Salmon delivers new website for Argos
Tue,9 September 2003
Salmon Ltd, the IT services and consulting firm, today announced that
it has successfully delivered a new e-Commerce website for
multi-channel retailer of the year Argos - www.argos.co.uk. Customers
can now benefit from being able to find any product from the entire
12,000-item catalogue in just three clicks.
The choice can also be made to either have one, all or some of the purchases in the shopping basket paid for online and delivered to home or by using the 'Click and Collect' feature and place a 24-hour reservation on any item at any Argos store nationwide. e-Commerce is an increasingly important business channel for Argos, which has one of the top three most visited web sites in the UK. The number of users of Argos' website has continued to double year on year and in the last financial year, a significant proportion of the retail chain's £3 bn sales came from its online sales. Argos therefore felt it was vital that the website was staying ahead of customers' online shopping expectations. This led to the decision in November 2001 to replace the website and in February 2002 Argos approached Salmon to deliver the project.
The new website, which went live on June 10, has two critical enhancements that Argos was keen to introduce. Argos felt that to improve the ease of use a 'get it in three' approach would be a dramatic improvement to the customers' on-line shopping experience from the old site's six clicks. Not only does the new site allow for products to be found within three clicks, but it also offers a far greater range of search parameters. For example, customers can now browse by brand name, product features or even within lifestyle zones ' aiding inspiration to furnish a room in a particular style with complimentary products.
Another key feature that Salmon delivered for Argos was offering both the delivery and the Click and Collect options in the same transaction. This allows customers to choose the fulfilment method for each item at the online checkout. By linking the website directly into Argos' internal systems using a real-time dynamic link, Salmon has exploited the potential of WebSphere Commerce version 5 to deliver stunning portal performance. This gives customers a portal-style view of the stock levels of each of Argos' 530 stores for the entire 12,000-item catalogue. Customers, rather than paying online, are able to reserve the chosen item at the specified store for 24 hours or opt for home delivery as they choose. Argos has exploited its Bricks & Clicks proposition to boost Internet sales and offer convenient fulfilment options. While improved functionality was critically important for Argos, the company was adamant that this must not be at the expense of web performance.
Salmon is also providing ongoing 24x7x365 application management, maintenance and support services. The new website developed by Salmon is based on WebSphere Commerce v.5.4 and has standardised on J2EE architecture and a DB2 database.
A spokesperson for Argos, said: 'We chose Salmon because of its excellent reputation in the field of e-Commerce. During the delivery of the project, Salmon lived up to its reputation of transparent honesty in meeting deadlines and sticking to the budget. We are extremely happy that Salmon has helped us deliver a cutting-edge website that will help drive the Argos multi-channel business approach.'
Sue Pratt, the head of the e-Commerce practice at Salmon, said: 'The Argos website is an excellent example of the next generation websites that are evolving into commerce-enabled portals. Uniquely, it brings the customer closer to the Argos back office fulfilment system, providing real-time feedback on stock availability at individual stores to give the customer the choice of whether to collect in person or order home delivery. Combined with the website's high performance levels, Argos shoppers can now have an even more satisfying online shopping experience.'
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