Mail-order firms look to the Net for growth

The novomind Annual Self Service Conference & Services Day 2009 presents e-business trends anticipated for 2010
Customers and staff profit from greater efficiency at contact centres

Expansion of e-shops into distribution platforms in full swing  
Online business is taking the lead in the German mail-order segment. Retail sales via the World Wide Web again rose by over 15 per cent this year, to an expected 15.4 billion euros. This means that online turnover was, for the first time, greater than that generated via the classic channels catalogue and telephone. In order to step up their growth, over 70 per cent of online traders are planning to invest more in the future-for example in e-shop technology and shop management. The idea is that flexible IT will significantly help online shops to become established more quickly. When it comes to electronic customer care, the sector is also placing the emphasis on greater efficiency and ergonomics. More user-friendly IT systems, for instance, are expected to make moving between individual applications easier. These are the conclusions drawn by the e-commerce and customer care experts at the 6th Annual Self Service Conference & Services Day that took place in Hamburg on 11 and 12 November. At the same time, the event provided a fitting stage for the tenth anniversary of its organiser, novomind. 
  
Online trading proves crisis-resistant  
Hamburg’s Economics Senator, Axel Gedaschko, congratulated novomind on ten years in the business and talked in his address about the gratifying development that has made Hamburg the top centre for e-business providers. Looking ahead to 2010, Dr Thomas Steinmark of the National Association of German Mail-Order Businesses pointed out that mail order, especially online trading, has proved to be particularly resistant to the current financial crisis: "Whereas the majority of conventional shop-based retailers are coming to terms with the prospect of lower turnover figures in the coming year due to higher unemployment, 72 per cent of online traders are looking forward to positive business development," said Mr Steinmark. 
  
E-shop technology to help achieve growth targets  
The majority of the approximately 150 participants also place the focus for greater growth on the Internet. "We have clearly shifted our priorities towards online business," reports Stephan Rönn. As director of European business at OTTO, he is responsible for the Hamburg mail-order company’s international operations. "It is important for us to establish new e-shops quickly and to concentrate on shop management," he explains. In September, the group launched its own e-commerce platform, novomind iSHOP™, in collaboration with novomind. Implementation of pilot e-shops for the OTTO brand in Russia took less than three months, an impressive feat. 
  
More efficiency that benefits customers and staff alike  
In 2010, the contact centres will chiefly continue to improve the efficiency and quality of their electronic customer care. Managers are now increasingly assigning their service agents to handling not just telephone or e-mail, but the whole spectrum of enquiries. "Nearly half of our staff are already answering customer enquiries via several channels-e-mail, telephone, fax and letter," explains Marco Weber, New Media project manager at the energy provider EnBW. The so-called "Blended Agent" method is designed to reduce idle time, which would in turn cut ticket costs. Multiple channels also mean that more enquiries can be dealt with conclusively at first contact. "Staff satisfaction is also greater," says Weber, "but so is workplace complexity". That’s why, more and more, the contact centres are looking for intuitive IT solutions that allow uncomplicated data transfer between individual programs. 
  
novomind celebrates 10 years in business  
The 6th novomind Annual Self Service Conference & Services Day was very much dominated by the tenth anniversary of its organiser, novomind. The IT service provider from Hamburg has been developing market-driven software solutions for customer communication on the Internet and via mobile channels since 1999. novomind is one of the leading software developers in the e-business sector. Every year, novomind invites industry players to a symposium on the latest trends in self-service and e-business solutions. 
  
novomind AG: innovative software for professional customer communication and modern Internet systems  
The novomind Services division specialises in modern software solutions for electronic telecommerce (e-commerce). Consulting, imple¬mentation and operational support in the fields of e-shopping, PIM and marketplace integration together lead to tailor-made e-commerce solutions for novomind customers - manufacturer-independent, individual and successful.
Integratability, scalability and availability of systems are as much a prime focus, therefore, as pragmatic project management and fast software-development cycles.
novomind’s technological partners include Inter¬shop, IBM, Oracle and hybris.
The novomind clientele includes Der Club Bertelsmann, buecher.de, Otto Group, Ernsting’s family, Media-Saturn, s.Oliver and Weltbild.
The Products division portfolio features, among other things, the novomind Self Service SuiteTM. This software package contains all the necessary communication modules a customer service centre needs, based on a central knowledge database. More than 50 big-name companies have already opted for novomind technology, including Citibank, Otto, the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (German Pensions Association), Der Club Bertelsmann, EnBW and myToys. 

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