Target, Amazon unveil Web venture

Department store giant Target unveiled a new Web site Monday that uses technology from Amazon.com to handle order fulfillment, checkout and other e-commerce features and that tightly links the two companies online.

Consumers can now log on to the Target.direct page of the Target.com site using their Amazon accounts, accessing addresses and credit card data already stored with Amazon. They can also receive recommendations on purchases from both stores.

Amazon and Target announced their deal last year and opened a Target shop within the Amazon site in October.

The new site also allows consumers to search for products from Target's three chains: Target, Marshall Field's and Mervyn's, as well as for books, music and movies featured on Amazon.

The deal calls for Amazon to handle order fulfillment, Web site technology services and customer service for Target.com. Target's electronic retailing and direct marketing division will continue to manage order fulfillment for items purchased from the Marshall Field's and Mervyn's brands on the site.

Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Amazon has worked hard over the past year or so to extend its relationships with real-world merchants. For instance, it has a relationship with Circuit City that allows customers to order products online and pick them up at the chain's actual stores.

The Marshall Field's chain plans to open a store-within-a-store on Amazon later this summer.