Salmon help Barratts launch their first iPhone App - as the retailer ramps up its mobile commerce strategy
Salmon help Barratts launch their first iPhone App – as the retailer ramps up its mobile commerce strategy Watford, London May 2010 - Salmon, specialists in delivering eCommerce solutions today announced they have helped the leading UK shoe retailer launch their first iPhone App; following the successful redevelopment of Barratts entire eCommerce platform in 2008. Supporting their vision for multi-channel excellence, Barratts’ new iPhone application currently delivers a virtual shopping experience, encouraging customers to explore and interact with their portfolio of branded footwear. For the next phase of Barratts’ mobile commerce strategy, Salmon will expand the Apps to allow Barratts to deliver a more sophisticated mobile commerce experience. Services planned for phase two include click and collect, GPS enabled store finder and targeted SMS marketing and promotions. The Apps and a .mobi site will provide a shopping basket and checkout process. Currently customers can view Barratts’ entire footwear collection, and search by occasion (weddings/evening dress/casual wear, etc.) or by brand. To capture the imagination, customers can upload images to a changing room where they can mix and match their outfits against the latest shoe styles. Using inspiration such as a birthstone finder, customers can search and select the appropriate colours and styles in a personalized way. Ken Platt, Head of eCommerce, at Barratts said, “We are currently working with Salmon so that we can offer an even more compelling mobile experience for customers. To do this Salmon will develop more interfaces between Barratts in-store POS systems, website, call centre and back office systems. Once this is complete our aim is to allow customers to email, mms and Facebook their outfit choices to friends, and upload their “completed look” to the Barratts website to enter a dedicated “My Barratts Style” online competition. Salmon will also help us implement full commerce capabilities with customers able to purchase online for home delivery or click and collect. Together we are also looking at loyalty recognition and voucher fulfillment with scannable barcodes which will all help us to provide a totally integrated experience for the customer.” Salmon have taken advantage of Barratts powerful “customer interaction platform” (implemented by Salmon in 2008 using IBM WebSphere Commerce) to help Infogain develop the iPhone App. The iPhone application accesses a server containing an extract of Barratts product data. This extract is kept synchronised with the eCommerce website to ensure product details, pricing and stock positions are up-to-date and consistent across channels. To deliver the Apps, Salmon surfaces product information using RESTful services (Representational State Transfer) and XML interfaces which support the required integration between Barratts core customer interaction platform (IBM WebSphere Commerce) and specialist search and navigation technology (Omniture). Apps for other mobile operating systems including Android, Blackberry and Nokia will be released later this year. Neil Stewart, Salmon’s Commercial Director said, “Barratts considered their long term strategy when they replaced their eCommerce platform in 2008 and made the right decision in selecting IBM WebSphere Commerce. They now have a rock solid commerce platform in place that supports their ongoing needs. They are ideally placed to take advantage of the potential for mobile commerce.” 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
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