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Web Maps: Natural Freebies

Competing firms wrangle for the angle to cultivate loyal customers.

By Michael Reagan, PCWorld   

Two companies on the Web offer free maps, and they apply contrasting models of Internet commerce in their approach. Delorme provides free maps on its Web site while showing off its new products. Mapquest.com gives away maps on its Web site while making money through advertising and business partnerships.

Their approach needs to pique the customer's interest enough to get them to pay for more, notes Molly Upton, analyst with International Data Corporation.

"I don't think the jury's in, but right now, you have to give away a product or a portion of a product," Upton says. "If it's too little a teaser, it will be rejected out of hand."

Same Web, Different Plans

By offering free maps at its CyberRouter Web site, Delorme is not threatened by the many other mapping sites, says Andy Sturtevant, a Delorme representative.

"We really don't compete with Web sites," he says. "If you just want a quick map, go to CyberRouter."

Delorme products provide more detail than free mapping services, Sutrtevant says. The CD-ROMs that Delorme sells can be customized, provide 14 levels of magnification, and connect to an Earthmate global positioning system receiver so people can identify their location via a laptop.

"It's for people who want to do more than see one map," Sturtevant says.

Instead of talking about the details of its maps, Mapquest.com touts its partnerships with more than 500 business partners like Yahoo and Kinko's. Mapquest.com creates maps for consumers to find the nearest location of a brick-and-mortar partner like Kinko's. Yahoo uses Mapquest.com's maps as a service, to draw return visitors to Yahoo.

Losses and Gains

Determining which business approach works best, as with most Web-related ventures, may take time. Delorme is a privately owned company and does not release information about its earnings, while Mapquest.com has increased both its revenue and losses.

During the first quarter of 1999, advertising revenues on Mapquest.com's Web site increased to more than $1 million, company representatives report. The company also lost $2.8 million for the quarter, an increase from $900,000 for the same quarter in 1998.

Despite all the mixed economic signals, both sites are building something essential to most successful business: brand loyalty.

"As a vendor, you want the public to think of you when I need you," says IDC's Upton. "It's a name game as much as anything else."