Microsoft .NET
Customer Solution Case Study
Albertson's Prepares E-Commerce Rollout,
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Overview
Country: United States
Industry: Retail
Customer Profile
Albertson's, Inc. is one of the world's
largest food and drug retailers. The
Company operates more than 2,500 retail
stores in 36 states under banners
including Albertson's, Jewel-Osco, Acme,
Sav-on Drugs, Max Foods, Super Saver and
Seessel’s by Albertson’s.
Business Situation
Albertson's needed to develop a single
solution that would support business-toconsumer sales for two different
storefronts and three different fulfillment
models.
Solution
Albertson’s e-commerce solution is built on
the Microsoft® platform, enabling a
scalable and integrated solution that
supports multiple storefronts and
fulfillment models preparing the company
for a phased rollout of e-commerce
functionality.
"Customers are the single most important thing to
Albertson's, and Microsoft has shown time and time
again that they feel the same way about us. They’re
willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that we can
meet the needs of our customers by making sure that
our needs are met.”
Matt Muta, Vice President, Web Technologies, Albertson's, Inc.
Using the Microsoft® platform, Albertson’s, Inc. developed a
scalable and integrated solution to support multiple storefronts and
fulfilment models. With the new platform, the company is wellpositioned to begin a phased rollout of Albertsons.com, the
company’s online grocery store, and Savon.com, the company’s
online drugstore and pharmacy.
“Microsoft provided a
single platform that met
all of our needs. This
simplifies vendor
management and
enables us to enjoy a
single source of
support—one that
provides best-of-breed
answers based on
Microsoft’s extensive
experience with other
customers. Using a
single platform also
means that our
developers can stay
current with a focused
skill-set, taking
advantage of Microsoft’s
broad offering of
conferences, technical
information, and training
courses.
Joyce Smith, Director of Web Technologies,
Albertson's, Inc.
Situation
Albertson’s needed a platform that would
enable building an integrated Web solution—
one that could support a wide range of
business and technical requirements.
Although the company would initially limit its
e-commerce efforts to selected locations, it
was important to select a platform and build
a solution that was readily scalable to
support a phased, large-scale rollout.
In order to simplify maintenance and
minimize support costs, Albertson’s wanted a
single application and database model that
could support both the Albertsons.com and
Savon.com storefronts. The solution needed
to enable blending of the two storefronts to
support cross-selling items between sites.
The solution also had to handle different
product and pricing mixes for diverse market
regions to ensure that the user’s Web
experience would be consistent with their
local retail store. The platform also had to
support the three slightly different fulfillment
models for groceries, prescription drugs, and
non-prescription drugstore items.
3.0 Commerce Edition (SSCE), and SQL
Server™ 2000 to support both the
Albertsons.com and Savon.com sites.
The presentation tier consists of loadbalanced dual-processor Web servers running
Windows 2000 Server with Internet
Information Services 5.0. Active Server
Pages (ASP), which specify presentation and
enable server-side scripting, were used to
dynamically generate region-specific
storefronts based on the customer’s zip code.
The ASP pages were created using the Visual
InterDev® Web development system, a
component of the Visual Studio®
development system. The Visual
SourceSafe® version control system, another
component of Visual Studio, provided version
control and source code management.
Solution
The business logic tier resides on the same
physical servers as the presentation tier, with
much of the functionality provided by SSCE.
Orders are managed using the SSCE
commerce pipeline, which provides
Albertsons.com with a framework for
modeling and executing its commerce
processes. Where additional functionality
was required, Albertson’s relied on third-party
solutions designed to easily integrate with the
commerce pipeline. These include “plug-ins”
from CyberSource for electronic payment
processing and TaxWare International for tax
calculation. Where custom business logic
was required, Albertson’s created custom
Component Object Model (COM) components
using the Visual Basic® development system,
another component of Visual Studio.
Partnering with Microsoft Consulting Services
at strategic points in the development cycle,
Albertson’s designed and implemented an ecommerce solution that met the company’s
complex business requirements. Based on
the Microsoft platform and the n-tier
architecture it supports, the solution uses
Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server with
Internet Information Services 5.0, Site Server
The database tier of the solution consists of
an 8-way server running Windows 2000
Server and SQL Server 2000. Albertson’s
developed a single data model that supports
its market region implementation, as well as
both the Albertsons.com and Savon.com
storefronts and all three fulfillment models.
Product and pricing data for each market
Another system requirement was connectivity
with Albertson’s legacy systems. To
synchronize the product and pricing mix with
the region-specific offerings of its bricks and
mortar stores, the Web site solution needed
to tie to Albertson’s IBM mainframe-based
pricing application. It also had to integrate
with Albertson’s warehouse management
system to correctly manage inventory.
region is synchronized with the company’s
mainframe-based pricing applications on a
regular basis. Inventory data, also residing
on the mainframe, is synchronized daily.
Once an order is finalized, a separate server
running SQL Server 2000 uses transactional
and merge replication to send the order to an
administrative system located at the
Albertson’s corporate headquarters. The
administrative system handles the fulfillment
of orders and also runs several call center
and workflow applications that support the
company’s e-commerce efforts. This system
is also a three-tiered solution, and uses the
same Microsoft products as the company’s
public system.
Once received by the administrative system,
orders are managed in a number of different
ways, depending on the type of order. Orders
for non-pharmacy drugstore items are routed
to the company’s centralized fulfillment
facility. Grocery orders are routed to a retail
store located close to the customer’s delivery
point, where they are filled by E-Shoppers
using a wireless handheld fulfillment system
developed by Albertson’s that interfaces
directly to the retail Point-of-Sale system.
After the order is filled, it is prepared for
delivery or stored for pickup, depending on
the customer’s preference. For customers
choosing home delivery, logistical routing is
enhanced using UPS Logistic Group’s
Roadnet 5000 v7.1 system.
Pharmacy orders are handled in a slightly
different manner. After reaching the
administrative server, orders are sent via
MSMQ to a team of customer service agents.
Each order is then reviewed and routed to the
appropriate pharmacy for processing using
Astute’s PowerCenter eCRM system
integrated with Avaya’s CRM Central 2000
communication platform. At the pharmacy,
orders are accessed via the Web and filled by
the pharmacist. A custom component
running on the UNIX-based pharmacy system
notifies the administrative server when the
order is filled, closing the loop on the
transaction. Customers can choose to pick
up their orders in person for same-day
access, or have their prescriptions shipped to
them directly from their local pharmacy.
Why Albertson’s Chose
Microsoft
Albertson's decision to use the Microsoft
platform was based on the superior reliability
and scalability of Microsoft products, along
with Microsoft’s proven service and support.
“We decided to implement our e-commerce
strategy on the Microsoft platform for a
number of reasons, including the fact that
Albertson’s and Microsoft have enjoyed a
great working relationship for a number of
years,” said Joyce Smith, director of Web
Technologies for Albertson’s. “Microsoft
provided a single platform that met all of our
needs. This simplifies vendor management
and enables us to enjoy a single source of
support—one that provides best-of-breed
answers based on Microsoft’s extensive
experience with other customers. Using a
single platform also means that our
developers can stay current with a focused
skill-set, taking advantage of Microsoft’s
broad offering of conferences, technical
information, and training courses.”
“Developing our solution on the Microsoft
platform offered many technical benefits,”
said Marla Johnson, Manager of Web
Technologies Support for Albertson’s. “Visual
Studio provided an integrated development
environment for the entire solution, from ASP
pages to SQL stored procedures, and it
enabled us to easily extend the platform’s
functionality where needed. The Microsoft
Transaction Server environment contributed
to scalability and enabled us to re-use the
business logic components we developed inhouse, and the level of integration between
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing can reach Microsoft text telephone
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Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about Albertsons
products and services or visit the Web site
at:
www.albertsons.com
the platform’s pre-built components enabled
rapid time-to-market.”
“We’ve been a Microsoft shop from the start,”
said Matt Muta, vice president of Web
Technology for Albertson’s. “In addition to
the technical merits of the platform, its
overall value and time-to-market advantages
are reasons we continue to stay with
Microsoft. We have a great, proven
relationship with Microsoft, and we’re
comfortable with their ability and willingness
to provide assistance whenever we need
them. Customers are the single most
important thing to Albertson's, and Microsoft
has shown time and time again that they feel
the same way about us. They’re willing to do
whatever it takes to ensure that we can meet
the needs of our customers by making sure
that our needs are met.”
Moving Forward with Microsoft
“We’re happy with the performance and
reliability of our existing systems,” said Smith.
“We’re also looking toward the future, and
are working to prepare for it even as we roll
out our current solution. We’ve seen some
great performance improvements running
Windows 2000 Server and SQL Server 2000.
We’re experimenting in our labs with the
many new features and capabilities of
Microsoft’s .Net platform, and look forward to
taking advantage of this exciting technology. “
Software and Services
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Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server
Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0
Microsoft Site Server, Commerce Edition
Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000
Microsoft Consulting Services
Microsoft .NET
Microsoft .NET is software that connects
people, information, systems, and devices
through the use of Web services. Web
services are a combination of protocols that
enable computers to work together by
exchanging messages. Web services are
based on the standard protocols of XML,
SOAP, and WSDL, which allow them to
interoperate across platforms and programming languages.
.NET is integrated across Microsoft products
and services, providing the ability to quickly
build, deploy, manage, and use connected,
secure solutions with Web services. These
solutions provide agile business integration
and the promise of information anytime,
anywhere, on any device.
For more information about Microsoft
.NET and Web services, please visit these
Web sites:
www.microsoft.com/net
msdn.microsoft.com/webservices
Partners
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This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published November 2006
Astute, Inc.
Avaya, Inc.
CyberSource
Exodus Communications, Inc.
TaxWare International, Inc.
UPS Logistics Group