The Electronic Market Ltd, the joint venture company set up between Scottish Widows and Phonelink Plc, is offering customers free electronic mail, reduced priced modems and personal computers and an electronic postal service, as the launch of its electronic commerce service draws nearer. Mutual insurer Scottish Widows of Edinburgh joined forces with Prenton, Wirral-based on- line business information purveyor Phonelink last November (CI No 3,039) to develop and market the Tel-Me electronic trading system, which will be launched in May. When it is up and running shoppers will have access to over 60,000 products initially. The company is currently talking to banks and supermarkets with a view to extending the service in the future.
