America Online More Than Doubles Roster of Shopping Partners.

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1999--

As Shop@AOL Readies for Year's Biggest Shopping Season, Company Signs Over 160 New E-Commerce Agreements with Leading Brand-Name Retailers

AOL Also Renews Agreements With 95% of Current Shop@AOL Merchant Partners, Bringing Total Number of Shop@AOL Partners to More than 275

America Online, Inc. [NYSE:AOL], the world's leading interactive services company, today announced that it has signed over 160 new e-commerce agreements with leading retailers to offer their brand-name goods and services through the Shop@AOL marketplace, called the "Internet's Miracle Mile" by Forrester Research. Through these agreements, the Shop@AOL destination, which is accessible across AOL's portfolio of interactive brands, will offer its members and visitors to its Web-based properties a more extensive array of goods and services than ever before, including luxury goods, home furnishings, fine art and an apparel category offering more high quality, best-of-breed merchants than ever before. The majority of these commerce partners also have invested in broad advertising or strategic marketing opportunities across the Company's multiple brands.

More than 275 merchants will be marketing their quality brands and services on Shop@AOL during the 1999 holiday shopping season, an increase of more than 150% over the number of merchants featured on the Company's Shopping Channel last year. New merchant partners include Healthtex, Crate and Barrel, Victoria's Secret, Fogdog.com, iTurf, Balducci.com, Furniture.com and Steve Madden shoes, just a few of the popular brands that have recognized the value of prime "real estate" on Shop@AOL, AOL's multi-brand consumer e-commerce destination.

AOL also said today that 95% of its current e-commerce merchants -- including 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, eToys, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Omaha Steaks and Lands' End -- have renewed their existing agreements with the Company and are expanding their partnerships to include AOL's full portfolio of shopping destinations: Shop@AOL, [e-mail], Shop@CompuServe, and Shop@Netscape.

Shop@AOL is the product of AOL's unparalleled understanding of the online consumer, built on almost five years of researching members' buying behaviors. Launched in July 1999, the destination offers the easiest and most convenient, comprehensive and entertaining online shopping experience for consumers while delivering to marketers the largest aggregate audience of first-time and repeat online buyers anywhere in cyberspace.

Shop@AOL offers the largest graphics capability among all portals and shopping sites, the strongest merchandising capacity and an efficient e-commerce infrastructure. The destination is currently rotating 30,000 promotions per week, or 450 promotions per hour, across AOL's family of brands. This dynamic programming is driving more than 25,000 AOL members to shop online for the first time every day -- almost half (43%) of whom having been online for only six months or less, according to October 1999 Internet Research Group Data.

Since its introduction, the new Shop@AOL has received overwhelmingly positive feedback. The September 1999 Forrester Report praises Shop@AOL as the "Internet's Miracle Mile" and recommends that online retailers who want to succeed in the e-commerce arena take advantage of AOL's unmatched reach, experience, and emphasis on customer service, quality and performance.

Bob Pittman, President and Chief Operating Office of America Online, Inc., said: "We are committed to ensuring that Shop@ AOL offers our members the best shopping experience in cyberspace by featuring only the highest-quality goods and services, making it easy to purchase products through our Quick Checkout "wallet" technology, and making sure that every transaction conducted with one of our merchant partners is covered by our 100% Guarantee of satisfaction and security. That means we are extremely selective and partner exclusively with brand name retailers that share our commitment to putting the customer first."

Pittman continued: "Shop@AOL is also unique in that it was developed by an experienced team of merchandising experts, who work closely with our partners to develop innovative and effective campaigns to help them drive new shoppers to their sites, increase sales and meet their specific business objectives. Our strategy of bringing together the largest online consumer audience with the most compelling lineup of merchants available in cyberspace is proving to be a winning combination for our Company, our members and our partners."

The successful launch of Shop@AOL has prompted several of AOL's e-commerce partners to comment on the importance of AOL as part of their online marketing strategy:

"One of the reasons our relationship with AOL has been so successful is our joint understanding of the online consumer marketplace," said Gus Carlson, Vice President, Corporate Communications, barnesandnoble.com. "With barnesandnoble.com's most important retail season of the year rapidly approaching, we look forward to working with AOL to market our products to the largest audience of buyers in cyberspace."

Susan Daniher, Vice President of Marketing for DVD EXPRESS, said: "AOL's newly redesigned online shopping destination allows DVD EXPRESS to maximize exposure of its products among the largest audience of online consumers through effective online merchandising opportunities and promotions. Our presence on Shop@AOL will be a pivotal part of our holiday marketing strategy."

"We are excited about launching Crate and Barrel's Gift Registry links within the Shop@AOL network, and joining one of the Internet's most dynamic e-commerce communities," said Chris Segal, Director of E-Commerce, Crate and Barrel. "AOL gives us the flexibility to showcase online Crate and Barrel's wide range of products, yet still retain the atmosphere that our catalogs and retail stores are known for all over the world."

Pat Robles, Vice President of E-Commerce, L.L. Bean, said: "Partnering with AOL has been extremely beneficial for L.L. Bean. Shop@AOL not only provides access to millions of users who are comfortable shopping online, but they are also a continual source of new demand for L.L. Bean online."

With the recent launch of AOL 5.0, Shop@AOL is directly accessible from the AOL Main Screen, as well as through various other content areas of the service. The marketplace is also available on CompuServe 2000, and AOL.COM, Digital City and Netscape Web sites, and was recently integrated into Netscape Communicator (R) 4.7, the latest version of Netscape's award-winning Internet browser and e-mail software.

About America Online, Inc.

Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet services, America Online, with more than 19 million members, and CompuServe, with more than 2.2 million members; several leading Internet brands including ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and AOL.COM portals; the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers; AOL MovieFone, the nation's # 1 movie listing guide and ticketing service; and Spinner Networks and NullSoft, Inc., leaders in Internet music. Through its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the Company develops and offers easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for companies operating in the Net Economy.