±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Yell.com is considering incorporating e-commerce into its online

directory service as a way of boosting revenues.

The online directory owned by Yell, which has just been sold by BT to a

consortium of venture capitalists for pounds 2.14 billion, is hoping

that additional revenue will come via its advertisers' needs to put

their services online.

"We are constantly seeking additional ways for our advertisers to reach

users and our users to reach advertisers, and e-commerce is one way to

do this," commented Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at

Yell.

"We could help advertisers of any size to build a web presence and an

e-commerce capability, and take a cut of the transactions that come via

our site," he added.

The company's revenue is currently based on a pure advertising model,

but the ongoing conundrum of how to generate revenue out of online

directories has always been a problem for the sector. Most recently, it

has hit rivals such as Scoot, which has been rumoured to be up for sale

for some time.

"The e-commerce strategy doesn't feature in our financial plans for the

near future. But we do have the opportunity to advise advertisers on

their web presence, help them to build a simple web page, add special

offers and stock lists, and eventually a fully e-commerce-enabled site,

accessed directly from Yell.com," said Duggleby.