Fidelity to open 'store' on Amazon

Fidelity Investments, seeking to broaden its reach among consumers, has struck a marketing agreement with online retailer Amazon.com to sponsor a new financial services ''store" and peddle products such as stocks and mutual funds on the Amazon website.

Under the arrangement, Amazon customers can access the Fidelity-sponsored web page from separate links on Amazon's home page. Once there, they can browse through tips and advice about topics such as college savings and retirement planning and then click on links to Fidelity's website, where they can purchase products like stocks, mutual funds, retirement accounts, or college savings plans.

''It's part of our ongoing approach to get our products and services out there as broadly as possible," said Sean Belka, senior vice president at Fidelity Personal Investments in Boston. ''We're trying to make it as convenient as possible for people to reach Fidelity."

Fidelity previously has advertised on Internet portals such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL. But its deal with Amazon, and the ''store" they launched jointly this week, is Fidelity's first online partnership with an e-tailer. While the agreement gives Fidelity so-called ''premier sponsorship" for the financial page, it is a nonexclusive deal, meaning Amazon could sign other sponsors. Neither Fidelity nor Amazon would disclose financial terms of the agreement.

John Bonnanzio, group editor of Fidelity Insight, an independent newsletter based in Wellesley, said the arrangement with Amazon is ''definitely unusual" for the giant mutual funds provider, which historically has promoted its brand in financial-oriented publications.

On Amazon, Bonnanzio noted, ''they're right up there advertising with Tire Rack and Weight Watchers." But he added, ''Fidelity is in a fight for market share. It needs to reach out well beyond its traditional markets. It needs to go where the eyeballs are."

Fidelity's deal with Amazon includes sponsorship of the digital store and advertising throughout the Amazon site. The site, which began as an electronic bookseller, has mushroomed into the leading online retailer, selling everything from wine and pet supplies to musical instruments. With the link to Fidelity, the world's largest mutual fund company, its inventory now includes more than 350 funds.

''It's our goal to provide our customers with the ability to find, discover, and buy anything they want on the Internet, and that includes financial services," said Craig Berman, a spokesman for Amazon.com in Seattle. ''Customers have been buying books about personal finance, retirement, colleges, and so forth. So this is a natural extension."

While it remains to be seen how much traffic the Amazon alliance will drive to Fidelity, the move is a low-risk way to test the effectiveness of online partnerships, Bonnanzio suggested. ''With the Internet, Fidelity has the ability to know exactly how many people are coming to its site and how many are buying," he said. ''If it works, they'll have a toehold into something their competitors don't have yet."

Fidelity has been seeking to expand its delivery channels, selling mutual funds and other financial products on its own website, over the phone, and at 110 branch offices, in an effort to fend off competitors like T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, and American Funds.

''The people who read Barrons and the Kiplinger reports already know about Fidelity," said Bonnanzio. ''Now they're reaching out to Main Street America."

Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com.