WATFORD, England, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Salmon, specialists in delivering eCommerce solutions, today announces growing adoption and success of the Salmon Application Framework for eCommerce (SAFE(TM)). SAFE(TM) is a fully developed, tested and pre-configured solution comprising reusable components and a mature methodology, significantly lowering the costs and reducing the risks typically associated to implementing IBM WebSphere Commerce.

A recent SAFE(TM) project completed for http://www.hawkshead.com, one of the UK's largest suppliers of men and ladies leisure clothing, saw 100% of the merchant's requirements being met with little or no customisation required to support catalogue and content management, marketing, B2C selling and order management. The solution was developed in just 35 days.

Scotts & Co., a re-branded catalogue-driven business for the 50+ age group, has also recently launched newly branded eCommerce websites using SAFE(TM) to drive existing business and expand its reach.

Wendy Derbyshire, Director of eBusiness & IT at Scotts & Co says: "We didn't have an infinite budget, and needed nine eCommerce websites to be developed under tight deadlines, without compromising on the areas we see as key, namely scalability, rich functionality, business-user control and above all the ability to differentiate and deliver a great customer experience".

Whilst SAFE(TM) offers a faster time to market and quicker return on investment, the real benefit is the IBM "on-ramp" SAFE(TM) provides merchants, lowering the barrier of entry to IBM's technology stack. Deployed by some of the world's top enterprises, IBM WC is widely regarded by analysts as a scalable and robust eCommerce platform and one of the industry's leading eCommerce solutions.

Additionally SAFE(TM) gives merchants the opportunity to focus on investing time and money in areas that differentiate, such as personalised cross channel shopping experiences, guided selling, search, and online merchandising.

Chris Hoskin, Chief Marketing Officer at Salmon says: "SAFE(TM) has lowered a typical I.T. Services engagement associated with IBM WC based eCommerce projects by 50% and radically reduces the risks associated with initially implementing or re-developing an eCommerce website. The long-term benefit lies with the flexibility to integrate the more complex aspects of an eCommerce strategy".

"Our experience suggests that as the pressure to provide an optimised customer experience increases, businesses have to rip and replace expensively constructed systems that can't cope with increasing levels of traffic, advanced functionality, or the sophisticated integration of multiple channels. SAFE(TM) is designed for the simplest online stores, but additionally scales to meet complex multi-channel requirements as the merchants needs mature''.

8 branded websites have been launched using SAFE(TM) with more sites to be announced later in the year.

Salmon has delivered a range of sophisticated and award winning eCommerce solutions for Argos, Halfords, Arcadia Group, ICI Dulux and Homebase.

Various levels of Application Management and Support (AMS) are also available from Salmon.

About SAFE(TM)

SAFE(TM) (The Salmon Application Framework for eCommerce) is a series of pre-configured, reusable and customisable eCommerce components which combine with a mature eCommerce project delivery methodology. SAFE(TM) facilitates the rapid delivery of very sophisticated eCommerce solutions, significantly lowering the risks inherent in launching a new eCommerce capability, or replacing an existing eCommerce platform.

In the interests of customer choice and commercial flexibility, SAFE(TM) can be implemented in three ways: either as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, as a starter store with rich 'out-of-the-box' capabilities, or as a framework to support a fully bespoke and extended eCommerce implementation.

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, Bristol & West, Halfords, ICI Paints and Swiss Re.

Salmon is headquartered in Watford, Hertfordshire and has offices in the US, China and Australia. For more details about Salmon visit http://www.salmon.com

Contact Details: Kelly Ohlmus, Marketing & PR Manager, Salmon Limited, 64 Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts, WD17 1DA, Tel: +44-(0)1923-320030, Mob: +44-(0)7786-477870, Fax: +44-(0)1923-320023, Email: kohlmus@salmon.com