Cyber Monday Special: Shop Inside a Real Brookstone store - Online

MERRIMACK, N.H. and MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Holiday shopping just got more interesting and interactive with today's launch of the world's first 3-D online store by specialty retailer Brookstone and technology company Kinset, Inc.

Brookstone's Kinset 3-D Virtual Store (http://kinset.com/location/brookstone) allows consumers to enjoy the look, feel and interaction of an actual store and shop for great Holiday gifts, right in the comfort of their own homes. Online shoppers enter the 3-D store and use their mouse to navigate inside the store, browse aisles, view product images and details, and make purchases.

"The Brookstone Kinset 3-D store has transformed e-commerce from a two- dimensional task of searching and viewing text and images, to a deeper, more robust and interactive journey of browsing and discovery," said Greg Sweeney, Brookstone's Vice President and General Manager of Direct Marketing. "This new technology allows our online customers to enjoy Brookstone's dynamic store experience from the comfort of their own homes."

Both New England-based companies, Brookstone and Kinset formed a partnership earlier this year based on innovation and the quest to present online consumers a new way to shop.

"Kinset and Brookstone share a commitment to improving the shopper's experience and making the shopping process fun and productive," said John Butler, CEO of Massachusetts-based Kinset. "Using Kinset's retail technology platform, Brookstone has built an online store with the same look, high- fidelity presentation of products, and merchandising that customers see when they visit Brookstone at their favorite mall. "

Brookstone believes the 3-D online store will enhance the traditional, search-based Web experience. The Company will include links from its website (www.brookstone.com) to the virtual store, and visa versa to give consumers the choice to shop as they choose.

"We believe our Kinset 3-D store gives shoppers another compelling reason to think of Brookstone and our innovative products during the competitive 2007 holiday shopping season," Brookstone's Sweeney said. "This year, we'll provide customers a range of options that deliver the best of the online and retail-store environments, all at the click of the mouse."

Kinset software also provides Brookstone a new way to test store design, layout and merchandising. Because Kinset stores can closely mirror real-world store designs, Brookstone can learn quickly how small changes in retail stores affect consumers' buying decisions and can react swiftly to enhance the brick- and-mortar shopping and online experiences.

Brookstone shoppers are able to experience the unique immersive experience of Kinset 3-D Stores through a free Kinset Shopping Browser utility, which consumers download to their computers as they would Adobe Acrobat or Flash. During the initial "public beta" test period, orders will be processed on Amazon.com and fulfilled by Brookstone.

About Brookstone

Brookstone, Inc. is an innovative product development and specialty lifestyle retail company that operates 314 Brookstone Brand stores nationwide and in Puerto Rico. Typically located in high-traffic regional shopping malls and airports, the stores feature unique and innovative consumer products. The Company also operates a Direct Marketing business that includes an e-commerce website at http://www.brookstone.com.

About Kinset

Kinset is changing how the world shops by providing retailers with unique immersive Kinset 3-D technology that lets them build and operate virtual Kinset Stores that look and feel like real stores. Shoppers love the 3-D experience of browsing and buying in Kinset Stores because it makes online shopping fun for the first time. Kinset is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts (USA) and is lead by a team of entrepreneurs who have founded two previously successful high-tech ventures. Visit us at www.kinset.com.

    Press contacts:

    Brookstone                     Kinset
    Robert Padgett                 Patrick Rafter
    rpadgett@brookstone.com        prafter@kinset.com
    (603) 577-8097                 (617) 901-2697