Matches made in (e-)heaven: Web sites that unite telephony, Internet aim to stand out

Internet retailing has hit an all-time high this year as companies inundate the Web with online stores. Sites hawking goods for pets, adults and kids are fighting to be seen in consumers' homes. In an effort to set themselves apart, two recently launched sites that offer services and retail items for children are combining Internet and telephony services.

CallMeSanta.com, a site created by CTS Technologies, allows children to receive a call from Santa and his helper mouse Tinsel.

Parents order the service for $3.99 - a portion of which goes to charity - and seat their child at the computer when they are ready to receive the phone call, which can be received immediately or weeks after purchase. To redeem their purchase, parents log onto CallMeSanta.com and download the six-minute presentation that accompanies the call, which is taken on a separate landline or wireless phone link. When the phone rings, the child answers a recorded call synchronized with the presentation.

After the presentation, the child is supplied with a list of 40 toys and is asked to fill out a wish list. The list is e-mailed to whomever retained the call from Santa and includes a hotlink to a Web site where the items can be purchased.

"It's a virtual sitting in Santa's lap, sitting in his workshop and picking the toys you want," said Rainer Schelp, vice president of e-commerce for Convergent Communications, the service provider that handles all the telephone traffic for the Web site.

By integrating telephony with the Internet, Convergent instantly can upgrade the capabilities of Internet users who have 56 kb/s modem access or less, Schelp said.

"This is a work-around," he said. "We make use of the 56 kb/s modem and then another phone to overcome the lack of bandwidth that people have at home and then synchronize the two. That's the magic here."

CTS asked Convergent to participate because the provider can handle the large number of call requests that CTS is anticipating, said Mike Mahony, project manager for Convergent. "We designed a solution that's now scalable to up to 1000 simultaneous phone calls for them," he said.

Convergent also acted as the principal integrator for the hardware, software and communications network and provided software development for the Web site, he added.

Another site that integrates telephony and Internet technology is SmarterKids.com, an online educational store.

Customers with one telephone line and dial-up Internet access can be connected with service representatives via real-time instant messaging - a service that is called chat-live. Online shoppers with an extra telephone line or a cell phone can request a service known as call back, which connects the user via telephone to a customer agent. In both cases, the customer's browser will be linked to the agent's, allowing the agent to take the customer to a specific page on the site.

Cisco Systems' Collaboration Server is the brain behind the action, said Doug May, retail segment manager for Cisco's applications technology group. "E-commerce is not perfect," he said. "Customers will not always be able to find exactly what they're looking for. We give [SmarterKids.com] the advantage that a retail store has with sales associates in the store who can walk a customer down the aisle and show them the product."

The site also features Shop With Me, which allows friends and family members to link their browsers and shop together. For example, it allows siblings in different states to choose a gift for their parents together. Linked shoppers can communicate via real-time chat or telephone.