Online Mega-Retailer Abt Amps Up Its Chat Capability With BoldChat
Released : Tuesday, June 10, 2008 10:00 AM
Business Editors/Technology Writers
WICHITA, Kan. & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 2008--BoldChat developer Bravestorm, LLC announced today that Abt® Electronics, America's largest single-store consumer electronics and appliance retailer, has deployed BoldChat to power the live chat capability at its online store, Abt.com. With BoldChat, Abt Electronics has gained a number of advantages ranging from an uptime record of over 99%, to an easily branded onscreen chat display that allows sales and customer service agents to better match their skills with incoming customer requests.
Abt Electronics is a standout in the world of home electronics retailing. Its single store, along with its related business facilities, covers 37 acres in Glenview, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. "Abt has thrived through the years by focusing on the customer-an approach that has been successful for the company's eCommerce store as well," says President Jon Abt.
"We've offered a live chat option on our Web site for about six years now. However, the capability wasn't always available, and customers using Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari Web browsers couldn't use the chat at all to talk with our people," he notes. "We also wanted a better feature set and more advanced reporting tools. BoldChat offers all these things."
Now deployed on more than 10,000 Web sites in over 70 countries, BoldChat is a hosted live chat service that can transform a company's online customer interaction. The service, which boasts a 99.95% uptime percentage, deploys in minutes and is infinitely scalable to meet changing needs. BoldChat offers a host of features from proactive chat to fully customizable chat windows, and can be accessed from virtually all major Web browsers.
Abt Electronics found it easy to train its online staff of 25 to use BoldChat. "We do all our training in-house. BoldChat's interface is very intuitive, which makes learning the application very easy. Most of our training time, in fact, is spent teaching new agents about our store procedures and our lines of merchandise. BoldChat requires very little time overall."
According to Abt, one of the biggest advantages of BoldChat was unexpected before it went into operation. "Most days we have between 12 and 18 agents working our online operation, evenly split between sales and customer service," Abt said. "Since BoldChat has the ability to display all incoming chats onscreen, our agents can pick and choose the inquiries that best match their skills. Home theater specialists can answer HDTV questions, while someone else grabs inquiries about refrigerators or car audio. The ability for agents to work within their field of expertise has become a real plus for our quality of service."
"Abt Electronics has established itself as a high-tech, high-touch consumer electronics company. It is committed to creating on online experience that mirrors the selection, value and support shoppers feel every time the enter the company's Glenview store," said Matt Tharp, Director of Sales for Bravestorm. "BoldChat is a perfect match, not only because it has the value-added features and reliability Abt demands, but also because it's easy for both agents and customers to use."
Jon Abt says that the company is always evaluating new services for its Web site, which is why BoldChat's additional features, like its proactive chat invitation capability, are a plus. "The whole eCommerce experience is continuing to evolve," he notes. "Our technology has to keep pace with the changes taking place. BoldChat's features and high uptime reliability has given us better sell-through with our online customers. It's helped us take our Web presence to a whole new level."
To learn more about BoldChat, additional information is available at www.Boldchat.com or at the BoldChat booth, #352 at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE) 2008 in Chicago, Illinois this week.
About Bravestorm:
Bravestorm was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.With the launch of its flagship product BoldChat, Bravestorm released an effective and affordable live chat solution for any size business.Since then, the company has built a strong reputation with Web-enabled businesses who appreciate robust, secure, scalable, customizable and easy-to-use live chat software.Today, the company leads the live chat market in over 70 countries with value created for the money spent.Bravestorm's customer support and infrastructure are second to none, with 24/7 availability, redundant servers housed in a hardened secure Tier One datacenter, and robust data security.Bravestorm's BoldChat was the first in the online chat industry to provide a 99.95% uptime guarantee.For more information, visit www.BoldChat.com.
About Abt Electronics:
Abt Electronics is a leading provider of top-of-the-line consumer electronics and appliances including; televisions, cameras and camcorders, communication devices, home audio equipment, and more.The company sells established, dependable brands, and its salespeople are available to help customers find the perfect home theater solution high definition television for their homes.Abt Electronics also provides installation and technical support, and has been dedicated to making sure every customer is a satisfied customer since 1936.
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