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Maplin was possibly the first British company to pioneer online shopping.
On 1 June 1983 Maplin launched its CASHTEL service. An acronym for Computer Aided SHopping by Telephone.
A computer with a modem and a communication package (predecessor of a web browser) was required to use CASHTEL. Its number was 0702 552951. The service was free to use, apart from the costs of the phone calls, and open to anybody who registered as a customer.
After dialling the number and connecting with the server computer, customers would then be able to log into CASHTEL and order goods by entering in the item codes (listed in the Maplin catalogue) then pay for them with a credit card. A few days later the goods would be delivered to their front door.
The system was entirely text based, so all customers could see was the item code, its price, a brief description of the product, and whether or not it was in stock.
At the time it was very futuristic although it was never disclosed exactly how many people used it. Even RS Components did not create their own version of CASHTEL and stuck to telephone ordering right up until they established facilities to order goods from their website.
Eventually Maplin went online and some time in the early 2000s they closed down their CASHTEL service as it was no longer required once goods could be ordered from their website.
https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Map...%201983-06.pdf
Rather ironically, it was online shopping that killed Maplin in 2018. The management adopted a strategy (going back to the 1980s) of a store in every town well into the 2000s. They failed to realise that once online shopping was no longer radical, or even a bit crazy, like in the early days of CASHTEL but increasingly mainstream, then the days of its bricks and mortar stores were numbered.
On 1 June 1983 Maplin launched its CASHTEL service. An acronym for Computer Aided SHopping by Telephone.
A computer with a modem and a communication package (predecessor of a web browser) was required to use CASHTEL. Its number was 0702 552951. The service was free to use, apart from the costs of the phone calls, and open to anybody who registered as a customer.
After dialling the number and connecting with the server computer, customers would then be able to log into CASHTEL and order goods by entering in the item codes (listed in the Maplin catalogue) then pay for them with a credit card. A few days later the goods would be delivered to their front door.
The system was entirely text based, so all customers could see was the item code, its price, a brief description of the product, and whether or not it was in stock.
At the time it was very futuristic although it was never disclosed exactly how many people used it. Even RS Components did not create their own version of CASHTEL and stuck to telephone ordering right up until they established facilities to order goods from their website.
Eventually Maplin went online and some time in the early 2000s they closed down their CASHTEL service as it was no longer required once goods could be ordered from their website.
https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Map...%201983-06.pdf
Rather ironically, it was online shopping that killed Maplin in 2018. The management adopted a strategy (going back to the 1980s) of a store in every town well into the 2000s. They failed to realise that once online shopping was no longer radical, or even a bit crazy, like in the early days of CASHTEL but increasingly mainstream, then the days of its bricks and mortar stores were numbered.
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