E-commerce Briefs

PowerBar, a division of Nestle USA (NSGY), is offering consumers free Internet access through an agreement with San Francisco-based 1stUp.com Corp., a majority-owned operating company of CMGI Inc. Under the terms of the deal, PowerBar end users receive free, unlimited Internet access in exchange for the PowerBar site displaying 1stUp.com’s movable navigation bar during online sessions. Consumers can sign up by downloading the application from www.powerbar.com.

Garden Botanika (GBOTQ) and East Rutherford, N.J.-based Stone America Marketing announced that GBOTQ will develop a special product collection to be sold on electronic retail site QVC.

Vitamin distributor and marketing company Vitawarehouse.com (VITW) says it will expand its website from about 150 national brands to more than 200, bringing its product offerings to roughly 12,000. Website improvements, including extensive product descriptions and recommended daily allowances, are planned.

According to Supermarket News, Webvan Group (WBVN) announced it would delay the opening of three distribution centers in an attempt to reduce losses and to focus on bringing its existing centers to profitability.

NatureWell Inc. (LAJD) has made an agreement with Soybean.com to test certain food types to examine the usefulness of the technology used in formulating LAJD’s homeopathic and dietary supplements to enhance product stability.

Natural health content provider The Natural Pharmacist and healthcare products marketer ScienceBased Health have signed an agreement to make The Natural Pharmacist the premier provider of alternative health content for ScienceBased’s website.

MotherNature.com (MTHR) was named one of the top 25 one-to-one websites by Peppers and Rogers Group.

Healthnet Intl. (HLNT) on Oct. 10 announced the signing of 12 new licensees for its eHealthstores Express. Newcomers include New Jersey-based Natural Way Management; and Nature’s Pantry, Missouri.