- Card to Offer New Financial Content Service Products and Direct Payment
Platform
SHENZHEN, China, March 14 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- PacificNet Inc. (Nasdaq: PACT), a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), call center and telemarketing services, Direct Response Television (DRTV) and Value-Added Services (VAS) in China, announced today that its subsidiary ChinaGoHi ("ChinaGoHi", http://www.ChinaGoHi.cn) has launched a stored-value point card for its financial content services in China. The adoption of the value-added card service has been enhanced by the excellent market response from customers.
The new stored-value card allows ChinaGoHi's customers to easily pay for all of the value-added content and services. The value of a card is measured by points and will be credited to each customers account when they purchase the points. After successful transactions, customers will then be given an access code and password that enables customers to log into ChinaGoHi's hot-line IVR system or to its internet portal in order to listen, watch and read audio and video programs, access research reports that contain stock analysis, market review, investment recommendation etc. Charges are deducted against the stored-value points provided by the pre-paid cards/accounts based on the access times of customers utilizing the services.
The use of value cards has been shown to have a positive effect on customers spending. ChinaGoHi's dozens of programmers provide more than forty voice/video programs and play an essential part in hundreds of company reports everyday. Customers may obtain professional, instant and effective guidance and assistance from this information. The value-added card provides a more convenient and effective way to subscribe or renew the services. Customers can purchase the points either through a traditional method (cash or bank transfer) or through the online payment system. Moreover, customers can continuously renew the services by adding value to the cards based on certain points.
The target market of this Stored-Value Card is the estimated 80 million retail investors in China's A-Share stock market. As a leading investment consulting company in China, ChinaGoHi has positioned itself to enter this rapidly growing market, through the marketing of stock analysis and consulting services. ChinaGoHi airs its DRTV infomercials daily to promote this new product nationwide through six major satellite and local TV channels.
Wang Wenming, CEO of ChinaGoHi, stated that, "We believe that as Chinese consumers have increasingly larger amounts of discretionary income to spend that we have positioned the Company to capitalize on this trend. The convenience of these cards should greatly enhance sales as the users can easily access real-time financial content via SMS, IVR, fax, internet and email. We will utilize various channels to market this new product such as DRTV infomercials, magazine ads, internet portals, and joint promotion cross-sale with other banks and financial institutions."
Tony Tong, Chairman and CEO of PacificNet, stated, "PacificNet's acquisition and integration of ChinaGoHi marks our entrance in China's DRTV telemarketing services and our expansion from B2B outsourced call center services into the higher margin B2C infomercial services market for vertical industries. It is a strong vote of confidence in our future development in Chinas growing CRM call center market. A growing number of domestic and multinational companies across a number of industries are selecting us to enhance customer services. This demand for CRM services reflects the increasingly competitive nature of the China marketplace where customers choose a provider not solely based upon price, but also on customer services. We believe that the CRM contact center has emerged as the new competitive advantage for the market leaders in China and we are well positioned to benefit from this trend."
About PacificNet
PacificNet Inc. (http://www.PacificNet.com), through its subsidiaries, invests in and operates companies that provide outsourcing and Value-Added Telecom Services (VAS) in China, such as call centers, telemarketing, CRM, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), interactive voice response (IVR), mobile applications, and communications product distribution services. PacificNet's clients include the leading telecos, banks, insurance, travel, marketing, and business services companies, and telecom consumers in Greater China. PacificNet's corporate clients include China Telecom, China Mobile, Unicom, PCCW, Hutchison Telecom, Bell24, SONY, TCL, Huawei, American Express, Citibank, Bank of China and Hong Kong Government. PacificNet employs over 2,500 staff in its various subsidiaries throughout China with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and branch offices in 26 provinces in China, and is headquartered in Minneapolis USA and Hong Kong.
About ChinaGoHi
ChinaGoHi ("ChinaGoHi", http://www.ChinaGoHi.cn) is a leading information content provider of Chinese stock market information, analysis, and investment advisory services via DRTV infomercials through satellite and cable TV broadcasting, IVR, SMS and WAP based mobile value added services, web portals and subscription based audio-video streaming via the Internet.
Safe Harbor Statement
This Company's announcement contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, PacificNet's historical and possible future losses, limited operating history, uncertain regulatory landscape in China, fluctuations in quarterly operating results. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in PacificNet's Form 10K and other filings with the SEC.
Contacts:
PacificNet USA office: Jacob Lakhany, Tel: +1-605-229-6678
PacificNet Beijing office: Ada Yu, Tel: +86 (10) 64954330 ext 158
23/F, Tower A, TimeCourt, No.6 Shuguang Xili, Chaoyang District, Beijing,
China 100028
investor@pacificnet.com
or
CEOcast, Inc. for PacificNet
Ed Lewis, 212-732-4300
