Halfords.com launches new “Reserve on line, collect in store” service

Customers will be able to choose to reserve online and collect in store, in addition to the traditional method of ordering online for home delivery. Early indications suggest the initiative has been a resounding success, with impressive results of over 100,000 orders being taken online from November 2007 through to January 2008, prior to Halfords national rollout.

Halfords decided to implement the changes in order to continue to exceed customer's expectations through its multi-channel offering, drive profitability and growth, and differentiate the Halfords brand even further. They approached JTM Partners, to create the look and feel of the new checkout, and Salmon to develop the schematics and functional dynamic pages using CSS, XHTML and J2EE.

Halfords.com customers can now choose from a range of stores for collection based on entering their postcode or town name and will be able to mix home delivery and store collection within a single transaction. They will be given a list of their nearest stores and the distance to that store, along with stock availability and delivery methods available.

Jon Asbury, Channel Development Manager for Halfords said, “It is very important for us to be able to predict customer's expectations building our customers loyalty and enticing new online shoppers. To do this we knew we had to organise the business around the customer and deliver a consistent brand experience no matter how our customers choose to shop with us. We can now provide a quality shopping experience any time, any place, anywhere and have a business model in place that will support long term, sustainable growth and profitability.”

Jeff Leaver, Salmon's Chief Operations Officer said, “Salmon originally began working with Halfords back in 2005, Halfords.com is now their highest turnover store, and the most visited sports and leisure website in the UK. They have a solid eCommerce platform and we are working with them to integrate additional channels substantiating the fact that they are a true multi-channel retailer, with aspirations to grow their business and stay at the leading edge of technology.”

Usability testing undertaken by Salmon prior to the new checkout process being developed ensured that any usability issues were uncovered and resolved early in the project, helping Halfords increase sales through better acquisition, conversion and retention of customers.

Salmon has integrated the Halfords.com with a number of business systems transforming the customer experience. Halfords can now develop new cross channel processes that are unique to their business and will inspire their customers.

Integration points include MultiMap to ascertain the distance (in miles) from the search location to the stores listed and a facility to provide driving instructions to the store. QAS has been integrated for address management and data integrity, Scene7 for dynamic imaging and a link to an innovative website called Mythings.com (offers a free service where customers can organise their possessions online).

The sites are built on IBM WebSphere Commerce for its scalability, open technology standards, adaptability and capability to support best in class mission critical enterprise applications. In addition, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 from Novell was selected as the operating system.