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As music floods the Internet, both brick-and-mortar and click-and-mortar retailers are setting up electronic storefronts faster than any building contractor could ever imagine. But like every structure, these stores need solid foundations. And one of the most important components of these foundations is the database.
 That's why when HMV Media Group--the world's largest music retailer and the UK's biggest book specialist--started moving toward becoming an e-business, it surveyed the IT landscape for a scalable, reliable database that would seamlessly integrate into its existing stock and range infrastructure based on IBM DB2 Universal Database for AS/400.
The stock and range system, named TRACK, serves as HMV Group's core product catalog. It also provides a mechanism for replenishing inventory in all 300 of the company's music stores as well as a vehicle for automated fulfillment and an integrated ERP and financial system. HMV Group wanted to leverage these existing assets by integrating them with the electronic catalog, thereby dramatically decreasing the considerable initial time and financial investment usually needed to start an online retail project. To develop this e-commerce initiative, HMV called on IBM--a partner that was instrumental in developing the TRACK system from the beginning.
"We compared DB2 to Oracle," says Duncan Bell, e-commerce director at HMV Group. "But after discussing the pros and cons, it was decided that DB2 would provide better performance and be easier to integrate with our existing fulfillment system. I don't think there was any better option available than staying with DB2."
Working with IBM Global Services, HMV Group developed a Web store at www.hmv.com and www.hmv.co.uk using DB2 Universal Database, IBM WebSphere Application Server, IBM VisualAge for Java and IBM MQSeries. HMV Group also installed an IBM RS/6000 server for load balancing.
 Since going live, the HMV Web store has increased its sales at a rate of 15 percent a month. And with more than 200,000 visits and 5 million page impressions every week, HMV Group is expecting these sales to increase dramatically. The existing core catalog in TRACK was easily ported to DB2, thereby eliminating the need to develop one from scratch. This saved HMV Group about three months in development time. The Web store has now put HMV in almost every region in the world.
"Our success with the TRACK system stems from its total integration across global boundaries and business functions," says Bell. "DB2 Universal Database was a pivotal component in our successful, global e-business initiative, as it integrates seamlessly with our current platform."
A multichannel approach
Always developing new ways to reach consumers is what has made HMV Group the powerful retailer it is today. Soon, consumers will be able to purchase and immediately download music to their hard drives. Mobile consumers already have wireless application protocol (WAP)-enabled access to HMV Group's catalog, and this user base is growing all the time. Recently, HMV in Japan launched a WAP version of its site using DB2 for its back-end database, and is now doing 25 percent of its Japanese online sales through wireless devices.
Updates to the electronic catalog are entered into DB2 Universal Database on a back-end AS/400 server. These updates are then replicated to another instance of DB2 Universal Database residing with WebSphere Application Server on a front-end AS/400 server using IBM DB2 DataPropagator. Working with IBM Global Services, HMV Group developed a Java-based transaction application using VisualAge for Java that, along with MQSeries, integrates online purchases with HMV's ERP, financial and fulfillment systems.
Says David Cameron, e-commerce systems manager, HMV Group, "If you're going to be a successful e-business, integrating your back-end systems with your front-end database is essential. In our case, DB2 Universal Database was instrumental in this process."
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©Copyright IBM Corporation 2000
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