www.salmon.com 1

Delivering Transformative Ecommerce Platforms and Solutions with

Delivery and Operations 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.

Once we’ve defined how best to support your strategy,

and delivered the right ecommerce solution, we work

with you to drive oustanding performance....

Salmon has a proud track record across retail, distribution, manufacturing, FMCG and D2C in selecting and

deploying commerce platforms that reset expectations.

Through our Delivery and Operations services we enable client strategies, translating them into robust,

technical implementations, applying insight and the latest digital technologies to deliver innovation that works.

With over 500 experts in ecommerce development and delivery, Salmon leads the way in:

• multichannel solution implementation, integrating every channel your customers need for an engaging,

frictionless experience on every journey

• commerce system integration, building scalable, stable solutions that work seamlessly within your overall

enterprise system structures

• ecommerce operations and management, ensuring your solutions are outperforming KPIs

• programme governance and management, developing and adhering to structures and schedules you

can count on, with everything tested and secure end-to-end

• process methodology and design, through the ownership of complex programmes, applying industry

standard and Salmon’s unique approach to optimise design and enable powerful solutions.

DELIVERING OUTSTANDING ECOMMERCE PERFORMANCE

Delivering ecommerce solutions for leading brands:

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Our ApproachWe integrate systems for multichannel business

operations to deliver a seamless customer

experience and an efficient operating model. Our

multichannel consultants help with insight and

advice on integration solutions and strategy, and

recommend how to implement industry standards

and best practices.

We help you answer the key questions, like which

systems own the master customer record, which

integration strategies and technologies to use,

when to upgrade key technology components

and how to integrate safely with new third party

services via public and private APIs.

Benefits• Draw on Salmon’s experience of integrating

the myriad of systems in a multichannel

environment. We’ve worked on services like

Click-and-Collect, Reserve-and-Collect, Check-

and-Reserve, Free-Delivery-to-Store and Text-

and-Reserve for leading retailers such as

Argos, Selfridges and Halfords.

• Provide an outstanding experience based on

deep engagement for your customers with

channel optimisation services. These ensure

that multiple channels complement each other

every time.

Our ServicesData architecture analysis

Our data architecture teams analyse data from

disparate legacy systems and enhance and distil

this intelligence to support your multichannel

needs.

Enterprise services

We use our industry expertise to provide you with

a software architecture model that simplifies the

definition of complex Enterprise environments or

systems.

MULTICHANNEL INTEGRATION

There are more channels than ever to connect with customers, so it’s crucial to integrate

your systems for a seamless customer experience.

Clive West, Digital Director, Halfords“

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In 2007 we were one of the first retailers in the UK to implement Click-and-Collect, which is still in full swing today and delivering us some great results.

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Service-oriented architecture

Our approach helps you reach your multichannel

vision. We do this by exposing the features of your

existing systems so that they can be viewed as

services internally and externally.

Sainbury’s Grocery IntegrationAs well as moving the website, Salmon

re-platformed eight additional systems at

Sainsbury’s, comprising the contact centre,

delivery scheduling, delivery management,

content management, ratings and reviews,

search and navigation and merchandising.

This project is one of the first, and largest, grocery

implementations on IBM WebSphere Commerce in

the world. The implementation involved migrating

the data of eight million customer accounts, four

million credit cards and 12 million orders. The new

platform has also been tightly integrated with

Sainsbury’s legacy systems.

The website includes features such as support for

thousands of simultaneous promotions, calculated

real-time in the basket. Salmon developed a

number of bespoke applications and more than

80 integration points to backend systems and

the supply chain to support reporting and the

supermarket’s entire multichannel offering.

The back-end systems include product, promotion

and pricing data, stores fulfilment, delivery/vehicle

tracking, payment, product and supplier data,

in-store picking, non-groceries platform, range/

product availability and delivery/route planning.

Multichannel frameworks

Using our experience of multichannel solution

implementation we can show you how to exploit

the multichannel features of sophisticated

frameworks such as IBM WebSphere Commerce,

SAP Hybris and Magento.

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Our ApproachThe experience to deliver on time, and the

common sense to deliver on budget, are the skills

you’ll expect from good project managers. Our

qualified team go beyond this to add value at key

pressure points in the project lifecycle and span

across third parties for seamless delivery.

• Choose the right methodology for your project

and business, from full project management to

workstream support.

• Decide where you want to go. At the discovery

phase we take the time to define and redefine,

the business proposition. We then recommend

how to get you there.

• Receive regular input, demos and security

management for reassurance and to keep risk

to a minimum.

• Once the project has reached go-live

we continue to add value and look for

improvements.

Our ServicesFull programme management

Hand us control of third-party and internal

team management and we will streamline your

workload.

Workstream support

For focus on specific project areas we team with

our clients, working alongside you at your offices.

Salmon project management

We take responsibility for all Salmon deliverables

driving high performance standards, underpinned

by service agreements.

PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT

Allow Salmon to take total ownership of complex projects and programmes, and manage

across multiple workstreams

It’s taken Sainsbury’s 14 years to reach £1bn annual sales online and this new platform gives us the capacity to double

this. Salmon has been a key partner in helping us transform our digital offer, managing the overall programme and

more than ten third parties.“

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Jon Rudoe, Digital and Technology Director, Sainsbury’s

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MethodologiesWe recommend our own project methodologies,

but for flexibility and to fit in with your culture

and internal processes we’re fully conversant in

Prince2 and Agile.

Salmon Implementation Methodology

Our own methodology is a proven process that

allows you to benefit from best practice project

methodologies and our commerce expertise

dating back to 1989.

Agile

Iterative, fast-paced and fluid, Agile gives you

incremental development and the flexibility to

shape and change the project as you go.

Prince2

This proven methodology helps you to see the full

and complete picture upfront.

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Our ApproachMore than 25 years of building sophisticated and

high-volume transactional systems has taught us

many things and shaped who we are today.

Above all, we’ve learned that client input and

collaboration throughout the project lifecycle is

vital for efficient and effective project delivery.

To provide an optimal design solution, we apply

proven, tested architectural patterns.

Our development process has quality gates

across all project stages. These include standard

processes, automation of manual tasks, standard

checklists, knowledge bases, plus code and

architecture reviews. We also test rigorously.

Benefits• Realise your full multichannel potential by

tapping into Salmon’s expertise in delivering

highly integrated projects.

• To ensure consistent focus true to your initial

vision we guide the development phase with

an iterative plan created during discovery.

This also allows for short bursts of incremental

delivery and user acceptance.

• Keep in control of progress and quality via

open communication to ensure clarity and

consistency, and facilitate feedback on demos

and code releases as part of an ongoing end-

of-release UAT.

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

Complex business needs often call for more than a single agnostic solution. it’s this

approach that’s made Salmon a market leader in this field

Much of the work by Salmon has focused on improvements “behind the screen” to allow us to build new and exciting

functionality that will make the shopping experience better, faster and more efficient for our customers. Customers

can look forward to some exciting developments on the horizon.“

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Clive West, Digital Director, Halfords Group

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Our ServicesPlatform implementation, upgrade and extension

Whichever platform is implemented we

configure and extend in line with the vendor’s

recommended approach. This ensures smooth

upgrades in the future.

We have our own toolsets to help us deliver

projects efficiently and effectively, including:

• Integrated and automated build, release

and deployment toolsets. We build software

releases from the source code repositories

and deploy to all environments, from daily

build onwards through system test and UAT

to live. This continuous integration helps us to

identify and resolve issues before they affect

downstream systems.

• 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

validation tests on code to ensure standards

and efficiencies, simple regression tests and

PCI checks.

• Unit test frameworks. We provide automated

unit test frameworks to fully test all applicable

units of code on a nightly basis. We also

provide success or failure reports for each test.

Custom development

Where it makes sense to build instead of buy,

we develop custom software to extend existing

software or create new components. Our teams

are familiar with a wide range of web technologies

for both front-end and back-end development.

Deployment planning

Our plans describe all tasks and owners to help us

carefully plan for go-live together. We review the

deployment plan with all stakeholders and confirm

all timings and dependencies.

Implementation methodology

Our own unique approach is based on our

extensive experience. The process is consistent

and repeatable. It incorporates industry-standard

best practices, as well as extensive quality

controls throughout the project lifecycle.

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Our ApproachOur commerce experience keeps the risks out

of database management. With this experience

comes our ability to automate complex solutions,

rather than build them from scratch. And when we

deploy, it’s at the click of a button and to a high

level of quality.

• Exploit Salmon’s deep experience across

website, online and reporting databases, or

focus on specific aspects of your databases.

• Confidently use our design, build and

database management skills. Plus you can rely

on our own tried and tested tools for database

maintenance and analysis.

• Know that you’re using the best available. We

partner with third parties to strengthen our

capabilities.

Our ServicesDatabase reviews

Use our non-disruptive reviews to uncover hidden

issues, gain performance insight and to test

capacity.

Performance reviews

Our actionable recommendations allow you to

overcome underlying issues and improve function

and site performance.

Back-up and restore methodologies

Safeguard your business and client data against

inevitable problems by using our best-practice

techniques.

Disaster recovery reviews

We review and then recommend how to protect

your data against disasters, as well as how to

quickly recover data too.

DATABASE SERVICES

Take full control of website database and ecommerce solutions to ensure operational

stability, performance and security

Taking into consideration the performance implications of the large number of items in the average shopping trolley,

the sheer abundance and complexity of grocery promotions, tight coupling to legacy systems and data migration of

8 million customer accounts, 4 million credit cards and 12 million orders - by any standards the (online re-platform)

launch has been a resounding success.“

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Jon Rudoe, Digital and Technology Director, Sainsbury’s

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High-availability reviews

Use our best-practice tools to build database

resilience and shield data from component failure.

Major incident investigation and problem

resolution

Recover from complex database problems with

our thorough experience-led investigations.

WebSphere Commerce database specialities

Harness our many years’ design and

implementation experience of IBM WebSphere

Commerce and our own bespoke database tools.

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Our ApproachWith our experience of testing ecommerce sites,

we help you mitigate risk and give you confidence

in the software being tested.

We ensure quality throughout programme delivery

with our key testing activities. These include

functional test case development and execution,

daily automated builds to regularly deploy and

test new code. We also include system integration

testing, reporting and management.

Benefits• Rely on our proven track record to deliver well-

tested solutions within demanding timelines.

• Use our test team’s extensive domain

knowledge and expertise in the frameworks,

third party and open source tools that

comprise a multichannel project delivery. The

team is made up of certified ISEB and ISTQB

professionals.

• Draw on our expert advice for all aspects

of testing. Our guidance is based on our

thorough knowledge of the current testing

tools and techniques.

Our ServicesTest strategy preparation

If you don’t have inhouse test expertise and

need guidance on how to approach testing, we

can prepare a test strategy for you. We cover

everything from unit testing through to operational

acceptance and live deployment.

Test management

We provide skilled test managers to support your

in-house testing assignments. Call on us to assist

with UAT or manage third-party teams.

TESTING

End-to-end testing means you can trust your web applications to deliver the quality

experiences that customers demand

Ken Platt, Head of Multichannel Delivery, Morrisons“

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One of the best experiences we had with Salmon, with Morrison’s Cellar, was the usability labs.

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Web testing

Our ISTQB and ISEB certified testers have been

testing web applications for over 25 years. From

cookies to cache, search to spelling, we test all

aspects of your website.

Mobile device testing

With experience in testing mobile-optimised

websites and mobile apps we leave you confident

that your software will function and render

correctly. We use a combination of real devices

and third-party applications.

Test automation solutions

Our team works with industry standard tools,

such as UFT, Selenium and Cucumber for

web and mobile solutions. We support many

automated testing approaches, including keyword,

behavioural-driven development and bespoke

frameworks.

Operational acceptance testing (OAT)

We prove that everything works, from functionality

through to all of the agreed non-functional

requirements, such as network, bandwidth,

middleware, integrations and third-party

touchpoints.

Security testing

We limit the risk of attack through industry

standard tools, such as BurpSuite, to carry out

manual and tool-driven web vulnerability testing.

Testing partner collaborative services

For some specialist areas, such as penetration

or accessibility testing, we bring in our testing

partners to complement our inhouse expertise.

Performance testing and results analysis

Identify capability issues with our robust analysis

and testing. Overcome underlying issues with the

actionable recommendations we make about your

technology’s performance.

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Our ApproachOur industry and domain experience come

together to keep global applications and systems

stable, optimal and easy to change.

It means clients benefit from a managed service

that is tailored to your business. We use our

discovery process and draw on more than

25 years of expertise to recommend the right

package for your needs.

We can provide support and additional services,

whether or not your solution was developed by us.

Benefits• Choose package options from the fully

managed Platinum service, down to SLA-

based Gold or Silver levels.

• Based upon ITIL® (the IT Infrastructure Library)

Version 3 Framework for best practice

methodologies and robust processes.

• Draw down ad hoc support. This is ideal for

one-off needs, such as preparation for key

trading periods or fixed resource models with

high flexibility.

• Deliver change with lower risk by transitioning

and implementing an AMS (Application

Management System) model. This is a proven

and swift process.

APPLICATION MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT

Salmon’s Application Management and Support is a vital way to protect your

revenue and reputation

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I’m pleased that ... on those odd occasions where we do have a critical ticket or an issue on the site, we’ve always

managed to get support from Salmon within our agreed SLAs to get the site back up and running and open to our

customers.“

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Clive West, Digital Director, Halfords

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Additional ServicesWe recommend a selection of these service

packages to complement any AMS models, or

they can be delivered as stand-alone services.

Capacity And Performance:

Capacity Planning And Peak Trading Reviews

We review your recent trading peaks and

projected volumes to help you build in optimal

availability for the next high-volume peak event.

Load, Stress And Soak Testing

Use our set of tests to prove the capacity of the

system assets against various scenarios.

Non-Functional Requirements:

Build And Deployment Management

Our domain experience reduces the risk of

change and provides automation to build robust

tools and processes.

Alert And Monitoring Solutions

Use our pre-built assets to monitor, probe, trend and

analyse system characteristics and solution issues.

Hosting Services

Work with our strategic partners to build scalable,

robust, secure and resilient architectures.

House-keeping Solutions

Take advantage of our pre-built solutions to

help manage data volumes, logs, database

performance and data warehousing.

Audit And Recommendations:

Performance Audits

With a review of system performance KPIs we

recommend improvements to load or response

times.

Architecture Reviews

We review your complete system architecture

end-to-end and recommend changes via heat-map

analysis.

Security Reviews

Know where to look for security vulnerabilities in

data, application and processes with our systems

audit.

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Our ApproachWe understand how to develop and deliver a

content strategy fit for commerce. You can use our

digital marketing know-how to build valuable and

measurable content into the development of your

site.

Every piece of content should serve a purpose

and meet your goals, so we think about content as

soon as we start to develop a website.

As the customer experience is central to your

content strategy we ask what you are trying to

achieve, who you want to reach and importantly,

what you want them to do.

Benefits• Tap into our knowledge of the technology

behind the content. We match engaging

content with high-performance capabilities.

• Step back to consider your content vision, or

lean in for a closer page-by-page audit. Our

full-service content team has the strategy,

creation and content management expertise to

help with every element.

• Use the right mix of tactics to deliver your

content marketing strategy. Know your

audience. Show, don’t tell. Choose the right

format. Engage. Surprise. Entertain. And above

all, focus on quality.

• Add powerful web analytics to measure your

content’s performance and to continuously

optimise.

• Develop a clear purpose for all of your content

with customer experience research and

insight. We also use customer personas to

help us to tailor your content and move your

audience towards their goals.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT

Ken Platt, Head of Multichannel Delivery, Morrisons“

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Put your content to work. Successful content management drives action and converts

brand messages into results

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The personalised experience of the site was really brought together with the relational content solution that Salmon developed.

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Our Services

Content strategy services:Content vision

Together, using stakeholder and customer

research, we develop an overarching content

vision to achieve your business needs and user

goals.

Content audit

We evaluate your current content portfolio to

identify content gaps using customer research,

best practice techniques and analytics.

Tone of voice

Consistency is paramount, so we create tone of

voice documentation and guidelines to help you

maintain your tone of voice across all channels.

Style guide

Ensure you share best practice across all digital

channels with our content style guide.

Team development and training

We help you determine your content team

requirements, and then recruit and train personnel

for you.

Content plans and workflow

Our content plans and workflow tools help you to

manage your content’s sources, targets, reviews

and outcomes.

Content creation:Creation of new content

Benefit from inspired and fresh content created

by Salmon’s dedicated content team. Ensure you

have quality control with our editorial leadership

and governance.

Existing content

Build on what you’ve got. We can bring your

existing content to life by addressing its structure,

style, tone of voice and SEO.

Content migration

We use a case-by-case approach, so we can plan

and implement a smooth data transition.

Social media

Manage and integrate your social media presence

to engage and deliver your overall strategy.

Content management:Asset management

Use our tools to control, distribute and integrate

your valuable content.

Full service content management

We provide seamless content strategy, creation

and management know-how.

Dedicated content team

Serve consistently rich content with the help of our

editorial leadership and planning.

Track digital KPIs

Follow your digital marketing plan’s progress with

our monitoring tools and metrics.

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Our ApproachSo you’re looking for managed services you can

depend upon? Our suite of managed services

is made up of our own solutions, third-party

products, supplier-delivered solutions and content

or trading operations.

We tailor the services and packages on offer

to meet your requirements and budget and, as

always, we look to step forward as your single

point of contact.

Benefits• Choose from a range of tailored services to

meet your requirements and budget.

• Streamline your workload by using us as your

accountable single point of contact.

• Focus on your business operations, with the

confidence that comes from having a stable

and secure trading platform you can trust.

Our ServicesClients work with us in a variety of ways:

Managed application support service

This service supports a high service level

agreement (SLA) where we act as the single

point of contact for all suppliers, partners, third

parties and interfaces. All parties work to the

same service governance via agreed roles and

responsibilities and operational level agreement.

Managed service – one contract

As with our managed application support service, we

are the single point of contact and governing owner

but with this option we take care of the commercials,

so you have just one price and one contract.

Managed service plus

In this managed service we add on trading

operations, analytical, content and campaign

management, with the potential for reward-based

outcomes.

MANAGED SERVICES

Our managed services give you the confidence to concentrate on your core business

operations and strategies

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Did you know? Salmon has established a Peak Trading Operations Centre for clients, with its ecommerce technical experts all in one environment to support customer ecommerce sites during peak trading.

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Our ApproachIn collaboration with our strategic partners we

design, build and support stable, secure and

scalable hosted solutions to a high service level

agreement (SLA).

We define your non-functional requirements

(NFRs) and service levels and create a roadmap

for the hosted solution.

Your base solution will have fast recovery times,

with fully resilient architectures throughout all

network, hardware and software tiers. Finally, we

factor in disaster recovery (DR) and performance

environments.

Benefits• Opt for the best hosting option for your

requirements and budget. Through our

partnerships you can choose from Public

Cloud, Private Cloud or a dedicated managed

hosting service.

• Minimise downtime to protect trading and

brand reputation, plan for future capacity and

maintain up-to-date hardware and security

versions.

• Enjoy fast set-up times with our pre-built

assets to support trading and monitoring.

HOSTING

We believe that hosting should be seamless within projects and application management

models, yet designed for resilience, scale and easy upgrade

We wanted to be able to concentrate on doing business and actually evolving and doing new things for customers.

We want the technology and operations to be seamless and therefore not have any of our staff to think about it: it just

works. And that’s what we were buying into when we went with the Salmon-Rackspace combination.“

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Russ Harte, Head of Multichannel Development & Delivery, DFS

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Our ApproachWe develop, run, and measure ongoing multi-

channel campaign strategies that drive traffic,

increase conversion rates and encourage repeat

purchase.

With our multiple skills all under one roof, we can

exploit your technology with website optimisation,

full-service content management and capacity

planning.

Benefits• Link your multichannel communications to our

full ecommerce capabilities.

• Use our full service, expertise from customer

insight, brief creation and contact strategy

through to deployment and measurement.

Our Services

Research and measurement services:

Customer profiling

The first step is to understand the customers you

want to engage. We help you discover who and

where your customers are, and why and how they

buy. We also develop personas to help target your

marketing communications.

Segmentation

We show you where to focus your effort

and spend with personalised and consistent

messaging. And we help you convert anonymous

visitors to known prospects or customers more

quickly.

Actionable insight reports

As part of our managed services we provide

regular reviews across departments that focus on

actionable insight.

MULTICHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS

Clive West, Digital Director, Halfords

They (Salmon) fully understand our online and offline customers.... If I look at our customer engagement, our

customer feedback and our customer conversion, we’ve absolutely made the step-change in our performance

that we set out to do.“

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Power your customer communications through personalised and targeted campaigns

across channels

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Measurement services

Evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns using our

measurement tools, including conversion tracking

and link history reports. Our web analytics team

also recommend how to fully optimise your website.

Managed marketing automation

We manage the whole automated multichannel

communications programme from installation,

integration, insight, creative, campaign

management, reporting and strategy – to deploy

best practice at all stages

Multichannel campaign delivery:Multichannel strategy development

Engage customers over key lifecycle stages. We

use personas to craft content for the right channel

and the right context.

Creative services

Our multichannel know-how informs our creative

work, from concept through to fully worked-up

artwork for email, landing pages, collateral and

video.

Planning services

We develop automated routines based on

customer and prospective customer attributes and

behaviours. These routines automatically review

individuals within the system and place them into

the most appropriate campaign.

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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 Strategy & Design Services and Optimisation

Services brochures present Salmon services that

define high-impact ecommerce solutions, and sustain

high performance once implemented.