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GSI Commerce and Dick's Sporting Goods Extend E-Commerce Agreement With New 15-Year Contract


KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. and PITTSBURGH , Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC), a leading provider of e-commerce and multichannel solutions, and Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS), announced today that they have signed a new 15-year contract, extending their successful relationship. Sales through dickssportinggoods.com have grown to more than 10 times the sales it experienced since the beginning of its relationship with GSI in 2001.

"Our goal is to provide a high-quality, seamless shopping experience for our customers across all channels," said Edward W. Stack , chairman and CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods. "We've had a very successful relationship with GSI for the past seven years, evidenced by the significant growth of our e-commerce business. This new deal gives us even more flexibility, greater control and ultimately enables us to better serve our customers while accelerating our multichannel strategy."

Under the agreement, Dick's Sporting Goods will be the seller of merchandise through its e-commerce business beginning Feb. 1, 2009 , and GSI will continue to provide Dick's Sporting Goods with a full suite of services, including e-commerce technology, customer service, fulfillment, drop ship management, interactive marketing and e-mail marketing. Dick's Sporting Goods will concentrate on enhancing its customers' experience by better aligning their online assortment of merchandise with their stores. New capabilities such as in-store pickup and in-store ordering will also be added, making the experience more convenient for customers.

"We are excited to take our partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods to the next level," said Michael G. Rubin , chairman and CEO of GSI. "This new agreement will better position us to maximize value for both companies. We believe Dick's Sporting Goods has tremendous multichannel potential given their position as one of the largest and fasting growing retailers in the United States and the preeminent player in sporting goods retail."

Consistent with Dick's Sporting Goods' goal to have a seamless multichannel operation, under the new agreement, Dick's Sporting Goods will buy and own the sporting goods inventory sold online. This is a significant change from the prior agreement and is comparable with GSI's other multichannel non-owned inventory e-commerce agreements.

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