Interactive TV application development company, Ensequence, said Monday that shopping channel, QVC, has tapped its Ensequence Managed Services Group and its iTV 
Manager Programmer Edition technology to develop an EBIF-based, bound, tcommerce application (note: Ensequence also developed an EBIF version of rival HSN's tcommerce app, Shop by Remote--see the article published on itvt.com, December 3rd; Shop by Remote, which launched nearly four years ago, is currently available on Comcast, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and DISH Network). The first commercial deployment of the app is slated for Q1, 2011, and is expected to be with Comcast--though neither that company, nor QVC nor Ensequence, has yet officially confirmed this. In order to use the app, viewers will first have to set up an account on QVC.com that will include their credit card info. Then, when they wish to purchase a product through the app, they will use their remote to enter their user name and password, allowing their credit card to be billed for their purchase.
According to Ensequence CEO, Peter Low, the development of the app is part of a new "long-term relationship" between Ensequence and QVC (note: Ensequence previously developed a tcommerce application for QVC UK--see the article published on itvt.com, October 2nd, 2008--though according to the company, its deal with QVC US should be seen as "a new relationship," rather than as an extension of the QVC UK relationship). In addition to being responsible for the new app's design and build, Ensequence is responsible for its backend data management--i.e. for "managing the data between the Web, the application and the set-top box through to the fulfillment house," an Ensequence spokesperson explained to [itvt]. [itvt] asked the spokesperson to explain the role Ensequence will play in powering the app's transactional infrastructure. "Ensequence will version the ITV experience and keep the data up to date by communicating with the Web servers from QVC," the spokesperson told us. "Once someone makes a purchase using the experience, Ensequence manages the purchase using the set-top box identifier from the service provider. The experience provides all of this data to the QVC fulfillment engines."
According to Ensequence, the new app--which will be capable of functioning across both Motorola and Cisco set-top boxes--will allow QVC to offer a selection of products for browsing and purchase. The app will have multi-product display capabilities, the company says. "For QVC, Ensequence created a commerce experience that offers up to four products at once on the screen...products that are on air currently, products that were just on, and the special of the day," the Ensequence spokesperson told [itvt]. "Other experiences in the market currently only offer one product with limited color."
According to Ensequence, using the Ensequence iTV Manager Dynamic Data module, QVC will have the ability to change the app's "shop window" (i.e. update product information) to suit the products available. The app will allow product details to be quickly updated, modified and synchronized to video content on a daily or even hourly basis, the company says. "As products are updated on the Web, the ITV application receives information at the same time and translates that data to the set-top box for ITV," Ensequence's spokesperson explained. "Ensequence taps into the backend fulfillment house so that orders can be tracked and delivered...[and the company] is providing ongoing, 24/7 support."
According to the Ensequence spokesperson, the company is bullish on tcommerce: "At Ensequence, we believe that tcommerce is an enormous business opportunity," she said. "We also believe that tcommerce is more powerful when purchase opportunities are tied to the shows and commercials that viewers are watching. The ITV industry has had three key challenges historically: lack of standards to enable scale, lack of a clear business model, and technical complexities. Tcommerce is a key component to the ITV business model, EBIF is enabling scale, and there are now systems in place that make creating, managing and deploying ITV content easier than ever before."
(Note: The [itvt] editorial team is on the road and will be publishing on a reduced schedule for the next 10 days or so. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers.)
