Internet Venture Works Lets the Horses Out of the Barn.Business/Technology Editors and Gardening Writers WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 2000 Internet Builder Teams with Specialty Ag-Retail Giant Quality Stores, Inc. To Launch First Property Company, FarmandCountry.com What does a group of seasoned Internet executives in the Boston area from likes of Intuit in·tu·it tr.v. in·tu·it·ed, in·tu·it·ing, in·tu·its Usage Problem To know intuitively. [Back-formation from intuition. and WiseWire area know about farming? By the looks of the first company being developed by Internet Venture Works (IVW IVW Informationsgemeinschaft zur Feststellung der Verbreitung von Werbeträgern EV (German auditing institution) IVW In-Voluntary Withdrawal ), quite a bit. Today, IVW, a company that builds dotcoms in partnership with brick-and-mortars, announced it has aligned with the nation's largest retail farm store chain, Quality Stores, Inc. to deliver FarmandCountry.com, the first-in-the-industry Internet hub aimed at rural farmers, gardening enthusiasts and do-it-yourselfers that provides commerce, content, and community. IVW was founded last year with strong funding from buyout firm J.W. Childs Associates L.P. and Lycos, Inc. "FarmandCountry.com is the personification personification, figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstract ideas are endowed with human qualities, e.g., allegorical morality plays where characters include Good Deeds, Beauty, and Death. of IVW's mission to build successful Internet companies by liberating the value locked within offline brands. It's what we call our dotBAM approach," said Robert Frasca, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of IVW. "By marrying the best of a company's real-world strengths, meaning an established brand, loyal customers, existing distribution channels, and years of experience, with the world of opportunity on the Internet, IVW creates entirely new entities that are stable, strong and poised for long-term financial success." The new company, jointly owned by IVW and Quality Stores, Inc., seeks to exploit a market opportunity that is expected to account for $120 billion in online sales over the next four years, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street. . Moreover, in a recent survey of Quality Stores, Inc. customers, close to 50 percent said they would purchase items from Quality Stores, Inc.'s Website, a proof point that Quality Stores, Inc. is giving customers what they want. Currently, Quality Stores, Inc. has more than 12 million regular customers. FarmandCountry.com is a standalone stand·a·lone adj. Self-contained and usually independently operating: a standalone computer terminal. business of Quality Stores, Inc. which operates 374 agricultural and rural living retailing locations across the U.S. under six names: Quality Farm & Country, C.T. Farm & Country, Quality Farm & Fleet, Country General, County Post and Fisco. Introduction of the e-tailing site tracks with Quality Stores' strategy to consolidate into a unified, Quality Farm & Country brand and extend its considerable brick-and-mortar presence to the online shopper. With 12 million weekly flyer customers and a huge market opportunity the two companies stand to gain considerable advantage by creating a site with meaningful content, commerce opportunities and online community for the rural living shopper. "FarmandCountry.com is in a position to take immediate market leadership, says Ron Gamble, president and CEO of FarmandCountry.com. "By partnering with Quality Stores, Inc., a powerful and trusted brand in the agriculture industry, FarmandCountry.com is able to leverage Quality Stores, Inc.'s brand recognition, distribution channels, and decades of ag-related experience." Welcome to the Real World - IVW's dotBAM Approach According to Frasca, the key to IVW's success is its dotBAM approach - the art of identifying bricks-and-mortar companies that have the potential to become dotcom powerhouses. The success of this approach is based on the confluence confluence /con·flu·ence/ (kon´floo-ins) 1. a running together; a meeting of streams.con´fluent 2. in embryology, the flowing of cells, a component process of gastrulation. of three essential ingredients, reverence for the real world, unshakable partnerships, and Internet expertise. "For too long, many Internet companies have rushed to market with little or no plan for sustained financial success, scoffing at brick-and-mortar companies comparatively small market valuations," said Frasca. "In contrast, IVW embraces the heritage, knowledge and acumen of real-world companies, while adding the passion and energy of the Internet. BAM's years of experience, infrastructure and customer relationships is our silver bullet silver bullet - magic bullet to success on the Web." "In the 65 years we've been in business, Quality Farm and Country store's have been able to provide customers with excellent products, knowledgeable team members and service. That's what they expect of us and that's what we give them," said McKitrick, president and CEO of Quality Stores, Inc., based in Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon (mus-kēg'n) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 40,105. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan6. . "IVW was the only e-business partner that respected that core philosophy of building loyalty through years of service to our customers. And that's the guiding principal behind bringing FarmandCountry.com online." Unshakable Partnerships The creation of FarmandCountry.com is IVWs first example to the close partnerships between the dotBAM builder and its companies. From the inception of its business plan to long after its IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. , IVW and its companies are interwoven in·ter·weave v. in·ter·wove , in·ter·wo·ven , inter·weav·ing, inter·weaves v.tr. 1. To weave together. 2. To blend together; intermix. v.intr. in fervent partnership. From the start, each venture is designed to become long-lasting, profitable businesses, and provided with support to ensure this success. More than providing funding, advice or office space, IVW's people and resources become its member companies' people and resources. From financial backing, director-level collaboration, and strategic leadership to technological infrastructure, operational support and administrative assistance, IVW nurtures and builds its companies, partnering as long as it takes to ensure its full potential is realized. And because IVW is fully vested with each of its companies, the commitment for success lasts a lifetime. About Quality Stores, Inc. Quality Stores Inc. is the largest agricultural retailer in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Founded in 1935 and headquartered in Muskegon, Michigan, the Company currently operates 374 stores nationwide. Quality Stores, Inc. is a retail farm store catering to full time and hobby farmers, gardening enthusiasts and skilled trade persons. Quality Stores, Inc. is in the process of changing all store names over to Quality Farm & Country. Quality stores now are CT Farm & Country, Country General, Quality Farm & Fleet, County Post and FISCO. About IVW IVW builds Internet companies by bridging online opportunities with offline brands. Established in 1999 and headquartered in Boston with facilities in Pittsburgh, IVW works with investment firm J.W. Childs to identify strong traditional companies with big Internet potential that have not been fully realized. IVW then brings that potential to life by providing funding, infrastructure, human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. , systems engineering and development, operational support, strategic expertise, and branding and advertising to its member dotcoms. IVW applies its reverence for real world companies as well as its roster of top talent to ensure its member companies achieve success. IVW's partners include J.W. Childs Associates, LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol and Lycos, Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) A technology used to make microdisplays for rear-projection TVs and head-mounted displays (HMDs). Each LCoS chip hosts a grayscale LCD shutter sandwiched between a cover glass and a mirror. ). For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ivw.com. |
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