BroadVision's product is used to create the online store. It collects customer information and controls the shopping cart. Developers will use it to create personalized content. Retek also maintains the customer master list, which contains all data passed to it from BroadVision, including contact information and buying and browsing histories. Retek is also used to let customers at the site find out when their products were shipped and provide a tracking number.
Customers can initiate a live chat session with customer-service reps.
At the other end of the connection, service personnel see on their screen a request for a chat along with a pop-up screen that contains the customer number, which they can use to pull up any information such as the status of pending orders. TV customers, who would normally use the telephone, can connect via the Web site. But so far, the pop-up screen appears only when customers use the online chat feature. That may soon change. Shop At Home is in the midst of a major upgrade of its CRM functions.