Market America to Acquire SHOP.COM Business to Create Social Shopping Site Positioned to Rival Internet's Leading Shopping Destinations

GREENSBORO, N.C., Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Market America, an Internet marketing and product brokerage company, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the business of SHOP.COM, a pioneer in online comparison shopping, creating a powerful, new social shopping destination poised to challenge the Internet's leading shopping destinations.  Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

MARKETAMERICA.COM and SHOP.COM will continue to operate as separate websites through a transition period while integration of the unique benefits of each company will begin immediately.  Market America's headquarters will remain in Greensboro, NC, while SHOP.COM's facilities in Monterey and Pasadena, CA and London, UK will continue without disruption.  The combined entity will have in excess of 650 employees. The transaction is expected to be completed by year-end 2010.

The acquisition will combine SHOP.COM's strength in technology and merchandising, providing customers with the latest, high-tech online shopping, with Market America's high-touch, personal shopping experience, including the industry's only unlimited cash back program.  It will expand the current people-powered, relationship-based shopping portal into a content rich destination that informs, entertains and guides customers in their shopping experience.

"Together, Market America and SHOP.COM are creating a new 'social shopping' movement," said James Ridinger, President and CEO of Market America.  "To date, no one has truly harnessed the power of technology to provide a high touch, personal shopping experience combined with the depth of selection available through instant search of the more than 43 million products in our database.  Our business model rewards customers at every stage – by making their shopping easier and more efficient, and rewarding them with cash back for shopping with us.  This unique strategy positions us for explosive growth and to compete head-to-head with the biggest, most dominant shopping sites on the Internet."

Market America is a leader in one-to-one marketing, and pioneered ma CashBack; a revolutionary new shopping program that pays the customer up to 50 percent cash back on their purchases as well as one half of one percent on the purchases of customers they refer.  SHOP.COM is the pioneer shopping portal in search, comparative shopping, shopping content, and created the patented OneCart technology that transformed online shopping from retail sites to retail portals.

"Market America and SHOP.COM are online shopping pioneers with distinct areas of expertise," added Ken Goldstein, Chairman & CEO of SHOP.COM, who will depart his current role and become a strategic advisor to Market America as part of the transition.  "By bringing our companies together, we are creating a game changing shopping experience with transformative potential to our customers, retailers, consumer brands and business partners."

ABOUT MARKET AMERICA

Market America is a product brokerage and Internet marketing company that specializes in One-to-One Marketing.  With more than six million customers and 180,000 Shopping Consultants worldwide, the company has generated over $3.4 billion in accumulated retail sales.  Headquartered in Greensboro, NC – the company was founded in 1992 by president and CEO James Ridinger and employs over 600 people globally with international operations in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and the Philippines.  Through its revolutionary One-to-One Marketing concept, Market America combines the Internet with the power of people – creating the ultimate online shopping destination.  More information is available at MarketAmerica.com.

ABOUT SHOP.COM

SHOP.COM is the comparison shopping engine designed to meet the shopping needs of the consumer and the business needs of merchants.  Leveraging the features of its patented OneCart along with extensive partner marketplace integration, and thousands of pages of unique shopping-centric editorial, SHOP.COM helps customers "Shop Smart, Save Big" across thousands of online stores.  The company also publishes ShopCompanion, a comprehensive directory of online and brick-and-mortar stores, as well as The Shopping Vine, a shopping blog network.  For more information, Please visit http://www.SHOP.COM/corporate.

SOURCE Market America