Internet credit card company NextCard Inc. launched the next
generation of its Concierge e-shopping service, combining its GoShopping! and
Concierge tools into a single application.
The company also announced a low-price shopping guarantee for cardholders who
use the free comparative shopping app over the holidays.
The new browser-based Concierge, powered by personal Web assistant company
Obongo Inc., searches more than 2,600 sites to find the lowest price, get
product information and obtain merchant reviews, the company said.
Concierge also automatically completes site registration and fills in online
forms with a single click, NextCard said.
To introduce cardholders to the new Concierge, NextCard is offering to refund
the difference to any cardholder who uses the Concierge’s GoShopping! site to
make a purchase and then finds the same product for a lower price elsewhere
on the Web.
“NextCard is committed to providing customers with the easiest way to buy
anything online,” said John Hashman, CEO of NextCard. “We expect that
cardholders
who use the NextCard Concierge to comparison shop will make more online
purchases based on increased availability of information, data security and
our low price guarantee.”
Concierge, a downloadable app, appears as a bar at the bottom of the
cardholder’s Web browser or on the browser button. Cardholders can customize
Concierge with additional features that include privacy and security alerts,
e-mail management and tools for getting stock quotes.
Concierge uses multi-layer encryption technology to keep the cardholder’s
information private and secure, NextCard said.
The previous service was limited to filling out online forms and site
registration. Using Obongo technology, the Concierge e-wallet is now fully
integrated with NextCard’s
GoShopping! Web site, which features e-shopping tools from mySimon,
BizRate.com and Epinions.com.
