Traditional retailers Superquinn, Heiton Holdings and Eircom have together taken a 41 per cent stake, valued at euro 4.8 million, in a new Internet shopping venture, Buy4Now.ie.

Traditional retailers Superquinn, Heiton Holdings and Eircom have together taken a 41 per cent stake, valued at euro 4.8 million, in a new Internet shopping venture, Buy4Now.ie. Eircom is understood to be the largest investor, having paid euro 3 million for a 22 per cent stake. The site, which is due to begin trading in October with selected retailers, plans to offer more than 25,000 products from established "brick-based" businesses including Atlantic Homecare, Arnotts, Easons, Eircom stores, Ereba Insurance, Louis Copeland, and Molly Blooms. Superquinn has begun piloting the system for home grocery delivery in the Dublin area, and expects the service to be operational by November. Unipower, a European Internet middleware provider, has also taken a 6.7 per cent stake in the new venture through the provision of software and a technology partnership arrangement. The investments have placed an early valuation on Buy4Now of around euro 13 million. Buy4Now's founder and chief executive is Mr Ali Murdoch, former sales manager for ICL Ireland. Mr Murdoch envisages the traditional retailing experiences of Superquinn and Heiton, combined with Eircom's plans for multimedia driven e-business, will contribute significantly to Buy4Now's success. Internet service provider, Eircom.net, has agreed to carry Buy4Now as the core shopping channel on its home page. Mr Murdoch says Buy4Now differs from other pure dot.com companies because its revenues will not be solely based on commissions garnered from online transactions. It also acts as an ASP (Application Service Provider) by hosting all of its members' business-to-consumer software centrally, and customising it for their individual needs.