After launching in 1998 with virtually no online marketing presence, priceline.com
(Nasdaq: PCLN) said that, as a result of its new and existing online alliances and acquisitions, the Company has increased its online presence by 810 percent over the past 12 months and will have an online “reach” of 85 million unique Web users once all the alliances are implemented in coming months.

Priceline.com has recently announced an online marketing alliance with OneTravel.com
. Prior to this, priceline.com announced a similar marketing deal with LastMinuteTravel.com
and said it acquired the trademarks and Internet domain names of LowestFare.com. Priceline.com also has online marketing alliances with America Online, eBay and Classmates Online.

According to April 2002 Neilsen-NetRatings statistics, these combined Web sites (including priceline.com) had a total of 85 million unduplicated visitors. In April 2001, priceline.com reached a total of approximately 9 million unduplicated Web visitors to its own site and Travelocity.com
.

Online is a growing marketing vehicle for priceline.com. Today, almost 20 percent of priceline.com`s travel sales come from its online partner channels. In addition to its major online partnerships, priceline.com has affiliate relationships with tens of thousands of independent Web sites in the U.S. and in Europe.

“Through these marketing alliances, priceline.com is able to place its Name Your Own Price(sm) booking engine on several of the most heavily-trafficked Internet sites and some of the Web`s most popular travel buying destinations,” said Brett Keller
, priceline.com`s Chief Marketing Officer. “We believe that these alliances will enable us in future months to further leverage our deep inventories, transactional technologies and back-office support infrastructure. By reaching the online travel-buying public through these cost-effective channels, we can further maximize our advertising spend.”

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Related stories on ITN:

(07/06/2002) Priceline & OneTravel in Travel Marketing Agreement

(06/06/2002) Priceline.com to Purchase Trademarks

(05/06/2002) Priceline.com Launches Name Your Own Price on LastMinuteTravel

(30/05/2002)  Priceline Launches `Name Your Own Price` in Singapore.

(15/05/2002)Priceline to Expand UK Ad Campaign

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