| AEC Info opens The AEC STORE -- Online |
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| Announcement made at Construct Canada 98 Toronto, ON (December 2, 1998) - AEC Info (www.aecinfo.com), the world's most popular business resource for the building industry, announced the opening of The AEC Store (available at www.aecinfo.com/store/). The AEC Store carries products specific to the business of building industry professionals and initially includes software, books and manuals. The AEC Store enables industry professionals to browse for and purchase the products they need when they need them, without leaving the office. Software purchases are downloaded immediately to the buyer's computer making these purchases available for use in minutes, while print publications are usually delivered within two business days. In addition, The AEC Store passes on the lower cost of online sales to the purchasers, saving them money. In making the announcement Mark Nightingale, president of AEC Info, said, "The AEC Store provides building industry professionals with instant access to the products they need saving them time and money. And because AEC Info focuses only on the building and design industry, The AEC Store contains products which are relevant to the business needs of our users. As with all of AEC Info's resources, The AEC Store is available on a 24-hour basis." Users' requests motivated the creation of The AEC Store. Mr. Nightingale noted that, "AEC Info frequently receives inquiries from our users regarding purchase of the products they discover during their visits to our business center. The volume of visits has now surpassed 100,000 per month, and the increase of purchase requests made it clear to us that there was a need for The AEC Store. We are excited about meeting that need." The AEC Store also meets the needs of software manufacturers providing them with a new, highly effective distribution channel and they have welcomed the concept. The software publishers who have made their products available represent a cross-section of some of the most well-respected names in the AEC software industry including BQE, cADD-ONs, DataCAD, Ditek, IMSI and Nemetschek. Mark Madura president of DataCAD said, "Our software is developed by architects for architecture. The AEC Store makes our software available on a large scale to our target market. From a marketing and sales perspective The AEC Store makes good sense." As an associate of Amazon.com, The AEC Store will make available some 25,000 industry-related print publications premiering in 17 searchable industry categories, in addition to featured titles. Users can search for specific works by title, subject or author's name. New categories and products for both software and print publications will be added. Mr. Nightingale concluded his announcement saying, "For close to five years, visitors to AEC Info have been able to quickly find, learn about and discuss the products they need. This has made AEC Info a nexus for the industry, a place where professionals do business. The AEC Store takes this model a step further by directly facilitating business." About AEC InfoCenter Inc. AEC InfoCenter Inc. is a leading provider of business information to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. Through its online business center the company provides a wide range of industry information, at no charge. This information includes The AEC Store, news, product technical specifications, product listings, industry events, classified ads, feature articles, interactive discussion forums, software, hardware and more. Now in its fifth year of operation, AEC InfoCenter hosts 100,000 visits and 1.4 million hits each month from industry participants around the world. (An archive of press releases from AEC Info can be found online at www.aecinfo.com/about/press.html). For more information, please contact: Lee Wolfe, Director of Operations 25 Imperial St, Suite 200 Toronto, ON Canada M5P 1B9 E-mail: lwolfe@aecinfo.com Tel: (800) 232-6390 / (416) 489-9000 Fax: (416) 489-3201 |