Nonstore Retail Industry Competitors

E-retailer I Want One of Those Ltd. says it sells "stuff you don't need... but you really, really want." Products range from useful gadgets for the home, outdoors, and office to digital cameras the size of a matchbox to just plain kitsch (electric dice, guns that blow bubbles or smoke, walking hands)....

buch.de internetstores is Germany's second-largest online bookstore (after Amazon's German unit). In addition to selling books over the Internet, buch.de also sells such media products as audio CDs, DVDs, and professional and leisure software....

The play’s the thing at Gameplay. The company sells video games for a variety of platforms, such as the PC, DVD, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy Advance....

Liberty Interactive Group stands by your right to shop from home and online. One of three tracking stocks of Liberty Media, it includes home shopping network QVC, perishable goods e-tailer Provide Commerce (Proflowers.com), and online costume shop Buyseasons....

Liberty Media takes the freedom to arrange its varied businesses as it pleases. The holding company comprises publicly traded Liberty Capital Group, Liberty Entertainment Group, and Liberty Interactive Group....

Calling itself a cross between Amazon.com and QVC, Market America is an Internet retailer and marketer of products and services from a variety of categories, including personal care, nutrition, cosmetics, electronics, pet care, and communications. Online shoppers visit Market America's Web site to search for products and are redirected to big-name retailers, including Barnes & Noble, Gap, Nordstrom, and Wal-Mart....

Neways International (UK) is always on the lookout for new ways of marketing its products to folks in the UK and Europe. The multi-level marketing company, founded in 1992 by the Mower family, is a subsidiary of US-based Neways, a maker and distributor of personal care products, household cleaners, cosmetics, oral care items, pet nutrition, sunscreen, and nutritional supplements....

Otto GmbH & Co KG has the mail-order business in the bag. The world's largest mail-order group sells merchandise in about 20 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia through more than 600 print catalogs, the Internet, and some 800 OTTO shops. The firm sells products from clothing to appliances to sporting goods....

This company gives new meaning to the concept of an intimate party. Passion Parties sells sensual products to women through home demonstrations, or "passion parties", led by female independent contractors called Passion Consultants. Passion parties are designed to be confidential and educational (the company operates under the philosophy of "women helping women") as organizers sell bath products, lingerie, edibles, books, and sex toys....

Rakuten is Japan's largest online retailer and a leading provider of Internet-based services. The company's business segments and subsidiaries include Rakuten Ichiba (an online shopping mall), Rakuten Auction (online auctions), Rakuten Books (online bookstore), Infoseek (Internet search, Web logs, and job boards), Rakuten Enterprise (entertainment ticket sales), ShowTime (broadband entertainment programming), and Target (online marketing and promotions)....

If you ever do decide to fire your boss and go into business for yourself, Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC) might be the first call you make. The company warehouses thousands of gift and home decoration merchandise items and drop ships them to members who sell them at a mark up....

Weekenders Canada peddles its Garanimals-style apparel through planned parties. The company uses the direct-sales approach to sell its mix 'n' match business and semi-casual apparel to busy women in several countries around the world....

Weekenders UK wants its customers to gain more harmony in their lives, starting with the aesthetics of their attire. The company is a direct retailer of women's business apparel, with representatives visiting customers in their homes. Products include coordinated ensembles that can be mixed and matched into several different combinations and styles....

Acorn International is creating infomercial magic for the masses. The company operates China's largest -- in terms of revenue and air time -- TV direct sales business. It airs programs (hawking wares that include cell phones, consumer electronic products, electronic learning devices, and health and wellness items) that are, on average, five to ten minutes in length on four nationwide China Central Television (CCTV) channels, 28 national satellite TV channels, four international satellite channels operating in China, and eight local channels....

CampusU wants to be the next hit offering for a generation accustomed to pronoun-named technologies. Focusing on media-savvy college students, the company (formerly named CampusTech) offers Internet-based merchandising and marketing services. Its online communities allow students and other academic customers to browse discounted merchandise, such as software and electronics, through partnerships with manufacturers such as Microsoft and Adobe....

Like many college bookstores, Ecampus.com peddles both logos and literature. The online bookstore offers new and used textbooks; children's religious, and best-selling books; art, office, and medical supplies; apparel; and items bearing Greek letters and school emblems....

Through its operating subsidiaries, chiefly Tactica International, IGIA has markets and distributed a variety of branded personal care and skin care products. Tactica used television infomercials to sell products directly to consumers; however, the company has been forced to stop running the informercials because of a lack of working capital....

You might expect NetShops to sell nets (it doesn't) but the company does cast a wide net in the retail world with such online storefronts as Binoculars.com, Hammocks.com, OnlyLeatherJackets.com, WeatherInstruments.com, and so on and so forth. The company owns and operates more than 200 Internet specialty stores selling everything from hammocks, cribs, and beds to boots, leather clothes, and clocks....

While some shop 'til they drop, SkyMall customers shop 'til they come to a stop. The firm is the nation's #1 distributor of in-flight catalogs that feature about 2,000 products provided by big name retailers, including Hammacher Schlemmer, Lillian Vernon, and The Wine Enthusiast....