|
From:http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000425/chapters_c_1.html Company Press Release SOURCE: Chapters Online Inc. Chapters.ca Celebrates First Birthday Nearly one in four Canadians surveyed visited Chapters.ca in its first year(1) Canada's leading online retailer rewards customers with birthday promotion; shares insights into online shopping habits of Canadians TORONTO, April 25 /CNW-PRN/ - Chapters Online (TSE:COL - news), the Canadian e- commerce company which operates www.chapters.ca and www.gardencrazy.com, leading Canadian destinations for online shoppers, today celebrated the first birthday of the Chapters.ca site. In the space of twelve months, Chapters.ca has been visited by nearly one in four Canadians surveyed, according to a study by Kubas Consultants. To reward Canadians, Chapters.ca is having a special birthday promotion located at www.chapters.ca/birthday. From April 25 to April 27, Chapters.ca customers will receive up to 50 per cent off a selection of the site's best-selling books, music, DVDs, videos, software, video games, and consumer electronics. Included in the special promotion are Michael Ondaatje's latest release, Anil's Ghost; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's CD Looking Forward; DVDs of Oscar-nominated films The Sixth Sense and The Insider; a special video edition of Notting Hill; and scores of other leading products in every category. The promotion is being supported by an advertising campaign created by BBDO. Customers will also have the opportunity to win a Ford Taurus through an online contest and will receive double Chapter 1 Club points on their purchases. In just twelve months of operation, Chapters.ca has quickly established itself as the leading e-tailer in Canada. A March 2000 study by Kubas Consultants reported that 23 per cent of Canadians surveyed had visited the Chapters.ca site in the past year. Almost half of the people who were polled for the study said that they will likely visit the Chapters.ca site in the next three months. ``Canadians have embraced the convenience of online shopping. Their support and loyalty are the reasons why, in less than one year, Chapters.ca has become Canada's number one e-commerce site,'' said Rick Segal, president and COO, Chapters Online Inc. ``We are looking forward to building on our industry-leading status as we provide new and exciting products for our customers.'' Insight into Habits of Canadian Consumers With one year of online retailing under its belt, Chapters.ca has gained a unique perspective of Canadians' online shopping habits. For example, the most popular ordering time is from Monday through Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.; the male demographic aged 25 to 44 has made the most purchases from Chapters.ca; and the top three markets in Canada are Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa-Hull. However, Chapters.ca has also received orders from as far away as Egypt, Mongolia and Zimbabwe.
The Year's Best-Sellers
Chapters.ca also released information about its top-selling titles of the
year in a number of categories, as follows:
Best-selling CD Mirrorball, Sarah McLachlan
Best-selling DVD The Matrix, starring Canadian-born
actor Keanu Reeves
Best-selling book by a Canadian
author A Good House, Bonnie Burnard
Best-selling book (fiction) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
Other titles in the wildly-successful Harry Potter series were among the year's ten most popular fiction books as ordered
on Chapters.ca. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was the fourth best-selling title, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone was seventh, and the Harry Potter boxed set, which includes all three volumes, was ninth. The fourth
title in the Harry Potter series, entitled Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, is scheduled for release in the
summer and will be featured at that time on the site's children's section. However, customers can now reserve their copy of
the book by pre-ordering it on the Chapters.ca site at a 30 per cent discount at www.chapters.ca/kids.
Over the past year, the Chapters.ca site has responded to the growing needs of Canadians and their increasing level of comfort with online shopping by expanding its product offerings from books to include music CDs, videos, DVDs, software, electronics and video games. Chapters Online has further enhanced the Internet experience for Canadians by holding special events on the Chapters.ca site. Highlights include an exclusive Internet-only broadcast of an Amanda Marshall performance, a charity auction of best-selling Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay's latest release Lord of Emperors, and a special two- day free download of Stephen King's short story Riding the Bullet, available only on the Internet. About Chapters Online Inc. Chapters Online Inc. (TSE:COL - news) is a Canadian e-commerce company which operates www.chapters.ca and www.gardencrazy.com, leading Canadian destinations for online shoppers. The Chapters.ca Web site features millions of book, music CD, video, DVD, software and video game titles as well as consumer electronics from around the world at Canadian prices and with a unique focus on products of interest to Canadians. The Gardencrazy.com Web site features a wide selection of plants as well as gardening apparel, tools, and accessories. Committed to providing a convenient and hassle-free e- commerce experience, Chapters Online's Web sites offer a secure shopping environment, easy-to-use search tools, and industry leading customer service. Chapters Online also supports the growth of Canada's e-commerce industry operating one of the Internet's leading affiliate programs for Web site owners. In September 1999, Chapters Online became a publicly traded, separate company from Chapters Inc. Chapters Inc. (TSE:CHP - news), Canada's largest book retailer, retains a majority ownership stake in Chapters Online and together the companies operate e-commerce kiosks at all Chapters stores across Canada. To learn more about Chapters Online, please visit the Web site at http://www.chapters.ca/aboutus. Established since 1st September 2001 by 999 SQUARES. |
