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Quepasa.com tapping into Hispanic market

Quepasa.com’s e-shopping site offers merchandise from Amazon.com and Dell Computer.

Phoenix-based Quespasa.com, an online community for Hispanics living in the United States, has added shopping to its services.

The e-shopping pages, available in English and Spanish, features merchandise from Amazon.com, eToys, Dell Computer and JC Penney. Products in 13 categories are being sold, including music, video, sports, toys, clothing and automobiles.

This is the first in a series of e-commerce strategies that will be launched as part of Quepasa.com’s plan to be the most comprehensive online destination for the United States’ 31 million Hispanics, according to the company.

“A well-structured and balanced Internet company cannot rely on advertising alone to create income,’’ said Gary Trujillo, chairman and CEO of the company, in a statement. “We recognize that and through the Quepasa shopping channel have initiated our plan to create an e-commerce platform that addresses the exploding U.S. Hispanic market and its multibillion dollar purchasing power.’’

He added: “U.S. Hispanic consumers now have their own online shopping site. The Quepasa shopping channel gives Quespasa.com members the convenience and ability to shop at home for all the latest and greatest products, just in time for the holiday shopping season.’’

Quepasa.com offers information and interactive content available in Spanish and English. The site was founded in 1998 and includes a search engine, shopping channel, free e-mail, Spanish language news feeds, worldwide weather information, chat rooms, games, maps and message boards.

Quepasa.com has entered into strategic partnerships with content providers including Reuters New Media, Hispanic Business Magazine, GTE Internetworking and Fox Sports World Espanol.