News by SB Informer

Motor salvage leader bluecycle predicts £1.5 million sales increase with Alpheus

 

Innovative application recognised at prestigious Mobile Messaging Awards 2007

By Tim hoang
SB Informer Contributing Author
Friday, July 6, 2007; 12:54 AM

Internet auto-salvage auction site bluecycle is predicting a £1.5 million increase in 2007 sales by working with leading mobile telecoms consultancy Alpheus Solutions Ltd to open the mobile channel to its customers. Alpheus has deployed RefreshMobile’s Mobizine technology to deliver a daily, magazine style catalogue of vehicles for auction direct to customers’ mobile phones. This innovation has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious Mobile Messaging Awards 2007.

bluecycle is the first company outside the publishing industry to use Mobizines which enables the company to promote auctions to buyers who aren’t always at their desks to check for latest availability. Based on current activity levels it is estimated that by the end of 2007, the Mobizine will help increase bluecycle’s active customer base by approximately 5%.

Mobizines are magazines which can be read on a mobile whilst on the move. Each magazine is a small file with words and pictures that is pushed to a user’s phone when a new edition is published.  The user can then read the Mobizine at any time without going online. As each magazine is a bite-sized file and is 'double compressed' it's quick to download, takes up less that 30k of phone memory and doesn't incur expensive data transfer charges.

In a six week project Alpheus deployed the Mobizines platform and created sophisticated data manipulation software to turn existing web content into the Mobizines format. This automatically reformats images and text ready to be pushed to customers. Final editorial selection of which vehicles to be included in the Mobizine is handled by bluecycle prior to its despatch every morning.

“Operating in a traditional marketplace, bluecycle has always differentiated itself by its innovation and use of technology to help customers,” said Piers Wilson, Head of Market Development, bluecycle. “By interacting with our customers through their mobiles we have created a whole new revenue stream and reinforced our leadership in motor salvage. Alpheus’ consulting skills made the deployment process straightforward and allowed us to quickly extend our offering to the mobile channel.”

Each daily bluecycle Mobizine profiles 15 new vehicles available at auction in a highly graphical magazine style format that includes full colour pictures along with descriptive text. There are also links to other bluecycle partners, such as HPI and the RAC, as well as providing the option to call bluecycle on a direct line.

bluecycle is known throughout the insurance industry as the first Internet auction site for motor salvage. Driven by technology, bluecycle developed an electronic B2B trading platform linked directly to insurers’ existing systems for the collection, storage and onward sale of insurance total loss vehicles. This reduces the significant costs associated with salvage disposal as part of the claim process. bluecycle manages the complete process, selling over 90,000 total loss vehicles annually.

“bluecycle’s innovation is already paying off with increased customer engagement and a direct increase in turnover,” said Adrian Boniface, head of mobile telecommunications, Alpheus Solutions Ltd. “The success of the B2B Mobizines model also acts as a template for other industries selling to community groups, providing a fast, effective method of communicating through the mobile channel.”

Organised by 160 Characters, the 2007 Mobile Messaging Awards (http://www.160characters.org/pages.php?action=view&pid=50) boasted over 90 entries from 15 different countries. The bluecycle/Alpheus entry was shortlisted in the Messaging Application/Service: Business category.

About Alpheus

Alpheus Solutions Ltd is an international Information Technology consultancy specialising in providing services to both financial institutions and mobile telecommunications providers. Founded in 1996, the company's successful, ongoing commitment to effective, high integrity solutions has seen it expand robustly with offices in London and Frankfurt.

Alpheus provides tailored, consultative solutions that address business issues in the mobile telecommunications market. It has world-class consulting and implementation experience as a trusted, independent partner to international mobile players, from large enterprises and operators through to early stage companies and media organisations. Alpheus delivers end-to-end consultancy and implementation services across the whole mobile content supply chain, including content, delivery and payments. Alpheus’ service portfolio is divided into the three themes of content delivery, mobile payments and mobile data service platforms. Customers include Orange, T-Mobile International, Earthflip, bluecycle (part of Aviva) and Refresh Mobile. For more information visit www.alpheus.com

About bluecycle

bluecycle is the largest purely internet auction site for motor salvage, and runs more than 1,500 auctions a week, selling over 90,000 total loss vehicles a year. Bidding occurs 24x7, and auctions run over several days.

Since entering the market seven years ago, bluecycle has revolutionised the salvage industry and converted buyers and sellers of motor salvage to the convenience and effectiveness of online auctions.  bluecycle’s online model enables sellers to reach a wider customer base than physical auctions, and manages the complete end-to-end process of vehicle collection, storage, sale and payment.  The result is a process that improves returns over the traditional contract model by up to 15%, while bringing a clear audit trail to the process.

bluecycle.com ranked in the top 10 for visits among all UK websites in the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds - Auctions category for the quarter ending January – March 2007.

For more information: Emily Farrell/Chris Measures, Rainier PR, 0207 494 6570, [email protected], www.rainierpr.co.uk