NETANTTILA AND MTV3 TO OPEN A PILOT SITE BASED ON DIGITAL TV, WITH AXEL DIGITAL AND IBM AS PARTNERS

NetAnttila and its partners have developed the first e-commerce site on digital TV in Finland. The NetAnttila site is accessible from a TV commercial or super teletext. Shopping on digital TV will be available to pilot groups in January 2003. This new application is based on NetAnttila's existing trading site on the Internet.

NetAnttila's trading site on digital television will offer the test users an easy way of making on-line purchases. The site will deploy a reverse connection feature of the digital television and an application based on the new MHP standard. The NetAnttila site opens from a super teletext page or a TV commercial.

"An Internet shopping site is not accessible to all customer groups. A shopping place on television is a natural supplement to e-commerce services in that it improves the accessibility of shopping places. A major challenge is also to develop the new shopping environment further and make it as easy to use as possible,” says Mika Leiponen, Sales Director of NetAnttila.

Customers operate the digital television shopping site with the arrow and OK buttons of their remote control. Products are arranged in categories from which the customer chooses the product of which he wants to get more information or a to see a picture. He puts the product into the shopping basket and moves on to checkout. There he chooses a payment mode and gives the order and delivery details. This information is entered with remote control keys in the same way as in writing a text message. The customer may stop shopping for a while to view a TV programme and then return to complete the operation. After the order has been placed, the customer may ask for an e-mail receipt, which confirms the products bought, sum total, payment mode and delivery information. The site's product selection, prices and accessibility are managed almost in real time.

”We have aimed at making use of NetAnttila' existing infrastructure. On the basis of the experiences from the pilot, the site will be developed further at least until spring 2003," says Niila Rajala, responsible for Kesko's E-business.

Axel Digital Oy is the supplier of the digital television application. NetAnttila's shopping site software and the pilot project systems integration have been implemented by IBM. MTV Oy has produced the pilot environment and the access mechanisms.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Kesko Corporation, Niila Rajala, Vice President, E-business, tel. +358 1053 22885
Anttila Oy/NetAnttila, Mika Leiponen, Sales Director, tel. +358 50 384 3579
Keswell Oy, Kuijo-Mikko Kurvinen, Development Manager, New business operations, tel. +358 1053 40960
Oy International Business Machines Ab, Ilkka Hasanen, Principal, tel. +358 9 459 4919
MTV Oy/MTV Digital, Timo Kiiskinen, Director, tel. +358 9 1500 8155
Axel Digital Oy, Perttu Hillman, Vice President, tel. +358 50 376 0908