Electronic Data Systems Corp. has agreed to develop an electronic shopping mall in conjunction with Advanced Media Inc.
The on-line mall will sell wholesale goods as well as retail items, EDS said.
The electronic commerce effort and others like it are of interest to a growing number of financial institutions who see opportunities for revenue on the Internet.
Financial terms of the EDS/Advanced Media deal were not disclosed. But George Pilallis, managing director at EDS' credit services unit, said the shopping service should be running early next month.
He added that EDS is charged with running the World Wide Web site that will function as the service's front end.
The shopping service will "help us get into a part of the Internet that has consumer appeal," said Mr. Pilallis.
The Plano, Tex.-based computer giant also is responsible for providing secure credit card transaction processing and will run the service's lockbox collections, account processing, and customer service functions.
Advanced Media, which is based in Bohemia, N.Y., is charged with signing up vendors for the shopping mall. Hans Kaemmlein, chief executive officer of Advanced Media, said his company is in discussions with several suppliers, but did not mention names or indicate how many vendors were expected to participate.
Advanced Media Inc. is a developer of interactive multimedia hardware and software for businesses.
