Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

FRESHi hits the high notes with music download site from hybris

… hybris ecommerce and catalogue management solution provides FRESHi customers with direct access to Caribbean music

London, 18 October 2007: FRESHi, the leading online entertainment site for reggae music, has selected Product Information Management (PIM) specialist, hybris, to provide an ecommerce solution to manage its extensive back catalogue of Caribbean music. The solution will give FRESHi direct access to its customers for the 1st time and has been implemented by hybris’ partner, Neoworks.

By implementing hybris’ Commerce Suite to manage its catalogue, 5,000 music tracks from ten different record labels will be made available to FRESHi customers online, by logging on to www.freshi.net. Over the next six months, FRESHi will be adding 50,000 more tracks which customers can access by song, by individual artist or by record label as well as country by country. In addition to the traditional purchase of individual tracks or albums available to most download systems, the flexibility of hybris’ ecommerce platform has allowed FRESHi to also offer a membership service which allows consumers to sign up to volume downloads at a fraction of the individual track costs.

FRESHi will use the features of hybris’ Commerce Suite to target international markets, using the multi-language and multi-country localisation features of the solution. In addition, hybris’ solution will also provide analysis of music tracks being accessed, allowing FRESHi to tailor the catalogue according to their customers’ needs.

“Working with hybris is a major step in expanding our online presence and reaching our customers directly,” said Errol Garner, MD at FRESHi. “When we first launched the site, one of our long-term aims was for our music to be accessible to all via an online catalogue and download service. Using hybris’ Commerce Suite provides us with a service that we can adapt for future needs as the back catalogue expands and more people use the site. A site specifically designed for the Caribbean community that specialises in those genres allows us to give the artist maximum exposure. Currently, the market is quite fragmented so we want to become the bridgehead to bring it all together and give artists the opportunity to reach a global audience.” he concluded.

“In an increasingly competitive market, FRESHi needs to continually evolve services offered online,” said Andy Piscina, UK director at hybris. “Being able to search a back catalogue of a specific music sector provides it with a major differentiator and one it can continue to expand.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About hybris

hybris supplies standard software solutions for the media-independent management of product information and its distribution over both online and print channels.

Manufacturers, vendors, marketplace operators and purchasing companies consolidate and manage their entire product information in every language on one platform, in the process creating a “single source of truth”. Enterprises are able to supply online and print channels with information from this central hub. Integrated solutions for catalogue management, ecommerce, e-procurement and database publishing provide you with personalised and channel-specific data recycling throughout all electronic procurement and sales channels. This also means that print catalogues can be published without media fragmentation.

The hybris solution’s integrative approach to managing and recycling product information leads to a reduction in process costs, clearing the path for companies to add new sales and procurement markets at low cost. The return on investment with hybris is very fast. As hybris has selected to use standards-based and future-proof basic technologies in its solutions, investments are secure over the long term.

Established in 1997, the company is based in Munich and has offices in the UK, Benelux, Denmark and Switzerland, with over 1,000 customers worldwide.

For further info:

Michele Bayliss
Ascendant Communications
Tel : 01273 475672
Email : mbayliss@ascendcomms.net