STARMEDIA AND HP TO FORM STRATEGIC
E-COMMERCE ALLIANCE FOR LATIN AMERICA
Alliance Would Offer Latin America’s
Mid-market Merchants
First Integrated E-commerce Solution to Bring their Businesses to the Web
MIAMI, Sept. 9, 1999 -- At E-servicesWorld ‘99, StarMedia
Network (NASDAQ: STRM), the leading global online network for Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking audiences, and Hewlett-Packard Company today announced a plan to
provide Latin American merchants with the region’s first integrated e-commerce
solution that will allow merchants to create a Web-based store in less than 24 hours. This
e-services initiative is expected to launch in Brazil next month, expanding to the rest of
Latin America by early next year.
E-commerce represents a significant revenue opportunity in Latin
America. According to Visa International and IDC, Internet commerce revenues for the
region are expected to soar from approximately $300 million in 1998 to more than $8
billion by 2003.(1) According to a recent study by the Laredo Group, Inc., a
leading research firm, 29 percent of StarMedia users have already made online purchases
and 59 percent are likely to make a purchase on the Web in the near future.
"This powerful turnkey solution would
address the e-commerce needs of Latin America’s growing mid-market merchant
community," stated Fernando Espuelas, Chairman and CEO of StarMedia Network. "By
helping merchants to seamlessly build 'virtual stores,' e-services empowers Latin American
midsize merchants with the tools to capitalize on untapped business opportunities. This
alliance with HP, along with StarMedia's recently announced SkyBox initiative, which
solves the logistics behind the delivery of goods, also reaffirms StarMedia’s
commitment to offer Latin American users and merchants an easy, reliable and secure
e-commerce experience."
Through this alliance, HP and StarMedia would provide Latin
American merchants with a comprehensive "Commerce for the Millennium" solution
that leverages HP e-services offerings, including application-hosting; Web-based
procurement; consumer retail services; as well as a sales and marketing platform on
StarMedia’s leading online properties: Zeek! (www.zeek.com.br), Cade?
(www.cade.com.br), OpenChile (www.openchile.cl), and its flagship community StarMedia
(www.starmedia.com). Using this solution, interested Latin American merchants would be
able to seamlessly develop and host Web stores for reasonably low prices and have access
to StarMedia’s burgeoning online shopping community.
"E-services technology will serve as a crucial building
block in the creation of Internet-based services in Latin America, such as consumer
services, integrated travel and healthcare, and e-commerce businesses," said Ann
Livermore, president and chief executive officer of HP Enterprise Computing. "HP has
always been an industry innovator, so it is only natural that we combine our cutting-edge
technology with StarMedia’s leading global online network for Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking audiences to offer the Latin American mid-market a powerful and
inexpensive integrated technology solution for e-services."
Merchants interested in bringing their operations online through
the joint HP and StarMedia solution would be able to do so through an easy registration
and installation process. The service would provide an easy-to-use set-up procedure, with
step-by-step instructions and 24x7 customer service, and would enable participating
businesses to create an effective, personalized service that meets their business
objectives.HP and StarMedia plan to share in fees and revenues derived from the e-services
offerings, including transaction fees from merchant-generated e-commerce.
About HP’s Commerce for the Millennium
HP’s Commerce for the Millennium is an end-to-end hosted
e-commerce solution that enables service providers to quickly offer e-services for
electronic commerce to small- and medium-sized businesses. It is a pre-integrated solution
that HP can deploy quickly and easily. It includes the critical functionality needed by
merchants to run a successful e-business, from 24-hour turnaround of online merchant IDs,
to browser-based store-building and secure online-payment processing. In addition, the
solution meets self-provisioning functions and an integrated merchant-care application.
The hosted e-commerce solution is bundled with an innovative alliance business model that
allows service providers to better match their revenues with their costs. Based on a
service provider’s individual needs and requirements, in return for a portion of
service-related revenues, HP will deploy and support the solution.
About E-services
An e-service is any asset that companies or individuals make
available via the Net to drive new revenue streams or create new efficiencies. E-services
work behind the scenes to combine and recombine to solve problems and complete
transactions. The HP integrated solution for e-services would enable customers to gain
fast access to the burgeoning Internet commerce market -- projected by IDG to reach $2.7
trillion in the next five years -- through enhanced service offerings, lower operational
costs and increased profits.
About HP
Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing
and imaging solutions and services for business and home -- is focused on capitalizing on
the opportunities of the Internet and the proliferation of electronic services.
HP plans to launch Agilent Technologies as an independent company
by mid-calendar 2000. Agilent consists of HP’s test and measurement, semiconductor
products, chemical analysis and healthcare solutions businesses, and has leading positions
in multiple market segments.
HP has 123,500 employees worldwide and had total revenue of $47.1
billion in its 1998 fiscal year. Information about HP, its products and the company’s
Year 2000 program can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.
About StarMedia Network, Inc.
StarMedia (NASDAQ: STRM) is the leading global online network for
Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking audiences. StarMedia offers Latin Americans, U.S.
Hispanics and Iberians a pan-regional community experience, combined with a broad array of
Spanish and Portuguese content, tailored for regional dialects and local cultural norms.
StarMedia provides advertisers and merchants targeted access to Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking Internet users, an audience with a highly desirable demographic
profile. Some of StarMedia’s strategic relationships include Netscape Communications,
RealNetworks, Ziff-Davis, Fox Sports Latin America, CDNOW, Reuters, eBay, National
Broadcasting Company, Hearst Communications, and Fininvest. Founded in 1996, the company
employs approximately 450 people with operations in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;
Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bogota, Colombia; Santiago, Chile;
Montevideo, Uruguay; Caracas, Venezuela; Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; New York City, NY;
Miami, FL; Los Angeles, CA; Dallas, TX; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
# # #
(1) Latin American Internet and eCommerce Strategies,
1999; published May 1999.
