May 11, 2004

More on Corel's bundling deal

Last week, in this space, you read about a new bundling deal.

Corel Targets Small and Medium Businesses with New WordPerfect (R) and CorelDRAW(R) Bundles

Customers Receive ACT!(R) Express and Peachtree(R) Accounting 2004 Small Business Essentials, or a Wacom(R) Graphire(R)3 Sapphire Tablet with the Purchase of a Corel Software Suite.

I had some additional questions and Corel answers below:

Is this deal geared to attract new businesses or existing customers to upgrade?

Corel is already known for providing exceptional value. These bundles are designed to appeal to both new and upgrade customers by extending this value even further. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 and WordPerfect Office 12 include great new features that make these suites must-have upgrades. And with the addition of the third-party tools, we think customers will find these bundles really attractive.

The WordPerfect Office 12/Best Software Bundle offers SMBs a comprehensive set of business software that includes a full-featured office suite for creating a wide range of business documents, along with tools for managing sales, contacts, appointments/calendars and accounting info. Using WordPerfect Office 12, customers will enjoy unprecedented compatibility with MS Office -- a powerful selling point for both upgrade and new customers.

The CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12/Graphire3 Sapphire tablet bundle is a powerful graphics combo at a great price. Using the tablet, customers are able to take full advantage of all the power of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12. For customers who have never used a tablet before, they'll be very impressed with the impact it has on the way they work. And new features and enhancements in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 enable customers to perform many design tasks twice as fast as before, improving their productivity.

For both bundles, customers are encouraged to buy early while supplies last.

How will this deal be advertised to customers?

Our partners are starting to roll out their promotions this week and next. These promotions will be advertised in a variety of ways including catalogues and flyers, on the Web, and through email outreach.

What is the arrangement between Corel and the vendors offering the bundled solutions? Does Corel pay to Wacom or Best per bundle sold?

Some vendors will be fulfilling the requests directly, but most will be using a mail-in coupon. Upon purchase, customers will receive a mail-in coupon from the vendor (or downloaded from the Web) to receive the third-party software or tablet they are eligible for. Upon submission, customers should allow for 6-8 weeks for shipping and handling. To check on the status of their rebate, customers can visit www.wheresmyrebate.com. As a rule, Corel doesn't disclose financial information about bundling deals.

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