Since the companies began working together on marketing initiatives in 1997, they have collaborated on several on-going e-commerce initiatives including customer authentication services. The companies said in a joint statement:
“The companies will combine tailored elements of Amazon.com’s powerful and innovative e-commerce technology platform with AOL’s understanding of online consumers and popular shopping destinations, to create a rich, multi merchant e-commerce experience for users… Consumers will benefit from Amazon.com’s unique Search and Personalization technology as well as product comparisons, ratings and review services.”
Amazon also announced yesterday its second quarter results, which show slightly lower losses than had been expected. It reported a rise of 16% in net sales bringing them up to $668 million for the three month period, which compares favourably with last year’s second quarter figures of $578 million.