REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 22, 1999 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Microsoft® Passport
“wallet”
service is now live at 24 leading merchant sites, enabling consumers to complete their holiday online purchasing with ease, convenience and confidence. Microsoft also announced that, in addition to these live sites, there are now over 100 e-commerce sites committed to supporting Passport, a 90 percent increase since the service was launched in October.
Live Passport sites include ArtSelect.com, BottomLineMac.com, BUY.COM, CDW Computer Centers, COSTCO.COM, Crutchfield Electronics, ePCdirect.com, ephones, Expedia.com TM Travel, Flowerbud.com, flowersandgifts.com, FurnitureFind.com, giftpoint.com, Kabang.com, the Life Extension Foundation ( http://www.lef.org/ ), MSN TM eShop, MyShoppingClub.com, OfficeMax, redtag.com, Sandrine.com, TooHome.com, ToyTime.com, Umbra.com and VCOM.COM.
“The rapid growth of Passport demonstrates the value of the service and its ability to meet the needs of consumers and merchants,”
said Josh Herst, group product manager for Passport at Microsoft.
“We’re excited to provide consumers with a service that makes their lives easier by allowing them to conveniently access and use their Passport wallet any time, anywhere during the holiday rush. We’re also delighted to help merchants improve their business by providing an opportunity to increase their customer base and provide even better customer service.”
Special Holiday Discounts for Passport Members
The network of sites participating in the Passport service consists of diverse leading merchants that collectively offer a wide range of high-quality products and services such as books, music, videos, toys, clothing, airline tickets, electronics, software, computers, food items and home furnishings. By Thanksgiving Day, several participating sites will be extending special holiday discounts to Passport members to make their online shopping even more enjoyable this season. Passport members can save money while doing their holiday shopping at BUY.COM, flowersandgifts.com, FurnitureFind.com, Kabang.com, redtag.com, Sandrine.com and VCOM.COM. Information about these offers and a complete list of participating Passport sites can be found at http://www.passport.com/directory/ .
“Using Passport during the holidays will introduce online shoppers to a service that we hope they’ll continue to use regularly. It’s one more way that Microsoft is working to make common activities like purchasing online easier for consumers,”
Herst said.
Strong Merchant Satisfaction
According to Jupiter Communications, shoppers will spend more than $6 billion dollars online this holiday season. Microsoft Passport can help streamline the online purchasing process for consumers by giving them one electronic wallet for use across multiple Web sites, making it faster and easier to purchase their gifts online. Retailers that have implemented the Passport service have already expressed strong satisfaction with it.
“Customers have told us that they like Microsoft’s Passport service because it’s easy and secure. The Passport service has helped BUY.COM give its customers an easier way to shop online,”
said Brent Rusick, vice president of operations at BUY.COM Inc.
“One of ToyTime’s goals is to deliver hassle-free shopping to our customers,”
said David Burcham, president of ToyTime.com.
“Microsoft Passport allows ToyTime to provide customers with better service by giving them a faster purchasing process and increased peace of mind. This type of service helps build and maintain our loyal customer base.”
Passport, located at http://www.passport.com/ , makes online shopping more convenient by allowing consumers to create an electronic wallet that stores all their billing and shipping information for use at participating Passport sites. Once members sign in, they can avoid the redundant data entry often required to make a purchase. After creating a wallet by entering credit card and shipping information, members simply select the credit card and address to be used for a particular purchase. Passport then encrypts and securely transfers the information to the merchant so the transaction can be processed.
Passport also allows consumers to shop online with greater confidence because of its strong privacy and security policies. With Passport, members control the information stored in their wallet as well as which sites receive it. Passport also requires all participating sites to adopt privacy policies that conform with industry-recognized privacy guidelines and post a link to their policy from the front page of the site.
About Microsoft Passport
Microsoft Passport is an e-commerce service that makes using the Web and purchasing online easier, faster and more secure. Passport allows consumers to use a single sign-in name and electronic wallet at participating sites, reducing the amount of information they need to remember or retype. Using strong encryption and privacy policies, Passport also helps ensure the security of consumers’ personal information and online transactions.
Microsoft Passport is the first example of a
“megaservice”
available for businesses from Microsoft. Megaservices are a new breed of service that extend the Web’s capabilities by directly linking applications, services and devices with one another over the Internet. Passport provides online merchants with customizable and easy-to-implement e-commerce services that improve their customers’ experience by streamlining purchasing and simplifying registration across a network of Web sites and services. Online merchants interested in participating in the Passport service can obtain more information at http://www.passport.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
New North American Passport Participating Sites
Arjaywireless.com
Biscoff.com
BONZI.COM
bostoncoffeecake.com
broadwaybasketeers.com
CameraMax.com
Digital Entertainment Network Inc
Egghead.com
ekosherwine.com
FirstRegistry
fultonstreet.com
gems2remember.com
giftpoint.com
IntelleSale.com
Investment.com
koshersupermarket.com
LAROSE.com
ManufacturedinUSA.com
MidWest Micro
nypizzas.com
Outletmall.com
paperStudio.com
Payless Car Rental
photostogo.com
Sandrine.com
shoplindenwold.com
ShopSports.com
speednames.com
SportsHabitat.com
supremevideo.com
VCOM.COM
WorldSpy.com
New Australian Participating Sites
ChaosMusic
Costi’s Seafood
Dstore
E-Store
Floranet
greengrocer.com.au
Hilton Lifestream
IPrimus
JustJeans
Mobile Stop
nineMSN.com.au
Ozbooks
Ozbuy.com
Printer Supplies Online
Ticketek Online
Toy Spot
WinePlanet
Wishlist
