STAMPS.COM ENDS 1999 WITH 87,360 NEW CUSTOMERS
Only 10 Weeks After Launch, Customers Sign Up At An Unparalleled Rate for
Stamps.com Internet Postage Service
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Jan. 5, 2000 – Stamps.com™ (Nasdaq: STMP) today announced it had 87,360 licensed customers as of Dec. 31, 1999, only 10 weeks after its software-only Internet Postage™ service was made available nationwide.
“We knew the market was ready for an inexpensive and easy alternative to high cost postage meters,” said John Payne, chairman and CEO of Stamps.com. “In just under 70 days we have signed up customers equal to approximately five percent of the total 1.7 million traditional postage meters in the U.S. We are very optimistic that Stamps.com will become the postage solution of choice in
the new millennium.”
Stamps.com is the only Internet Postage service that requires no hardware or metering device and no start-up fees or long term contracts. Stamps.com is also the only Internet Postage provider to offer customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week by phone, on e-mail and through live messaging.
“We attribute our success to an aggressive marketing campaign that emphasized the major benefits of the Stamps.com service to users,” observed Loren Smith, president and COO of Stamps.com. “A creative advertising blitz using the wry wit of Bob Newhart and key co-branding and distribution alliances with AOL, Microsoft, Quicken and other industry heavy weights were among the many strategies deployed to lead the way to such rapid growth.”
Stamps.com plans to build on the success from its marketing programs in 1999. In the first quarter of 2000, Stamps.com will reach millions of potential customers by marketing and distributing its software through direct mail and exclusive partner programs. Stamps.com will also be exclusively bundled on AOL CD-ROMs and made available as a download option through Netscape, which both reach millions of small business and consumer users.
“As customers grow increasingly comfortable with Internet Postage, a Stamps.com small business customer might pay $5 to $10 per month in fees, far less than the cost of even the most inexpensive, low-end postage meter. We are also the more competitive alternative to offline Internet Postage products that require the purchase of an additional hardware device,” added Payne.
Stamps.com customers pay a service fee based upon the amount of postage they use, which is billed to their credit card at the end of each month. Light users pay a $1.99 monthly minimum and heavy users pay a $19.99 monthly maximum.
About Stamps.com
Stamps.com offers a convenient, cost-effective and easy-to-use service for purchasing and printing postage over the Internet. Its core service is approved by the US Postal Service and is currently the only commercially available offering that requires no additional hardware to purchase and print postage; the user’s existing PC, printer and Internet setup are sufficient.
Through partnerships with major companies like America Online, IBM, Microsoft, Office Depot, Quicken.com and 3M, Stamps.com targets the small office/home office and consumer markets. More information about the company can be found at sdcmainprod.wpengine.com.
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by Stamps.com, including its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 1999 and its registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, that was declared effective by the SEC on December 6, 1999.
Internet Postage, Stamps.com and the Stamps.com logo are trademarks of Stamps.com Inc. All other brands and names are property of their respective owners.