded product offering for their customers via a new distribution channel – the Internet – without having to make a significant upfront investment or increase the square footage of their stores.
MotherNature.com and United Natural Foods are currently testing the product in a pre-launch phase and a full-scale product launch is slated for September 22, 2000 at the Natural Products Expo East conference in Baltimore, MD. Following the initial roll-out of the product with United Natural Foods, MotherNature.com will market the new service on their own under the Natural Shops Network name to other distribution channels.
Michael Barach, President and CEO of Mothernature.com, commented, “We are very pleased to be announcing the first agreement completed by our recently instituted Commercial Services Division. Teaming up with United Natural Foods allows our unique web-hosting product to get to market quickly, thanks to their strong sales force and close relationship with over 6,500 retailers. We look forward to realizing the benefits of an integrated merchandising program.”
Mr. Barach concluded, “Our commercial services strategy is exactly on track. The introduction of this new web-hosting service enables us to enter new business channels, leverage our intellectual property, further our e-commerce capabilities, and expand our customer scope. We are extremely pleased with the progress we are making in the plan to reach a broader segment of the natural products market and we look forward to capitalizing on the opportunities that lie ahead.”
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By GlobalDataAbout MotherNature.com, Inc.
MotherNature.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: MTHR) established an Internet site in 1995. It is a leading online distributor of a vast array of vitamins, supplements, minerals, and other natural and healthy living products. MotherNature.com is also a leading provider of health information on the Internet, with contributions from a panel of health and medical professionals. The company maintains its corporate office in Concord, MA, a distribution center in Springfield, MA, and a customer support center in Acton, MA.
About United Natural Foods, Inc.
United Natural Foods, Inc. distributes over 30,000 products to more than 6,500 customers in 50 states. The Company serves a wide variety of retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores and independent retail operators.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding MotherNature.com, Inc.’s expectations, beliefs, intentions, or strategies regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based upon information available to MotherNature.com, Inc, as of the date hereof, MotherNature.com, Inc. assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These and other factors or risks relating to MotherNature.com, Inc.’s business are set forth in MotherNature.com, Inc.’s periodic reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, including (without limitation) under the captions “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Competition”, “Government Regulations”, and “Risk Factors” . Nothing can or should be inferred about MotherNature.com, Inc.’s future revenues or financial results from the information contained in this press release.
