YAPA Picks Iconomy.com to Provide Products for Professionals; Powered by Iconomy, YAPA eMart Delivers Business and Lifestyle Merchandise to Young Professionals.

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2000

Iconomy.com, the leading provider of complete e-commerce solutions for content and community Web sites, today announced the launch of YAPA eMart, a new online store at YAPA.com. Young Adult Professional Associates, Inc. (www.YAPA.com), a free, internet-based membership organization aimed at helping young professionals achieve career and personal success, will use the new store to offer its members and visitors career-related and lifestyle merchandise. YAPA eMart contains 25 different product categories, including computers and software, PDAs, home office products and executive gifts, as well as books, CDs, movies and home electronics. Additionally, Iconomy has integrated YAPA private-label products such as shirts, jackets and hats into the new store.

Iconomy's experienced eMerchandising team worked with YAPA to select product categories and individual products mapped to the site's demographics. The eMerchandising team draws from the millions of products in Iconomy's extensive vendor network to develop highly targeted stores such as YAPA eMart. Additionally, as store browsing and purchase data is collected, YAPA eMart's product selection and promotions will continue to evolve to ensure that the store remains attuned to market demands.

"YAPA is dedicated to providing the community, information and services that young adult professionals need to succeed," said Peter M. Hess, president and CEO of YAPA. "With the new Iconomy store, we can provide the products they need as well. YAPA eMart is a whole new facet of our site, one that will continue to increase our value to our members, helping us build site loyalty and ultimately brand strength."

In contrast to banner ads and affiliate programs, Iconomy stores generate revenue while keeping traffic on the site, increasing site stickiness and strengthening the site's brand. Iconomy's primary goals when creating YAPA eMart was to generate a strong revenue stream and build YAPA's brand strength. These goals are met by:

-- Designing a custom shopping environment that seamlessly meshes with the rest of the YAPA Web site

-- Stocking the store with the most appropriate merchandise for YAPA's audience

-- Integrating Iconomy's shopping cart technology with YAPA's account registration and reward systems, for individually targeted merchandise and coupon/gift certificate promotions

-- Facilitating the highest levels of customer satisfaction by partnering with leading customer relationship management (CRM) vendors such as OrderTrust and Protocol for exceptional order processing, order fulfillment and customer service

-- Ensuring that Iconomy's own brand and those of its partner vendors are transparent to the customer, allowing YAPA's brand to be positively associated with all aspects of the store

"We are delighted to work with YAPA to enhance its offerings to young professionals," said Aaron Day, CEO of Iconomy.com. "As the Internet continues to grow, content and community Web sites must offer exceptional value to their audiences in order to break through the noise and succeed in their markets. Iconomy's e-commerce solutions help provide that level of value by ensuring that all store interactions are enjoyable and part of a positive site experience."

About Iconomy

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Iconomy.com (www.iconomy.com) is the leading provider of complete, integrated Internet shopping solutions through an extensive vendor network and modular technology. Iconomy strengthens its clients' site brand by ensuring that all shopping interactions are part of a positive site experience. Iconomy seamlessly integrates shopping environments into its clients' Web site design to increase "site stickiness," a distinct advantage over banner advertising and affiliate programs in which users leave the original host site. Iconomy also increases site stickiness by embedding context-appropriate promotions within site content, targeting the right merchandise to the right person at the right time. This embedding of "commerce in context" produces much higher click-through rates than the industry average. Iconomy provides all clients with centralized, fully branded, 24-hour support year-round for their customers. The company has established an extensive network of wholesale distributors, gained access to millions of products for the buying public and developed innovative shopping environments for major sites such as Autobytel.com, GoToWorld, LuckySurf and YellowBrix.

About YAPA

Young Adult Professional Associates, Inc. (YAPA), founded in 1997, provides a comprehensive package of tools and information for young professionals to succeed in their personal and professional lives. These resources range from mentoring contacts to online educational programs. Membership in YAPA is free for young professionals and includes a private e-mail account, a personalized home page with access to individualized content, a YAPA electronic organizer, a YAPA membership benefit card, discounts on YAPA-sponsored seminars and training programs (such as YAPA Experience), access to networking forums to discuss issues with other young professionals and YAPA mentors and a one-year subscription to the career and lifestyle publication, YAPA Magazine.