Dot.com First From Halfords
Watford, London February 2010 - Salmon, specialists in delivering eCommerce solutions today announced the successful implementation of "Free Delivery To Store" functionality on Halfords.com. This innovative new service means customers can order any item available on Halfords website then pick up from their local store – free of delivery charge. This dramatically extends the breadth of range customers can access and saves them the cost of delivery. “We continue to invest in Halfords.com to make it easier and more enjoyable for customers to shop with Halfords. “Free Delivery To Store” builds on our success with Reserve and Collect, providing a wider range from your local store,” said Chris Corbin, Head of Halfords.com. Chris added “We know that our customers prefer to collect in-store because of the fitting services we offer and because it is often more convenient than waiting in for a delivery. We believe “Free delivery To Store” will prove very popular with our customers.” Now, Halfords.com customers can choose between 4 different delivery services - Free Delivery to Store, Reserve and Collect, Text and Reserve and Home Delivery. Halfords are able to offer this complex but unique offering due to their combination of best in breed IT solutions including IBM WebSphere Commerce, DataCash, SAP, PKMS and BTE Store6, which make it possible for them to, keep track of orders and most importantly keep customers up to date with the progress of their order. Customers can also track their purchases online and will be updated by text and email as orders are dispatched and arrive in store. Sue Pratt, Account Director for Salmon said, "In this difficult climate some retailers would possibly decide to hold fire when it comes to innovation, but not Halfords, they continue to push forward with plans to develop their multi-channel offering with successful ideas. We will continue to work with them to ensure these sorts of programmes are delivered on time and budget and executed in a manner to ensure Halfords succeed." Salmon has been helping Halfords implement their eCommerce and multi-channel strategy since 2005. To deliver “Free Delivery To Store” Salmon have leveraged Halfords existing architecture that supports “Reserve and Collect”, “Home/Work Delivery” and more recently “Text and Reserve” services. Salmon’s integration skills have enabled the Halfords eCommerce platform (WebSphere Commerce) to determine the delivery times from the distribution centres to the stores, take payment using DataCash, pass the order information to SAP which then forwards the information to the store system (Store6). To complete the circle, status updates “ready for collect” are sent from the stores, via Store6 and SAP to WebSphere Commerce, which then sends text alerts and emails to the customers. About Halfords Halfords is the UK’s leading specialist retailer for automotive parts and accessories, cycling and leisure. We provide a unique mix of 10,000 products to help keep our customers on the move and enjoy their active leisure time. We have 10,000 staff and our 469 UK stores puts 90% of consumers in the UK within an average of 18 minutes drive from their nearest Halfords. Meanwhile we are building a significant presence in Ireland and the Czech Republic. Halfords customers also shop at our award winning website to access an extended product range. About Salmon Salmon is a highly innovative regional systems integrator whose commitment to on-time, on-budget projects is increasingly embraced by the leading names in retail, insurance and financial services markets. Since 1989, leading brands have been turning to Salmon for its ability to build, integrate and support business-led systems that add measurable competitive value to their day-to-day operations – and to their bottom line. Salmon quickly understand business needs, creates realistic development schedules, and efficiently delivers solutions to plan; based around an ethos that marries a depth and breadth of development skills, with a management process that removes virtually all risk from successful project roll-outs. Customers include Argos, Ann Summers, Boots, Bristol & West, Halfords, ICI Paints and Swiss Re. Salmon is headquartered in Watford, Hertfordshire and has offices in US, China and Australia. For more details about Salmon visit http://www.salmon.com Contact Details Joanna Temple Marketing and PR Manager Salmon Limited 64 Clarendon Road Watford Herts WD17 1DA Tel: 01923 320000 Mob: 07799 764227 Email: jtemple@salmon.com URL: http://www.salmon.com
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