Road Runner Sports Corrects and Replaces PreviousOnline Sales Announcement, BW0643,...

Business Editors

NOTE: The following news release replaces and corrects the

previous Road Runner Sports news release that contained an

incorrect web site address in the first line of the first

graph, which ran earlier Tuesday on Business Wire, BW0643

(CA-Road-Runner-Sports)

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2000

Roadrunnersports.com Same-Month-Sales Up Almost 1000%

Online sales continue to skyrocket for Roadrunnersports.com, the world's largest running store on the Internet.

December 1999 marked the third e-Christmas for the company and its same-month Internet sales for the month jumped from $300,000 in 1998 to nearly $3,000,000 for 1999, an almost 10-fold, 1000 percent increase. Previously, Road Runner Sports posted December Internet sales of less than $50,000 in 1997, its first holiday season on the Web.

Road Runner Sports, already the nation's No. 1 catalog seller of running shoes, has become the leading Web site for running shoes, apparel and accessories.

A privately held company based in San Diego, Road Runner Sports boosted its Internet revenue to $12 million in 1999 compared to $1.6 million in 1998.

"When it comes to catalog sales, we're already the L.L. Bean or Victoria's Secret of running," remarked Mike Gotfredson, Road Runner Sports' president and sole owner. "Thanks to our Internet presence, while overall sales for the athletic shoe industry were down in 1999, we continued to have another record year."

Roadrunnersports.com has been receiving more than 82,000 unique visitors a week and Gotfredson expects that traffic will jump considerably in the months to come.

Part of the reason for roadrunnersports.com's rapid acceleration has been partnerships forged by Gotfredson and his marketing staff. Road Runner is, for example, the exclusive running shoe retailer for racegate.com, the No. 1 Web site for online race event registration. Road Runner is also contracted with Brooks, Asics, New Balance and Walking Magazine to host and fulfill online stores. Fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Qualcomm use Road Runner Sports to fulfill online company stores.

The strategy has resulted in dramatic growth for a company that started in Gotfredson's family garage in 1983. Road Runner, which now employs 241 people, recently moved into an 85,000-square-foot building which houses the headquarters, warehousing and a retail outlet.

Skeptical at first of Internet marketing, Gotfredson has clearly become an advocate. He understands, however, that the products themselves and customer satisfaction remain Road Runner Sports' No. 1 priority regardless of sales venue.

"We continue to grow," he explained, "because of our immense inventory, our intense concern for runners and our insistence that our customers be satisfied."

A 60-day "no questions asked" return policy, unheard of in the industry, is one of the benefits of belonging to Road Runner Sports' Run America Club. The current roster of 421,388 club members also receive a 5 percent discount on purchases, shipping upgrades, a quarterly magazine called Fitness Runner and special promotions.

The whole package, Internet included, has produced a pacesetter in the running shoes industry.