Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping (
www.picknpay.co.za
), with 40 000 online registrations and 12 000 shoppers in the six months since inception, is set to be an e-commerce success story.
Driving the Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping Web application is Sun Microsystems' Enterprise 4500 server. And as with most online shopping offerings, Sun's technology is expected to ensure Web site uptime at the most hectic of times.
According to Adrian Naud'e, general manager of Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping, Sun's servers have proven to be extremely reliable. "We've experienced no problems and all the servers are running smoothly.
"We've built our online shopping site on tried and tested technology. Sun offers mission-critical functionality and excellent computing power, all needed to run Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping."
"Our Sun Enterprise 4500 server is suited to databases, business applications and e-commerce as it delivers advanced system management tools - all in a compact midrange server," comments Christel van den Berg, account sales manager, Pick 'n Pay at Sun Microsystems SA.
Additional Sun technology, two Enterprise 250 servers is also utilised by Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping for development and staging purposes.
The Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping Web application was built by M-Web's Business Solutions, running on Sun. Completing the software infrastructure is an Oracle 8i database. All middleware applications are also developed according to Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specifications.
The J2EE platform, integrated with industry-standards such as XML, offers a powerful component-based approach to the design, development, assembly, and deployment of enterprise applications. The Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping concept is relatively simple. Once an order has been placed via the Web site, it is downloaded at one of the designated Pick 'n Pay stores, which are in turn interfaced to handheld terminals.
"The handheld terminals are used by trained pickers to optimise picking routes, scan bar-coded products, eliminate errors and handle substitutions," explains Naud'e.
Product catalogues for each fulfilment store are also updated daily in terms of pricing and availability, through a dedicated link to the Pick 'n Pay network.
Shopper delivery addresses are verified online and from an external service provider, location coordinates are obtained, in the automated preparation of optimised delivery routes.
"We believe our technology and expertise has been a key differentiator in Pick 'n Pay Home Shopping's delivery to its clients countrywide - and we will continue to support this truly South African e-commerce initiative," concludes Van den Berg.
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