[November 17, 2004]

Toys Depend on Angel for Holidays

BY DAVID R. BUTCHER

In the nationwide tradition of looking ahead to the oft-neurotic Christmas holiday before the annual disastrous Thanksgiving dinner has even ensued, KB Toys has selected on-demand IVR (news - alert) solutions provider Angel.com (news - alert) to, in preparation for the inevitably frenzied holidays, develop and manage the specialty toy retailer’s toll-free phone number and application for finding store location information.

A common scenario: Parents, on Christmas Eve, bring their kids to visit relatives who live in another state. Grandparents, of course, have no idea where the local toy stores are.

Mom: You brought Brooke’s big gift, right?

Dad: Huh?

Mom: The doll…

Grandma: Has anyone seen my slippers around here?

Dad: Huh?

Mom: You were supposed to buy it! I asked you over a month ago AND left you a note like two weeks ago!

Dad: I didn’t see the note.

Mom: I pasted it to your forehead.

Dad: I thought you said you got that present for her. So I assumed you wrapped it with the rest of the presents and packed it in the van, too.

Grandma: Oh, that’s funny! I’m wearing them!

Mom: [sigh] Let’s go shopping.

A parent wants to find the nearest location of the retailer so he or she can have a My Twinn doll made for his or her child to look like—you guessed it—the child’s twin? (Insert aged and unfunny Mini-Me joke here.) A kid has to have a Spider-Man bed? Where is the nearest toy store?

Angel.com’s telephony advent with KB Toys comes from the resolution to provide the toy store’s consumers with accurate store location directly via the telephone.

For consumers, Massachusetts-based KB Toys provides two phone numbers — 877-5KB-TOYS and 888-4KB-TOYS — that allow callers to enter their ZIP code and find the nearest store location. The retailer, which operates the nation’s largest chain of mall-based specialty toy stores, had previously worked with a different vendor for its toll-free store locator number and application. Recently, Angel.com managed the development of the store locator application and will now support any changes or additions that KB Toys may have to ensure a smooth holiday season.

The phone numbers allow consumers to obtain information in English or Spanish. Angel.com provided KB Toys with annualized pricing to help spread the cost of the services throughout the year, even though volume will be highest during the holiday season, when both in-store and online traffic surges.

Angel.com’s Internet-based solution requires no investment in hardware, software or human resources, offering pay-as-you-go pricing. The provider’s patented Voice Site technology is intended to power customer service and marketing phone numbers using intelligent speech recognition that can automate most phone-based interactions. 

For more information, visit www.angel.com

David R. Butcher is assistant editor for Customer Inter@ction Solutions Magazine.

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