[Berlin, GERMANY] The Hamburg based mail order company Otto has made an
agreement with Intelserv AG of Frankfurt to draw an initially selected group
of customers to the mail order company’s Web site for free with the prepaid
card. Neither telephone nor ISP costs would be incurred the company said
today in Frankfurt am Main. Furthermore, online customers would be rewarded
with bonus points for their orders which can then be used for additional time
online.
The Internet prepaid card can be used in such a way that all other Internet
services are turned off. Customers, then, can’t stray to other sites. Otto
Versand, based in Hamburg, indicates that it had a turnover in excess of DM
120 million (US $56 million) through the Internet last year. In the next
five years, Otto would like to obtain ten percent of its total turnover
through the Internet.
Intelserv spokesman Michael Bonewitz did not want to expand on the
technological details to de.internet.com in order to protect its competitive
advantage. “The process has been tested and it works,” Bonewitz ensures,
otherwise the mail order company would not have awarded the contract.