Eckoh and Auctionworld Launch 24-hour TV Phone Shopping Channel

UNITED KINGDOM - Eckoh Technologies, Europe's Speech Solutions provider, in collaboration with Auctionworld, the TV home-shopping specialists, have launched Phoneworld, the UK's 24-hour TV phone shopping channel. Phoneworld, which is broadcast on Sky Digital channel 666, will feature round-the-clock promotions of a wide variety of mobile phones and accessory packages on exclusive tariff plans at discounted prices. The bespoke packages are created, supplied and fulfilled on an exclusive basis by Eckoh's mobile wholesale division, Phones Express. The channel will also feature new mobile content and services as well as showcasing new technical innovations coming out of the mobile phone industry. Phones Express has been running comparable promotions on the Auctionworld channel for several months, which has led to a significant increase in monthly connections and year-on-year revenues. Phoneworld will operate as an additional distribution medium to Auctionworld and will not only deliver several times the number of monthly promotions that have run historically, but will also promote a broader range of models, packages and tariffs. Phoneworld is also unique as respondents are handled entirely automatically by a speech application that has been devised, built and hosted by Eckoh's Speech Solutions division. The service uses speech recognition to provide an end-to-end solution to process the transaction and deliver complete customer data to the fulfilment house. Callers first enter the product code they are interested in, and then speak their name and address details, which are automatically verified by Eckoh's Postcode Reader product, and finally leave their credit or debit card details using Eckoh's Credit Card Processing product which gives secure authorization. This reduces the costs of transaction processing and fulfilment, ensures that all calls can be handled instantly no matter how high the call volume and means that orders can be processed quickly at any time of the day or night. Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer at Eckoh Technologies, said: "Phoneworld is a fantastic opportunity for Eckoh as it gives our mobile wholesale division Phones Express the first 24-hour TV platform for any mobile phone retailer in the country. Mobile phones are getting increasingly complex to sell and television is the perfect environment for walking the consumer through the benefits and features of the latest models and services that are available. We feel confident that this additional distribution channel for Phones Express will have a significant revenue impact in the coming months." George Spitaliotis, Managing Director at Auctionworld and Phoneworld adds: "Following the huge demand for mobile phone packages on Auctionworld, we realised there was a gap in the market for a dedicated phone shopping channel and Eckoh were our natural partners to help create this. We also required an end-to-end product ordering service capable of streamlining customer communications, and Eckoh has been able to provide a turnkey service that has minimised the additional investment into customer service and leaves our agents to devote their time to their most valuable tasks of helping customers with problems or verifying orders."