You can now use your TV satellite decoder to buy sushi, lingerie and much more, writes David Shapshak
First there was e-commerce, then came m-commerce and now there is t-commerce. All have evolved through technology revolutions via the Internet, mobiles (cellphones) and interactive television, hence the e-, m- and t- prefixes.
Shopping via the Internet was considered way out a few years ago, but this changed with the arrival of Amazon.com; while the ums and ahs about cellular payments have been put to rest by the Scandinavians who use their cellphones to pay for everything, from bus tickets and parking meters to pay-per-view websites and vending machines. Now the television, like the computer and cellphone before it, is being jazzed up to be the ultimate shopping channel.
“The growing spread of interactive digital television (ITV) is introducing another body of users to Internet services and e-commerce via set-top boxes attached to their TVs,” says Yaron Assabi, CEO of Digitalmall, one of the country’s largest Internet shopping malls, which is involved in a new t-commerce venture called Digitalmall.tv.
“In Europe 37,4-million households will have ITV by the end of 2002, which is approximately 24% penetration, increasing to over 50-million households by the end of 2003,” he says, quoting figures from research house Jupiter Communications. “ITV could increasingly replace the PC as an avenue for European business-to-consumer e-commerce by 2005.”
Assabi says ITV has already had numerous successes, citing examples from the United Kingdom, where Dixon’s t-commerce store matched a year’s sales on the Internet store in three months and Woolworths’s TV channel is the third-largest of its 800 stores.
Of course, the products initally will be the same fast-moving consumer goods that sold so well on Amazon.com and a range of South African websites: DVDs, CDs and books, as well as computer games and electronic goods. These are already available through DStv’s TV-shopping service, which hosts vendors such as Incredible Connection, Kalahari.net and Look & Listen.
But the new venture announced last month by InfoSat a subsidiary of state-owned broadcaster Sentech and Digitalmall, which hosts many of South Africa’s large retail brands such as Makro and CNA, is aiming to sell a whole lot more. Conceivably it could sell you everything in a Makro store.
Many rural TV viewers use Sentech’s satellite broadcast system there are about 35000 Vivid decoders in use, growing at a rate of 2000 a month because the conventional terrestrial TV signal does not reach them. The shopping channel will be delivered via the data channel on the Vivid set-top box, which picks up the three SABC TV channels and e.tv, and has replaced the defunct Astrasat system.
There are 6,3-million TVs in South Africa, according to AMPS, while DStv had 650000 decoders at the end of last year.
“TV is a trusted medium and it plays an integral part of people’s lives. The medium itself is still a primary brand and awareness-building medium,” says Jonah Naidoo, general manager of Multichoice Africa’s interactive division. It has a strong impact, viewers are comfortable with using a remote control and it gives consumers control and convenience.
Assabi agrees that it has an inherent credibility, an “as seen on TV” quality, while the customer does not have to be PC literate and feels comfortable with the medium.
What’s more, like the Internet it has 24-hour access, seven days a week and for advertisers it is much cheaper than a 30-second TV commercial.
The actual shopping interface both on the operational DStv platform and a demo of the Digitalmall.tv one is of products individually displayed on an interactive page, with a photo of the item (a book or DVD), a short description and the price. DStv has a “buy” button, while Sentech has a reference number. You can scroll through the categories and their items with ease.
Such shopping depends on what is known as the “return path” or a way “back” to the merchant. Traditional advertising usually has no return path or “call to action”, as Assabi calls it, such as a phone number. TV is a one-way broadcast medium, so it can only “push” the information to subscribers.
DStv solves this by bundling a modem with the decoder so that users can dial in and send their shopping request. It has numerous benefits.
Firstly, the modem has many uses and functions, and is applicable to the other offering on the platform: TV-mail. This is a TV-based e-mail system, hosted by M-Web, which is easy to use. For someone who spends all day in front of a computer, with an e-mail package open, it makes little sense to use the TV interface, but for a household without a PC it is a neat solution.
Secondly, when used for shopping, the modem allows for more detailed information to be sent to the merchant. This includes the billing details, delivery address and a means to check on the status of your delivery, as a return e-mail is generated with the reference number.
Digitalmall.tv has opted for a different return path, another tried-and-trusted electronic device using an equally familiar and trustworthy service: the telephone and a call centre. Users will be able to call in and place their orders, using the reference number for each product and have it shipped to them. Payment is by credit card.
Assabi’s background is in call centre management including Nando’s Cluck Up Line, and Ster Kinekor’s and Proctor and Gamble’s call centres and he has put this to good use. Indeed, if your customer is not computer literate but can use a TV and a telephone, it is a good match.
“We plan to open up a whole new market sector,” says InfoSat MD Angelo Roussos, adding that the company does not intend to compete directly with DStv. InfoSat will be launching a modem return path and full interactivity in the next few months.
Multichoice Africa welcomed the plans. “We welcome any attempt by any other player in South Africa to offer such services,” says corporate affairs general manager Lebogang Hashatse. “Competition is good for the industry.”
lllSays CEO of MultiChoice lllllAfrica Nolo Letele: “Our t-commerce approach has been to offer the best-selling items from M-Web’s malls. M-Web has provided MultiChoice Africa with a complete cross-platform digital shopping experience where TV orders are seamlessly integrated with Web orders.”
For retailers, interactive TV shopping is a means of expanding their digital sales offerings and revenue streams without building too much additional infrastructure, says a consultant from Accenture. “It’s a new e-commerce channel for e-tailers that is able to capitalise on their existing infrastructures that they will have built for their online offering.”
Letele says: “T-commerce should add to the viewing experience, hence we believe that the stand-alone shopping services will not generate huge revenue streams immediately, but gives us the opportunity to make t-commerce part of television entertainment into the future.
“T-commerce will be contextualised and contained via Interactive programming, for example, merchandising on Big Brother where you can purchase the board game or the T-shirt.
“Hence, products related to the broadcast stream will become available via the click of a button to viewers who will be able to drill down to get further product information and order online while not losing their broadcast stream.
“This integration of t-commerce has internationally been more successful than the stand-alone TV-shopping experience and forms part of our long-term strategy for t-commerce. Our immediate plans are to expand the shopping service to include other retailers with entertainment related products.”
And, as Assabi points out, this is not the new economy, just new access points. Indeed this kind of purchasing is actually catalogue shopping, albeit with a more sophisticated and digital interface.
Victoria’s Secret built a massive empire selling lingerie through this means, as did numerous other companies, especially in the United States.
Digitalmall.tv already sells lingerie, and even sushi so, who knows, you may be taking your decoder to bed to do your shopping.
Additional reporting by ITweb