STRATO AG

STRATO LAUNCHES NEW WEB SHOPS FOR BUSINESS START-UPS AND SMES

One of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms drives UK online business

STRATO, one of Europe’s leading web hosts, has today launched STRATO Web Shop in the UK following its success in the German market. Over the past four years, STRATO has set up over 20,000 Web Shops in Germany and is looking to expand here in the UK.

Now SMEs looking to expand with an online presence or specialise online and budding internet entrepreneurs with an idea they believe will sell online, can set up a secure and innovative STRATO Web Shop quickly and simply.

The STRATO Web Shop set-up is made easy and can be achieved quickly with professional design templates, customisation tools and a Wizard assistant to guide users through the installation steps. It is done on the web browser so no CD is required and the Web Shop is secure and backed up by STRATO servers at the datacentres.

Once up and running, efficient online inventory management with automatic current stock and minimum quantity reminders, UPS shipping and payment systems including Paypal, HSBC and Worldpay make shipping, tracking and payment easy for both shop owners and customers. With STRATO, even the smallest shop has a credit card payment facility included and all customer data is stored securely.

Additional marketing features to increase the shop’s competitiveness and visibility are advertising via kelkoo, manual or automatic cross-selling capability with recommendations, tips and shopping lists, newsletters, gift certificates, a ‘tell-a-friend’ tool and an award winning eBay interface, whereby shop owners can quickly transfer sales items from shop to eBay. Up to eight languages and pound and euro options allow success in both the domestic market and abroad.

Damian Schmidt, CEO of STRATO said: “Online shopping is a lucrative business. The British spend more money online per-capita sales than any other European country and European e-commerce turnover is expected to double within the next five years*. Such positive trends in online spending signalled an ideal time for a UK launch of the STRATO Web Shop and our user-friendly product offers instantly recognisable features and tools, making the experience straightforward for both shop owners and customers.”

Recognised for exceptional innovation and high performance, STRATO Web Shops received the German eco Award from Web Host Directory and are TÜV certified. Shop owners can further increase security and install trust in customers with a professional thawte SSL certificate from VeriSign.

STRATO Web Shops come in three variations, each with different feature packages. Until 30th April 2007, the STRATO BasicShop, normally priced at £9.90 + VAT per month, costs £1 + VAT for the first six months. The AdvancedShop costs £19.90 + VAT per month and the PremiumShop costs £39.90 + VAT per month. 

*Sources: Forrester Research Autumn 2006, eMarketer

Notes to Editors

About STRATO

• STRATO is one of Europe’s leading web hosting providers and to date has received four number one awards from UK site, Web Host Directory. These awards have included number one for pricing and security. In June 2006, STRATO was recognised as Germany’s number one web host provider by the eco Association of the German Internet industry, for their ongoing focus on excellent quality and customer service
• STRATO is based in Berlin and currently has three million domains and over one million customer contracts. STRATO operations currently exist in six European countries, UK, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Germany
• Besides complete domain packages and DSL broadband access, STRATO markets high-quality servers and e-commerce solutions
• STRATO was the first major European web host to receive the internationally coveted German Technical Control Board seal “BS7799“ which is now ISO 27001:2005. The British standard certification was awarded by the independent German testing organisation TÜV SÜD, for the reliability of its computing centres, security and data availability
• STRATO is a one hundred per cent subsidiary of freenet AG, an Internet and telecommunications company with over ten million customers
• STRATO benefits from the competence of its parent company and utilises existing group synergies to offer its own customers exceptional services: freenet AG is one of the few providers to have its own network and hence a powerful infrastructure for data and speech exchange.