Oppido - The Second Generation's E-commerce Portal. "the Goal Is To Be Europe's Largest"

Kjell Spångberg involved in billion kronor investment: Oppido - the second generation's e-commerce portal. "The goal is to be Europe's largest" The campaign site for Oppido will soon be launched - the largest investment in the third generation's e-commerce portal in Europe. An investment consortium, which includes Kjell Spångberg and Johan Stael von Holstein, is behind Oppido. And ambitions are high. Within four years Oppido will be the largest e-commerce channel in Europe, with 10-20 million members. "This is one of my largest Internet investments so far," says Spångberg. "Oppido will be the first portal created to handle all fixed and mobile access formats. It's a solution to the growing pains that e-commerce has experienced to date. In the autumn, we can offer comfortable, attractive, fast access to the best e-commerce sites." Oppido is built on a partnership with many e-commerce sites. The project has initiated discussions with Bidlet, Bokus, Boxman, Dressmart.com, Leknet, Letsbuyit, Lovesearch, Netonnet, Prenax, Sportus, and Toga, among others. "We see lots of interest and will now start negotiations that lead to a soft launch in early summer - with many leading e-commerce companies as committed partners," says Eric Dahl, board member of Oppido, who sits on the boards of Toga, Wideyes, and Digilog Interactive and is Boxman's founder. "Europe is our home market. In the autumn, we're implementing a broad launch with a pan-European solution." Oppido - a "real" portal for mobile access. Oppido is a real portal that will give consumers simple, effective, exciting entry to Europe's best e-commerce. It's uniqueness rests in its simplicity. With one click, users can visit many e-commerce sites. And they'll be able to reach hundreds more - once e-commerce is fully developed. "Oppido will also be the first portal that is totally independent of access format. We're created for fixed terminals and especially for all important, future, mobile channels. We'll enable access from PCs, cell phones, mobile terminals, digital TV - you name it," says Björn Thelin, CEO of Oppido during the build-up phase. "Internet business is developed more and more in a symbiosis with mobile communications. We will be a world's leader in technology and development." Thelin has extensive experience as an IT project leader and an IS manager and consultant. Among other things, he has been a business development manager at Telia Infomedia Interactive and responsible for building many Web sites. He was also CEO for several companies in the IT sector. The driving force in e-commerce trends "Oppido is also designed to create e-commerce - and not just for searching for and sorting information, which characterizes the first generation," says Thelin. "We will always use the latest technology and knowledge within e-commerce. We want to be a driving force in e-commerce development in Europe, to be a support for serious, ambitious e-commerce sites, and thus provide consumers with excellent shopping experiences." Here is just a sample of customer benefits: Just one login and registration step into many shopping sites. Very simple, effective navigation and shopping routines (intuitive navigation). Quality-assured partners for customer management, logistics, and payment systems. Attractive loyalty and bonus programs for all businesses in the Oppido portal. Economies-of-scale benefits for development, maintenance, and customer support. Economies-of-scale benefits for marketing and customer-relations management (CRM). Major investment for Kjell Spångberg This investment is Spångberg's largest so far. "Europe is on the threshold of a breakthrough," says Spångberg, the well-known Swedish business angel. "Sweden has been an important testing ground for many clever entrepreneurs and e-commerce sites. It holds first place in the learning curve and is now ready to cure the growing pains. Oppido is an answer to many problems that consumers experience with budding e-commerce initiatives." Spångberg developed the idea in collaboration with Lars Ahlman, a financing partner. During the spring and autumn, more financing will be secured. "Oppido will be a billion kronor project in a few years," says Spångberg "We want to create one of Europe's most interesting companies in the new network economy and offer attractive career opportunities for young entrepreneurs. We need sales and country managers, technicians, and administrators with experience in e-commerce,". Oppido cooperates with Intelligence for strategic development, Mind for site development, and Digiscope for eCRM and data warehousing solutions. For further information, please contact: Eric Dahl, Phone: +46 8 412 54 33 or +46 708 76 98 20 Björn Thelin, Oppido's CEO, Phone: +46 706 75 33 99 Mind AB is a third-generation internet consultancy company specialising in portals with the aim of developing and strengthening its customers business operations. Mind currently has 370 employees and is represented in Sweden, Norway and France. The companies intends to float itself on the stock exchange in the course of 2000. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/07/20000614BIT00170/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/07/20000614BIT00170/bit0002.pdf