WCG News

Cotton Incorporated to Launch E-Commerce Consumer Website in Early 2004

New York - November 6, 2003 - After 30 years of successfully promoting the benefits of cotton to the U.S. consumer, Cotton Incorporated will take its marketing strategy one step further with the introduction of a new e-commerce website, The Joy of Shopping. The site is slated to launch in the first quarter of 2004.

Says J. Berrye Worsham, Cotton Incorporated president and CEO, "The Joy of Shopping is an exciting and unique way to promote cotton and cotton products. It adds another dimension to our media plan, supplementing our TV and magazine advertising. Now, through the Internet, we will be able to interact with individual consumers and provide an avenue for shopping for products from any participating retailer or manufacturer with an electronic catalog. For the consumer, it is a way to know what is sold on the Web, who sells it, and then makes it easy for them to buy it."

"The Joy of Shopping is a bold statement in today's marketplace," comments Ira B. Livingston, Cotton Incorporated senior vice president of consumer marketing. "Technology allows us to enhance the consumers' online shopping experience through an easy to navigate site which features products of choice from retailers of choice. We are aware that current consumer shopping habits are not fiber first - they are price, quality, and benefit. With this site, we have the ability to offer products most chosen by the consumer - those made of cotton. Consumers love and trust cotton, and now they can act on those emotions."

The Joy of Shopping currently has a database of 25,000 SKUs of cotton and cotton-blend products which can be browsed any way the user wants - by category, price, online retailer, or specific item. The service will have no advertising and there will be no pre-determined sponsor-driven listing of results on the search capability. Once the consumer chooses a product, there will be a direct link to that product on the retailer's site.

In addition, a "wish list" feature will allow consumers to keep browsing without losing items they have chosen. The wish list remains intact until the user chooses to buy the product or remove it - even if they leave The Joy of Shopping website and come back at a later time.

A partial list of retailers participating in The Joy of Shopping website include Eddie Bauer, Jos. A. Bank, Pacific Sunwear, The Gap, Old Navy, Blue Fly, Sears, Wal-Mart, Linens 'n' Things, Kohls, and Red Envelope

The Joy of Shopping will be linked to Cotton Incorporated's consumer website, www.TheFabricofOurLives.com, which provides product and care information as well as the latest trends in apparel and home decor. Launched in May 2002, the site currently receives 23,000 hits a day.

Internet sales continue to be the fastest growing segment of the retail market. According to Jupiter Research, a leading international research advisory organization specializing in business and technology market research, "Apparel and accessories are expected to be the strongest performing categories online this year, outpacing sales of personal computers, books, software, and movie or concert tickets."

In addition, in a survey of 600 Internet users by Deloitte & Touche, apparel ranked fourth of all product categories purchased on the Internet with 26%. (The top three: CDs, tapes, and books.) Xceed Intelligency, an Internet research and analysis company, expects apparel sales to continue to grow online and predicts they could reach $5 billion this year.

Cotton Incorporated plans to continually expand The Joy of Shopping's retailer base, which will give consumers a larger selection of product, while providing retailers the opportunity to reach customers through another venue. For additional information about joining The Joy of Shopping, please call Mr. Ira Livingston, senior vice president, consumer marketing at 212.413.8364.

The search engine provider for The Joy of Shopping is Arkdom, a proprietary Web application of Web Commerce Group (WCG). WCG is a Raleigh, NC-based software technology company that builds private-label wireline and wireless Internet applications and delivers them as a managed service for business.

Cotton Incorporated, funded by U.S. growers of upland cotton and importers of cotton textile products, is the research and marketing company representing upland cotton.