CyberCash, NetGravity Offer One-Click Buying in Banners

CyberCash Inc. and NetGravity Inc. formed a partnership that makes it possible for merchants to complete a sale inside a banner ad with no additional click-through to the merchant’s Web site.

Integration of the NetGravity AdServer online interactive marketing solution with CyberCash’s universal InstaBuy one-click shopping service will provide transactional banners to InstaBuy and AdServer users free of charge, the companies said.

Transaction-enabled banners create opportunities for advertising agencies by providing a highly accountable method for quickly demonstrating Internet advertising return on investment, the companies said. Financial arrangements between the companies were not disclosed.

“People have been talking about the potential of commerce-enabled banner ads for some time,” said Jim Condon, president and COO of CyberCash. “Unfortunately, most attempts at this have been piecemeal at best. This combination of CyberCash’s and NetGravity’s innovative solutions gives merchants end-to-end sale capability within a banner. . . .our partnership with NetGravity provides an integrated way for merchants to provide simplicity for the consumer while leveraging the reach of Internet banner advertising.”

“Imagine: you click on the banner, you type in a password, you click ‘purchase,’ and you’re done — it’s that simple,” said Eric W. Spivey, president and CEO of NetGravity. “While this is great news for our merchant customers, it’ll also be good news for Web publishers that host the ads because the consumer can make the purchase without leaving the content site.”