Buy.com Returns to Its Roots

Troubled e-commerce company Buy.com, which was bought out by its founder last August for 17 cents a share, launched a redesign of its site and a new marketing campaign touting a return to the “Lowest Prices on Earth.”

Buy.com, now trading for about 11 cents a share on the OTC Bulletin Board, said it would post “incredibly low prices” for its new Price Mistake of the Day promotion. And the company said it would offer to match “many” online competitors’ prices if the Buy.com price is not already lower.

In conjunction with its new look, Buy.com launched a $5,000 shopping spree contest scheduled to run until the middle of October.

Just last week the Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company retained Thinkbig Marketing Group, a creative design and strategic marketing services company, as its agency of record. Spending on the new campaign was not disclosed.

“Buy.com has always strived to provide customers with the best online shopping experience,” said Robert R. Price, president of the company. “We’re going back to our roots to deliver on this long-standing promise.”

It’s anybody’s guess whether this tactic will work. Just yesterday, analysts at Goldman, Sachs reduced their e-commerce forecasts for both this year and next.

Buy.com, the self-proclaimed “Internet Superstore,” ran head-on into the Internet crash and has never had a profitable quarter. It had traded as high as $35 since going public in February of last year.

Founder Scott Blum twice has stepped up to rescue the company, once when he bought it via his company, SB Acquisition Inc., and again about three weeks later when he had to provide financial support to maintain the operation’s credit card agreements.

Buy.com said its new design revolves around an easy-to-navigate user interface that will simplify the buying process. The new low price guarantee applies to a list of qualified Internet retailers only, is limited to a maximum of $100 per price match request and does not apply in the Buy.com Wireless or Clearance stores.