They’re an item: Barbie.com gets fixed up with WalMart.com

Mattel`s Girls Interactive Group will provide a direct link from Barbie.com to WalMart.com, under an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and WalMart.com to expand Mattel’s Barbie doll brand on the web site and in the stores. This is the first e-commerce element that Mattel has added to its Girls Interactive Group web site, Mattel says. Barbie.com receives 5 million visitors a month.

The link will allow shoppers to purchase doll accessories from Wal-Mart.com’s Barbie boutique. This agreement addresses one of the major concerns that retailers have had since the rise of the Internet as a sales medium: How can retailers be sure that manufacturers aren’t stealing their customers by selling direct to consumers over the web? “This is an interesting way to find the middle ground,” says Will Ander, consultant with Chicago-based McMillan/Doolittle retail consultants. “It’s an interesting way to brand yourself with the retailer and create a stronger brand position.” The downside to the relationship, Ander notes, is that it risks alienating other mass merchants who don’t have a similar arrangement. Mattel says similar agreements are under consideration with other major retailers.

Links to WalMart.com will be prominently featured in the "Parents" section of the Barbie.com site, and in the "Product Catalog" area. These areas contain content developed for and targeted to parents who visit the site. Clicking on the Walmart.com link will take visitors into the site`s designated Barbie Boutique, which will offer an assortment of Barbie product available both online and at Wal-Mart retail locations. On the WalMart.com Web site, Barbie.com will receive targeted placements, including on the home page, during the term of the agreement. The agreement will launch with the Barbie.com Web site, but within the year 2002 will be extended to include additional Mattel brand boutiques, such as BarbieCollectibles.com and DivaStarz.com, among others, Mattel says.

"We are pleased to collaborate with Wal-Mart and Walmart.com in a venture that opens up new revenue streams for both partners, " said Christina DeRosa, vice president Web site and media, Barbie/Girls Division.