Amazon.com Inc. offers an online department store for everything from books and electronics to pet supplies and sardines. Now it wants to add an outlet offering financial services, mutual funds, and college savings products.
On Friday the Seattle company announced a nonexclusive arrange-ment making Fidelity Investments the first company in a new financial services "store" on Amazon.
Amazon customers will have access to information about Fidelity's products and services, and the deal includes marketing opportunities. Amazon's financial services section will include other information as well as books on financial subjects.
Craig Berman, a spokesman for Amazon, would not say if it plans to seek deals with other financial companies.
"We are … happy to partner with Fidelity with this agreement and thrilled to offer our customers financial services," Mr. Berman said. "It is certainly our goal to help them discover and buy anything they want on the Internet, and that includes financial services."
Analysts had mixed views on whether mutual funds and the like would translate well to the Amazon model. Some investment analysts said Amazon's sheer reach spells a good opportunity for Fidelity.
"There is a group of do-it-yourselfers out there that use online sites for everything from buying stocks to buying movies," said Rus Prince, the president of Prince & Associates, an investment consulting firm in Shelton, Conn. "These people are looking for basic investment products and simple solutions. There is a market and an opportunity."
Mr. Prince said fund companies such as Fidelity, Vanguard, Janus, Putnam, and T. Rowe Price that sell directly to investors and have a strong brand can benefit by hooking up with Amazon. "We are not going to have a U.S. Trust or that kind of model, but this could be appealing to a company looking to expand its mass-market retail audience," he said.
Other analysts had their doubts. Scott Devitt of Stifel Nicolaus, who covers Amazon, said its Fidelity venture reminded him of the one it had with the travel site Expedia.com, which "turned into a nonevent."
"These deals are similar to when a credit card company puts an associated company's flier in with your bill. There is just a small, small benefit to both businesses," Mr. Devitt said.
"If the company is going to attempt to do an all-out financial services marketplace and they plan to offer mortgages, like Lending Tree, that would be a different story," he said. "It is hard to say that that is their intent with this."
Sean Belka, a senior vice president with Fidelity's retail brokerage unit, said Amazon's customers and his company's products are a good match.
"Amazon offers a lot of books and investing and software for investors, and this can really complement that," he said. "This is a great opportunity to be the first financial services store on Amazon."
Mr. Belka said Fidelity, which had $1.2 trillion of assets under management through January, would not rule out opening online stores through other online retailers. He said the Boston company is always looking for ways to reach more investors and that the Amazon partnership "enables us to expand access to our products and services."
