PMC helps HMV launch 'Re/Play'
 Since the first HMV shop opened in 1921 in Oxford Street, HMV has developed into one of the world’s leading specialist retailers of music, DVDs and games. HMV focuses on providing an authoritative range and depth of selection, including back catalogue titles across all genres.
Ahead of Christmas 2008, HMV entered the competitive pre-played games market with its Re/Play service. HMV’s pre-played offer launched in October 2008 across 160 stores in the UK and Ireland, including its London flagship store at 150 Oxford Street. Roll-out to the rest of the HMV estate continues in due course. Re/Play enables customers to exchange previously purchased consoles and games against the purchase of other games titles. HMV accepts pre-played titles and consoles for trade-in on PlayStation 2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii formats. Uniquely, trade-ins are also accepted against the purchase of other product categories sold within HMV, including CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray plus technology devices, such as iPods and games consoles and other related products.
To enable the effective operation of the system in-store, and to ensure delivery of fully-tested software before the key Christmas trading period, HMV commissioned a thorough independent test programme.
Debbie O’Shea, Head of Development, HMV explains: “Effective testing ensures not only that a new piece of software is fit for purpose, but it gives you the confidence to launch knowing it will perform to expectations. It also means that your store staff will face far fewer issues, and that, of course, has a positive effect on customer service.”
“I had previous experience of working with PMC, and asked them to test the project at their testing laboratory. Between August and September 2008, PMC emulated our EPOS system in their Abingdon laboratory. Replicating our store environment enabled PMC to test performance, functionality and ease of use in a ‘real world’ situation. The objective was to reduce the potential for problems once the software was installed and remove potential pressure on our support teams.”
PMC took an aggressive testing approach to deliver on time and to give HMV confidence the software would introduce into stores with as little disruption as possible to normal running. This involved quickly reacting to issues found during testing and working long hours and over weekends to help HMV deliver the new functionality.
Huw Thomas, COO at PMC states: “The software involved three elements: Re/Play itself plus a rewards scheme – purehmv, which is due to launch in May 2009 and, of course, PCI DSS industry-standard compliance to avoid credit card fraud. It was important that all three elements were acceptable both individually and as a whole (according to agreed SLAs). This approach was important for HMV as the elements were introduced to stores as one piece of code. Whether it’s hardware, software or a combination of both, all the elements of an EPOS solution must be fit for purpose. More importantly, the solution has to do exactly what those charged with operating the system expect it to do.”
Initially, HMV staff undertook extensive customer service training in support of the launch to ensure a smooth implementation of the operation in-store. The PMC-tested software allows customers to trade-in computer games or computer hardware for a pre-defined value and buy another item. Staff can also offer different values to customers according to the condition of the item (poor condition items are worth less than those in ‘mint’ condition). If a customer cannot find a suitable replacement for their used game, HMV will offer them a store gift card for the same value to allow them to return later.
Thomas comments: “PMC replicates clients’ systems to ensure the solution performs as expected and certifies it accordingly. Only when the system deliverables match the business requirement and the functional specification, which in turn match the quality needed in the live environment - that’s when the solution is certified.”
O’Shea continues: “The Re/Play, purehmv rewards and PCI DSS elements involved PMC in testing specific to the project itself, but also regression testing of the current system. This enabled HMV to be confident the new code not only worked but would not adversely affect the existing system. After thousands of tests during the four-week period, PMC were confident the new release would be successful and therefore certified this release as fit for purpose.”
Throughout the process excellent communication between PMC Testing and the development and support teams at HMV meant the software was completed to schedule and rolled out to stores on time.
HMV Head of Games, Tim Ellis states: “HMV Re/Play further underlines HMV’s growing credentials as a games specialist, and strengthens the credibility of our games offer through extended range and by providing a strong value proposition to our customers. It was important the software functioned as specified to stimulate increased sales of new games releases and hardware, as well as other entertainment products available from HMV. PMC gave us the confidence to launch without concerns."
For further information please contact enquiries@paulmasonconsulting.co.uk |
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