AbeBooks sets its sites on more international business development
AbeBooks Inc. will continue to aggressively pursue international business development with an eye on growing 2007 web sales by 12% to around $190 million.
The retailer, No. 70 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, recently rolled out Bookfinder.com to France and Germany. Another country, Italy, will be implemented later this summer, says CEO Hannes Blum.
Bookfinder.com, which AbeBooks acquired in 2005, lets buyers search more than 100 million new, used, rare and out-of-print books for sale from thousands of booksellers. International business, especially in Europe, is important to AbeBooks as it looks to diversify beyond its core North American market, Blum says. “We want to make sure that we are the market leader in Europe,” he says. “The North American book market is maturing. BookFinder is a strong comparison shopping engine that will help us specialize even more and build a strong vertical market approach in Europe.”
AbeBooks, which has foreign e-commerce sites in France, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and North America, also plans to launch a site in Italy within the next several months.
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