www.salmon.com 1

Defining Ecommerce Experiences for the World’s Leading Brands

and their Customers with Strategy and Design Services

Transform Your Business With Salmon Ecommerce Services

www.salmon.com 2

Over 25 years in the making, Salmon defines, delivers

and drives outstanding ecommerce experiences for

the world’s leading brands, helping them transact more

digitally and deepen engagement with their customers.

Supporting client platforms that generate $5billion in

annual revenue, we are WPP’s largest global digital

commerce consultancy.

Tech know-how. Deep experience. Outstanding design.

All brought together in high-performance strategies.

Salmon has been defining commerce experiences for customers of the world’s leading brands since 1989.

Our strategies enable clients to engage digitally with their audiences and transact more business. Exploring

workable innovation, we test ideas to help shape how people transact in the future.

With hands-on experience across B2C and B2B industries, we define:

• multichannel strategy meeting your customers’ channel profiles and providing a seamless, integrated

experience across journeys

• platform / technology mapping, exploiting the latest technologies for a consistent customer experience

across every touchpoint in support of your strategy

• UX and UI design definition: every element of the customer journey, should be immersive, engaging and

memorable. No less.

• optimal organisational design: how to set up your resources to harness digital capabilities and excel in a

connected world

• success criteria tangibly supporting your KPIs and creating impact

DEFINING OUTSTANDING ECOMMERCE PERFORMANCE

Defining ecommerce solutions for leading brands:

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Our ApproachOur approach is determined by your vision,

customer needs, your organisation’s multichannel

maturity and where Salmon can create a powerful

impact. For some clients we start from scratch, for

others we refine existing strategies.

We usually start with a look at the big picture;

your operating space and competitors. We listen

closely to your business challenges and tackle

them as if they were our own.

It’s important to identify your differentiators and

assess how they compare to your competitors,

and importantly, how to translate these points of

difference, whether it’s price, product, or service

to your digital presence.

The end strategy turns conceptual thinking into

reality. We define a journey that delivers an

outstanding customer experience, and is balanced

and optimised for commercial gain.

We believe that if we create a proposition that

combines experiential with commercial, it gives

clients the best of both worlds.

Benefits• With Salmon, you’re tapping into commercial

expertise honed over 25+ years. Our

consultants have worked in leadership roles

in multichannel and understand ecommerce

across sectors. And, we have the expertise

to show you how to incorporate digital

opportunities into your business model.

• Leverage our pioneering retail experience.

Retailers have long led the use of digital

technology, they demand solutions fit for a

complex environment, as well as scale. This

experience translates equally to B2B and

D2C. Don’t risk uncharted territory when you

can tap into the strategies and technologies

that we know to work and deliver commercial

success.

MULTICHANNEL STRATEGY

We develop clear, long-term multichannel strategies that put the customer centre stage,

and bring digital technology to every touchpoint

Salmon were able to convey to us clearly and succinctly what we should focus on and how best to realise our

vision. They made a number of recommendations that we are now implementing and we are already starting

to see improvements relating to site performance and search.

Ros Hunt, Head of Online at LloydsPharmacy“

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• Improve engagement and dialogue before,

during and after a customer interacts with your

brand. How? We put the customer first, not the

technology.

Our ServicesMarket and competitor review

Take a thorough look at your marketplace through

website audits, market insight and data, for a

deeper understanding of competitor propositions

and the trading climate.

Customer analysis

To establish your current situation we develop

an understanding of your positioning, customer

perceptions and how your customers interact with

your current technology.

Strategy definition

To define your strategy we take the opportunities

and differentiators we have identified and match

them against your KPIs and vision. We then create

a high level roadmap to plan execution.

Technology and team capability review

We inform your particular business needs so you

can make confident, knowledge-based changes to

roles and structure.

Organisational engagement and readiness

Once we have a vision in place we secure buy-in

across your business with a communication and

engagement plan.

Resourcing

We help fill resource gaps with qualified staff, on-

or offsite, or backfill while you allocate resource to

a project.

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Our ApproachOur goal is to make sure that technology works for

you, not against you. And we work with the latest

digital technologies to ensure we’re applying

innovation that makes a difference. With our

deep experience in multichannel architecture,

development, integration and support we guide

you to the right decisions, at the right time.

We don’t believe that ‘one size fits all’ and instead

base our strategy and recommendations on our

understanding of your business and goals.

Benefits• Align technology strategy with multichannel

business goals to create a roadmap for

success.

• Use our technology consulting services for

key components of your IT strategy, such

as programme governance, information

management, enterprise architecture,

integration or platform and software selection.

Our ServicesTechnology strategy definition

Draw on our expert consultants to define your

proposition and jointly agree goals, approaches

and project scope.

Information management

With a 25+ year heritage, you can trust Salmon to

show you how to protect and share your data.

Enterprise architecture

Whether you plan to implement a new architecture

or an individual system, we create a clear

roadmap to aid selection and deployment.

Platform, solution or software selection

We use our ecommerce and multichannel

experience and understanding of your vision

to recommend the right technologies for your

business, leveraging innovation that works.

TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

Turn your multichannel vision into realistic technology blueprints that deliver an end-to-end

portfolio of services

Clive West, Digital Director, Halfords“

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That relationship (with Salmon) has meant we’ve been able to work seamlessly to improve both our online and offline customer experience.

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Our ApproachOur website design solutions start and end with

the customer. With this shared understanding

of user experience we consider the end-to end

customer journey as well as your business needs.

We use an iterative design process to achieve

genuine innovation, reduce risk and put customers

in control. These user-centred design processes

draw on research to develop a user experience

that’s based on hard evidence, not opinions.

Benefits• Our team’s expertise spans the full service

with research, design, content and front-end

development skills.

• We have unparalleled experience of designing

ecommerce customer experiences that delight

customers and deliver high-impact ROI.

Our ServicesUser Experience Services Research

With our methods for observation, contextual

inquiry and other feedback methodologies

you can develop invaluable insight into user

behaviours, needs and motivations.

Competitor analysis

Assess the competition so you can establish

differentiation, unique propositions and new

opportunities.

Information architecture

We create digital property that has a logical and

consistent structure and easy-to-find content.

Interaction design

Use our research and design expertise to meet

the demands of, and inspire, your consumers.

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN

A positive user experience means every element of the customer journey, from navigation

to payment and delivery, is simple, immersive and thoughtful

One of the best experiences we had in the whole journey with Salmon with MorrisonsCellar was the usability labs. We

used it for the first one and we had such a good experience, we continued to use it throughout the project and it was

actually a key part in the delivering such a quality solution.“

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Ken Platt, Head of Multi-Channel Delivery for Morrisons

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Heuristic evaluation

Our usability experts review and optimise your

digital property against best practice.

Usability Testing Services:

Usability testing

Investigate website usage and use prototypes to

test theories and inform your design.

Eye tracking

Identify which online areas grab attention and

which are ignored.

Interactive prototypes

Test assumptions and eliminate barriers as early

as possible with working models of your site.

Inherent value testing

We observe how people interact with your existing

digital property to see what works well and where

you need to improve.

Rapid iterative testing and evaluation

This powerful usability process helps us to iterate

the design quickly during testing to make the most

of what we’ve learnt.

Research Services:

Diary studies

We conduct this powerful research to discover

how customers fulfil a need and uncover their

behaviour over a period of time.

Customer experience mapping

Customer journey mapping is crucial to help

co-ordinate cross-channel design and identify

opportunities for new or improved interactions.

Persona development

Through these user portraits we can communicate

critical customer behaviour data in a format that’s

easy to understand and remember.

Contextual inquiry

We observe users’ daily interactions with products

or services for a detailed insight on tasks, pain

points and user preferences.

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Our ApproachOur UI designers craft interfaces that go beyond

function. We make designs that are attractive to

look at and enjoyable to use.

The designs we create triumph because of

our whole project lifecycle knowledge. We

understand how digital works – we only paint

pictures we can build. And we do it powerfully.

Take a look at audi.co.uk for instance.

Benefits• Count on Salmon’s full service, inhouse team

to collaborate with you from inception, through

development, to go-live.

• Go beyond colours and logos. Translate

multichannel brand strategies into meaningful

digital experiences and stay true to brand

values.

• Our developers and creative team collaborate

from the very beginning to reduce headaches

during implementation.

Our ApproachArt direction

Salmon creates outstanding, deeply engaging

online experiences through stunning design. Each

and every time.

Digital brand strategy

We can help you make the most of your brand and

evolve your identity in today’s digital-first world.

We also create digital style guides to maintain

consistency across all channels, from apps to

websites.

Idea generation

Our process is inclusive, not exclusive. We

workshop all ideas and allow creativity to flourish

from the beginning and throughout the process.

USER INTERFACE DESIGN

Give your online business its voice with a strong visual presence that expresses your

brand values and deeply engages your customers

As an omnichannel games specialist, it is important for us to continue to deliver excellence and value for gamers

across all our channels. Salmon has helped our online proposition stay strong and with the collaboration, we look

forward to growing our digital market share and delivering excellence to gamers.“

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Andrew Grainger, Chief Technology Officer, GAME

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Concept creation

We maintain focus on your users’ needs

throughout the visualisation process to make the

most of the aesthetic experience.

Design advice

Consult with our design team for expert input on

colour theory, visual semiotics, typography, visual

hierarchy, grid-based design and visual language

systems.

Creative design

Design is not just about solving problems, it’s

about delighting and engaging users. We

transform functional into beautiful.

Accessibility analysis

Stunning visuals are only part of the challenge.

We match creativity against accessibility to ensure

your site reaches the widest possible audience.

Interaction design

We view user inputs as sacred, so we consider how

our outstanding static imagery interacts with the

user. Every interaction contributes to the overall

experience.

Content production

Content needs careful curation. We do this by

ensuring visual assets achieve the best quality.

Design quality assurance

Our job doesn’t end when the website has gone

live. We use thorough audits to make sure the

overall vision carries through to every element of

the site.

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Our ApproachIn an intense two-to-four-week discovery

programme, we work together to share expertise

and knowledge. Our aim is to reduce risk and

shorten the development and testing phases.

At the end of the discovery phase you will have a

design that meets, and even exceeds your vision.

From here, our in-house team can develop a

solution to turn this vision into reality.

Benefits• Keep your vision in constant sight with clear

communication and involvement. We ensure

all of our team members grasp the proposition

first-hand and that all other stakeholders

attend the playback sessions.

• Use our workshops to identify any gaps

with the platform and other components.

At the workshops we present options for

customisation and have open discussions on

functionality, interfaces, data, performance and

other non-functional requirements. Workshops

also give you the chance to incorporate

industry trends and learn from our experience

with other leading merchants.

• You can see changes being made instantly, without

the frustrating delay of decisions being taken away.

• Quality governance gives you assurance of

our high standards – we implement stage

gate reviews to confirm deliverables are of the

highest standard.

SOLUTION DESIGN

We combine our discovery team’s ecommerce and multichannel expertise with your

knowledge and vision

Salmon added real value in many areas throughout the project. Great leadership, great experience through discovery

in understanding the capabilities of the platform to take a vision and transform that into something we could deliver

very quickly.“

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Ken Platt, Head of Multi Channel eCommerce Delivery, Morrisons

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Our ServicesData architecture services

Our designs include logical and physical data

models. These not only aid understanding of the

solution, but feed into the detailed implementation

phase.

Wireframe development

We rapidly create wireframes and page designs as

part of a high-level solution. Then we continue to

iteratively develop it until we agree on the design.

User journey key page creation

Early in the visual design process we identify key

pages so we can produce accurate user journeys.

Together, we can then establish and enhance the

visual design.

Style guide and indicative visual designs

Style guides and indicative visual designs give you

early sight of the visual design solution, so that you

can feedback and contribute to the design process.

Technical design

Our design process has two stages. Firstly, with our

high level design, we place the new solution into

the context of all the other existing components.

This highlights how the new design will interface

and interact. For the second stage, we produce a

detailed design which the development team uses

for understanding and to begin the coding phase.

Non-functional design

We address non-functional requirements such as

page response time and browser compatibility,

as part of the overall process of achieving your

vision. This way the solution meets your goals and

performs in the way you expect.

Security

Security is an integral part of all of our designs. This

means we design safe, secure systems rather than

layering in security once we’ve finished the design.

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Our ApproachWith our standardised methodology your

environment can be up-and-running quickly, using

best practice virtualisation and cloud techniques.

Then we refine and optimise as your online

presence grows.

We use our tried and tested processes to ensure

build quality and stability through automation and

cloning techniques.

Benefits• Boost uptime and availability for transactions

with designed-in resilience.

• Build in flexibility and scalability with

virtualisation and cloud technologies as

transaction volumes increase.

• Robust security designed in at every level,

from network components to software

configuration.

• Deploy releases, upgrades and content

change without system outages.

Our ServicesEnvironments definition

We define the types of environments needed,

from system test, to user acceptance testing (UAT)

to production and disaster recovery (DR). We

define the requirements for each environment,

based on factors like flexibility, resilience, security,

scalability and growth targets and other KPIs.

Environments design

We work with hosting partners to design

environments using the latest technologies.

Integrated and automated build, release and

deployment toolsets

Clients benefit from a consistent and high quality

infrastructure delivery with a standardised build

process. With continuous integration we identify

and resolve issues before they affect downstream

systems.

INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN

There’s no substitute for experience. Especially when it comes to infrastructure design that

is flexible, scalable, resilient and secure

We want to be able to concentrate on doing business and evolving, and doing new things for customers. We want the technology and operations to be seamless and therefore not for any of our sales people or any of our staff to think about it - it just works!“

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Russell Harte, Head of Multichannel Development and Delivery, DFS

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Push-button deployment mechanisms

Reduce lead times with our tools tailored for this

purpose, all with full audit capability.

Build and release mechanisms

We perform automated regression tests as part

of deployment and execute security tools against

published secure coding standards.

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©2016 Salmon Ltd. All rights reserved. All company and product names, brands and symbols mentioned herein are brand names and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information,email: info@salmon.comor visit: www.salmon.com

ABOUT SALMON

Salmon is a global digital commerce consultancy

– the largest in WPP’s network of companies. We

define and deliver market-changing solutions and

customer journeys for the world’s leading brands.

Established in 1989, with operations in London, New

York, Melbourne and Beijing, Salmon clients include

AkzoNobel, Argos, Audi UK, DFS, Halfords, Premier

Farnell, Sainsbury’s and Selfridges.

The Delivery & Operations Services and

Optimisation Services brochures present Salmon

services to deliver transformative ecommerce

platforms, and sustain high performance once

implemented.