MorrisonsCellar Home Page

Salmon, has helped Morrisons to launch its first transactional eCommerce site, MorrisonsCellar.com, which focuses on selling a comprehensive range of wines and offers customers a unique, personalised and enjoyable shopping experience, including:

An interactive Taste Test allowing customers to discover those wines most likely to suit their palate via three simple questions

The case builder tool giving customers the ability to build and keep track of a mixed case of wine

Integration with Facebook allowing customers to share information with their friends

The new site is built on the same infrastructure as Kiddicare.com, (part of the Morrisons family) using WebSphere Commerce, Coremetrics, Endeca and advanced content management functionality developed by Salmon.

Since the site went live:

• Repeat customers average 15 percent
• All KPIs have been greatly exceeded – visitors, conversion and sales
• Conversion is above expectation, due to the success of the taste test and the depth of the product range

Discussing Morrisons first venture into eCommerce, Scott Weavers-Wright, Kiddicare CEO and Kiddicare and Morrisons.co.uk General Merchandise Managing Director said; “This is the first step in Morrisons branded eCommerce and will enhance the overall wine offering for Morrisons. It will also provide valuable lessons on business processes and systems which will support the launch of other web sites and multi channel services. We knew that the underlying platform, WebSphere Commerce, and functionality would enable us to deliver the new site quickly and yet be scalable for the future.”

Ken Platt, Head of Multi Channel eCommerce Delivery for Morrisons.co.uk, added: “Morrisons has a late mover advantage. By creating a scalable platform, focussed on user experience, the rapid roll out of further categories is certain and promises to set Morrisons.co.uk apart from its competitors.”

Salmon has provided a wide range of eCommerce services to design and implement the site and will provide 24/7 application support. Salmon used innovative working practices and approaches which combined Morrisons’ deep understanding of wine and customer behaviour with Salmon’s extensive eCommerce expertise. These enabled Salmon to deliver an innovative and functionally-rich site in a short period of time, which not only matched Morrisons business vision but also enhanced it.

Craig Harper-Ashton, Director of eCommerce at Salmon said; “Salmon played a key role in making MorrisonsCellar.com a reality. We are delighted to see Morrisons realise the benefits of the new working practices adopted for this project.”

About MorrisonsCellar.com Taste Test
A clever, interactive test to help guide consumers through the mystery of wine, the Taste Test is based on a scientific principle relating to the number of taste buds any one person possesses. Consumers will be asked three simple, non-wine related questions, the answers to which are then converted by a complex algorithm and a piece of clever technology to reveal a score and flavour profile. The four profiles are sweet (0-3), fresh (4-6), smooth (7-9), intense (10-12).

The entire range of Morrisons’ wines has been tasted by a six-strong team with calibrated palates and awarded a score against agreed criteria to enable it to fit within one of the four profiles. Red, whites, sparking and fortified have all been judged using the same scale so if a customer is a score 4 it is expected that wines within the fresh category of all colours will appeal to them.

Salmon has been selected by DFS to create, deliver and manage the implementation of their new multi channel eCommerce platform. The platform will be a key component to help drive DFS’s new multi channel strategy.

Established over 40 years ago, DFS is Britain’s favourite sofa company and is now the largest company of its kind in Europe. DFS has over 90 stores in the UK and 2 in Ireland and was looking for a partner with strong multi channel experience to deliver a new online and multi channel experience for the UK and Ireland. With a number of existing suppliers and systems already in place, DFS needed a partner who could provide a wide range of services and who had experience of working with multiple third parties. Read more »

Following on from yesterdays post (where I outlined Sue Pratt’s current mantra ‘eCommerce is Dead – Long Live Commerce‘) I wanted to highlight three macro trends that Sue additionally identified as being key influences in selecting an underlying technology platform. These trends – and the respective value that can be witnessed as a result of embracing these trends – must inform any platform selection process or research project.

But let me cut to the chase immediately.  We say forget about “eCommerce” Platforms.  What’s required today are “Customer Interaction Platform’s”.  And here’s why.

Trend 1 :  Multi Channel Commerce. Multi Channel Commerce is not going away and there is a continued proliferation in the number of channels in which consumers engage.  Nowhere is this shift more obvious than in retail, for whom a physical store portfolio is complimented by the internet, catalogues, a call centre, brand web sites, kiosks, smart phones, price comparison sites, affiliates and social networking sites etc.   Yet, its fair to say it’s not just a ‘one-way’ street.  Businesses that were previously online-only are increasingly offering their customers additional channels to support their shopping behaviours – great examples are pop-up stores (see Lastminute.com’s) and interactive digital magazines (Boden’s Digital Magazine is great).

So what does this tell us? Well bearing in mind consumers are channel hoppers by nature, it is clear that merchants must embrace the fact that customers will shop ‘whenever’ and ‘wherever’ they choose; and this means that the underlying platforms that ‘power’ a merchants business operations need to handle multiple channels seamlessly and effortlessly.  Easy?  Well not if you build a website on an infrastructure that only caters for eCommerce or you think of your commerce strategy in terms of just an eCommerce silo.

Trend 2 : Cross Channel Commerce. You may think that this is just semantics, but for those of us at Salmon the key difference between “Cross Channel” and “Multi Channel” is orientation.  In essence merchants are ‘Multi Channel’ (i.e. they operate across multiple channels) but consumers hop between channels making us ‘Cross Channel’ consumers…..and increasingly so.  And in turn this means that merchants are increasingly focusing on providing seamless customer experiences irrespective of the channel chosen AND irrespective of where in the buying cycle a customer is.

There is no doubt that customers now expect merchants to support their particular shopping preferences; whether they prefer to research online and reserve for in store collection, or order in store for home delivery.  But poor execution in any part of the overall customer experience quickly frustrates even the most loyal customer.  Therefore merchants need to choose a platform that can deliver a seamless customer experience by integrating the respective components of each channel – for instance warehouse inventory with a store collection date.  However, don’t underestimate the effort to do this properly. We have been delivering integrated eCommerce solutions for quite some time  (we announced such a solution for Argos back in 2003) and delivering a holistic cross channel strategy can be like painting the Severn bridge: the job is never complete.  How could it be when new channels are emerging rapidly and consistently?

[n.b. When we were researching for the presentation at Internet Retailing's Jumpstart Event, we estimated that many UK Retailers typically offer >1500 shopping paths when you consider the six various stages of their shopping process (research, select, purchase, receive, service, return) across their typical channels. That's complexity!]

Trend 3 : New Business Models and Technologies.  New business models are continuing to disrupt the retail environment (and others) and represent in many ways a bigger threat than traditional competitors.  Remember when eBay was a new business model back in the mid-nineties?  Well it has moved a long way from its original focus and now over 50% of their sales are fixed-price.  That’s a big threat for most merchants.  And yet eBay’s innovation with disruptive business models doesn’t stop there.  They are developing their own clothing ranges (they have teamed up with US fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez to launch a capsule collection exclusively on the site) and they continue to promote their platform as a online outlet for merchants’ discount sales.  And lets face it, eBay aside, there are plenty of other upstarts wanted their market share – for instance private sales sites like vente-privee….oh and we haven’t even mentioned mobile commerce either….

And business models aside, there are great examples of new technologies being developed and adopted, two of which Sue highlighted in her presentation.  Its clear merchants need to keep up.  First are a group of technologies that play a part in what’s known as the atomisation of data (or the  ‘democratisation of information’ depending on what you read).  By that we mean information that was previously ‘hidden’ in corporations is now ‘available’ to leverage by everyone with a smartphone. For example, an application called Red Laser allows customers to scan a product bar code and find prices via various retailers.  One of our clients calls this ‘digital shoplifting’ – a threat and a huge opportunity depending on your perspective.

The second example of technology innovation are the location based services (such as Cisco’s Mobile Concierge) which use a customer’s wireless smart phone and GPS facility to connect the consumer to the retailer’s customer facing services portal or “Mobile Concierge”.  No doubt those merchants that can open up their platforms to provide electronic coupons, promotional offers, customer loyalty data, product data, product locators and store maps are going to be best placed to make the most sales.

So there you have it.  Three trends that, when combined, tell us that simple tactical eCommerce infrastructures are only half the commerce story.  There is no doubt in my mind that the best merchants will implement strategic Customer Interaction Platform’s to ensure their survival.  What do you think?

[They'll be more about Customer Interaction Platforms in future posts!]

On the 10th of March 2010, Sue Pratt (An account Director at Salmon) presented at Internet Retailing‘s eCommerce Platforms Jumpstart.

The Internet Retailing Jumpstart programme is a series of short, sharp half day events that take an intense look at some key procurement issues – focusing on identifying and presenting the key questions merchants should ask, rather than presuming to advance some generic, one-size-fits-all maxims.

Sue’s presentation started with a bang. “eCommerce is dead – long live commerce” she said.

You can view the presentation below.

I asked her why she used that phrase, and why its important.

“As a phrase, eCommerce was invented to distinguish it from other kinds of commerce, for example, high street, markets, retail parks, mail order and party based shopping.  However, everything is ‘e’ nowadays. ‘E’ is just a part of normal life and therefore redundant – the way we shop, interact with friends, music, photos, the way we consume media – they’re all ‘e’.

“To quote Douglas Adams – ‘Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.‘

“This means that for the current teenage generation the internet and particularly mobile and smart phones are just a normal part of the world so we should stop referring to eCommerce as if it were something new or different. All commerce is now ‘e’ in some way or another so let’s just call it commerce.

On the video above, Sue goes on to present on a further three areas;

• Three trends influencing the eCommerce platform decision
• New Business Models and Technologies
• Four factors to consider when choosing a new eCommerce platform

I’ll author additional posts on these later this week.

“eCommerce Platforms – an internet retailing special report”   is the current supplement for the March edition of Internet Retailing magazine – and is certainly worth reading if you are looking at eCommerce Platforms from various angles, with  a view to an implementation project in 2010 or 2011.

In it, Marcus Austin discusses “The New Frontiers” for eCommerce, namely rich media and webservices.  Co-Founder of Salmon partner 10CMS, James Brooke predicts that “the number of choices….in an eCommerce portfolio is liable to get even bigger over the next year.” He goes on to discuss the role of ‘lifestyle video’, ‘user generated content’, ‘video merchandising’ and ‘rich media’ such as drag and drop, zoom and carousels. Austin also talks about the 3D revolution (more about that here), taking eCommerce solutions by storm [augmented reality and 3D content are both featured] as well as personalisation and mobile.

Dig further into the supplement and you’ll find Arif Mohamed discussing the hot topic of the moment “the convergence of online and offline” and this is further debated by Austin in “Navigating the eCommerce channels”, in which it is highlighted that “true cross channel eCommerce needs to start with a radical rethink of your IT infrastructure.” Powerful stuff.

Salmon customer Halfords (more on them on our corporate site here by the way) feature prominently, as does the “Text & Reserve” project that we announced for Halfords back in September, which continues to receive rave reviews.  Back office integration and logistics are also considered in detail.

And finally, Internet Retailing’s supplement editor Chloe Rigby takes the much needed longer term view on the real issues related to spending a large sum of money on a new eCommerce platform.  Rigby debates the key role ‘Planning’ plays in figuring out whether to ‘own’ or ‘rent’ your platform.  Great stuff.

You can view or download the entire 36 page supplement here.  Enjoy.

Econsultancy’s newest Buyer’s guide has been released and is aimed at companies who are investigating the e-commerce platforms market. There are profiles of 30 leading UK vendors, including Salmon.

The report also provides details on the various issues and trends affecting this sector, as well as advice about how to select the right platform.

If you are about to conduct an eCommerce Platform replacement project – this really is a must read.  Unless you are a member of Econsultancy it is a paid for report (£150 get you the report, £195 annual membership and access to ALL their reports) but a sample is available (625.8 KB PDF)

Separate to the report, you can also view Salmon’s company profile on the Econsultancy website for a better idea of who we are and what we do.

Salmon’s eCommerce partner IBM has announced the release of WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0, delivering a market-leading “customer interaction platform”, which enables companies to provide a rich, customer-centric experience across multiple channels and touchpoints [more here: opens 521kb .pdf].

We think this is particularly interesting given that IBM already had a leadership position according to AMR Research – based on their October 2009 assessment of version 6.0 fp 4 as recently as October 2009. Read more »

We often find ourselves saying the words ‘eCommerce platform for life‘ with prospective clients, because we are very much in the business of developing and shaping longer term or strategic eCommerce plans and solutions – as opposed to providing band-aid or stop-gap solutions.

Which is why it is particularly gratifying to see multi-channel retailer Kiddicare’s online offering moving forward in leaps and bounds as reported in various circles (it was also covered here).

When we first starting working with Kiddicare in 2006 (they are still a customer today) they were using an eCommerce platform and provider that fell short of their requirements.  We helped them change that and continue to provide expert eCommerce advice and 24x7x365 application management and support.

This is what Kiddicare Partner, Scott Weavers-Wright had to say back in July 2008.

“We replaced our existing platform with SAFE™ as we needed to obtain control of our eCommerce business.  Our online plans are sophisticated and we need to address our requirements with a higher degree of autonomy, flexibility and responsiveness to change.”

It never ceases to amaze me how empowered a business can be when it has a true handle on its eCommerce infrastructure and architecture.  And when the eCommerce platform itself (as part of that infrastructure) is capable of scaling to be ‘an eCommerce platform for life‘, merchants really can focus on thse aspects of eCommerce that really matter…….like helping customers with regard to merchandising, product imagery, navigation, product page layout and the shopping basket and checkout process.

Today we announced the implementation of a new US website for Regatta Group’s brand Craghoppers, and new sites (in the UK and US) for the clothing brand range named after adventurer Bear Grylls.

This announcement follows the successful launch in 2008 of websites for three of Regatta’s brands in the UK (Craghoppers, Dare2b and Hawkshead), which leverage SAFE™ (Salmon’s Application Framework for eCommerce). SAFE™ was selected by Regatta as they wanted a strategic platform which would support the whole group, as well as their international expansion plans.

Chris Bulmer, Group IT Director at Regatta said, “The UK websites have been a contributing factor to our success during 2008 and 2009, we are seeing significant cost savings as a result of the new platform, as well as an increase in sales, and we were keen to replicate this in the US. We have been very impressed with how quickly and easily Salmon were able to bring our additional brands online. We are confident we made the right decision selecting Salmon’s eCommerce solution SAFE™ and the IBM WebSphere Commerce platform. To date, it has met all our eCommerce needs and we are certain it will continue to do so as our requirements develop in line with our customers’ demands.”

The new sites developed by Salmon leverage IBM WebSphere Commerce and its extended sites functionality, which allows customers to launch new sites quickly and easily. Considerable amounts of development time and spend are saved because all the sites sit on one instance of IBM WebSphere Commerce and the majority of the data and business logic is shared. Regatta are also benefiting from having Salmon integrate IBM Sales Center for WebSphere Commerce. Regatta’s call centre representatives now have access to the same database as that used on the websites. Everything is shared between the two channels including product imagery, pricing and promotions as well as cross and up selling of information, leading to improved productivity of call centre employees, increased sales and improved service for cross-channel customers. Further benefits include considerable reduced IT cost and complexity.

eCommerce Internationalisation has many challenges. Read on to see how Regatta made sure that their technical infrastructure would scale to meet the new demands from the additional sites in the US and that the speed and functionality wasn’t put at risk.

I am delighted to announce that Salmon just booked the last presentation slot at Internet Retailing’s first short and intensive ‘procurement programme’ that gives merchants a consise and sharp overview and insight into some key procurement areas.  The session we are participating in is tackling the subject matter ‘eCommerce platforms’.

Internet Retailing’s procurement “JUMP START” programme will take a short, sharp & intense look at some key procurement issues – but the focus is upon identifying and presenting the key questions merchants should ask, rather than presuming to advance some generic, one-size-fits-all maxims. All solutions are individual, and our “JUMP START” will help you get to the heart of the questions for you.  The format will be a sharp, focused one, concentrating on surfacing key differences, inflexions and considerations.

This event is free to attend, but as places are strictly limited to merchants only, you will need to register in advance.

Event Landing Page : Event Registration,
Date : 11th June, 2009, London
Location : 76 Portland place

Salmon will be presenting alongside 10 CMS, ATG, eCommera, Hybris Software, Ivis Group & Snow Valley.

What will you learn?
How to approach procurement. Each company, as well as the opening presentation and chaired panels, will seek to draw out the key questions and approaches to procurement. What questions should you have asked yourself, your colleagues and your suppliers? What are the key issues to consider before choosing, during implementation and then in-life?  To supplement this insight delegates will be provided with the full data and presentation packs.

Why you should attend?
The market in ecommerce platforms and key components is changing rapidly. New competitors revise their offering and overleap established players; market leaders add capability, usability and cost-effective options; some features have become ‘standard issue’ whereas others could give a competitive edge for a period.

This intense half-day format will give you both insight, briefing and a chance to meet with other retailers. It will give you either a fast-track to create your own commercial procurement process, or even allow you to benchmark your existing or intended supplier against the market’s best offerings.

Who should attend?
The event is open to retailers only.  Managers responsible for procurement, or in the functional eCommerce area are very welcome.

There is a bit more news about the event here.

My colleagues and I hope to see you there.  If you would like to arrange in advance a 1-on-1 session on the afternoon of the 11th do not hesitate to email me at choskin@salmon.com.