Yeyeye Prepares 1H01 Platform Launch

Buenos Aires-based music and entertainment portal Yeyeye (www.yeyeye.com) is looking to launch its own ecommerce platform sometime in the first half of next year, according to Charly Alberti, CEO of Yeyeye's controller Cybrel Digital Entertainment (www.cybrel.com). Without disclosing current or expected ecommerce revenue, Alberti told BNamericas.com that the 2001 platform launch is an investment in the future since the Latin American ecommerce market "is still very weak" due mainly to unreliable deliveries that corrode customer confidence. Currently Yeyeye trades online via alliances with existing players such as #Submarino# (www.submarino.com) and Musimundo (www.musimundo.com), a tactic that has kept costs to a minimum, he added. Cybrel is in the process of gauging the market for implementation of its 2001 strategic program, which it will kick off in the first few days of January with the formal opening of a commercial office in Miami. The office will start with 5-7 employees and grow in line with demand, he said. Cybrel already has offices in Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Santiago, as well as "a few people" in Brazil. Alberti said the company would study Brazil carefully before establishing a fully-fledged office to avoid the mistakes of many Internet companies that rush in without really understanding the market. Last month, Yeyeye announced 28 layoffs at its Buenos Aires office, which Alberti said "had nothing to do with the company's situation", but was partly the result of finishing its new site: "We always new it was going to happen." While admitting the site is not immune to market conditions, he said it is more than just a dotcom and has an offline presence to back it up in the form of free magazine and record label URL. A former member of successful Argentine rock band Soda Stereo, Alberti founded Cybrel in 1996 and Yeyeye in December 1999. In July, the site received a post-Nasdaq crash investment of US$10mn from Chase Capital and Brazil's Safra group. He said Yeyeye is not looking for further investment and that revenues are growing 25% per month, with traffic now at four million users per month.