*Winfreestuff.com to Launch Store, Begins Pan-Web Program
E-mail address acquisition company Winfreestuff.com plans to launch a co-branded shopping site with liquidation Web site Saleoutlet.com near the end of this month, the two companies announced yesterday.Winfreestuff.com, Omaha, NE, uses sweepstakes to gather e-mail addresses and passes them off to sponsors for anywhere from 35 cents to 50 cents each. The company claims to have passed off more than 300,000 e-mail addresses in March by giving away just over $10,000 in prizes including cash and gift certificates.
Winfreestuff.com currently has a page of links to other merchants as part of an affiliate program done in conjunction with affiliate broker LinkShare, New York.
The new store -- from which Winfreestuff.com and Saleoutlet.com will split the revenue -- will allow visitors to shop without leaving the site. Merchants for the new store are to be determined.
In related news, Winfreestuff.com earlier this month began collecting e-mail addresses at other Web sites. The company has had links on about 10,000 sites as part of another affiliate program run in conjunction with LinkShare. Under the new initiative, sites agree to post a banner or button advertising Winfreestuff.com's sweepstakes. Clicking on the button results in a pop-up window and allows entrants to supply their e-mail addresses without leaving the site.
Winfreestuff.com collects the addresses and maintains a database for each merchant. Participating sites get a 25-cent bounty on each name.
At the end of each month, Winfreestuff.com purges addresses of people who have opted out and sends each merchant a clean list, according to Winfreestuff.com CEO Stephanie Healy.
"We're developing people's opt-in lists, plus developing a revenue stream for them," said Healy, who is also former Interactive sales manager at Omaha Steaks. "This way, we handle the sweepstakes issues, and we handle the database," she said.
So far, about 30 sites have signed on.
