The issue became more serious when Baby Kingdom received more EDM orders from customers. "It took us four days to complete an EDM campaign with 40,000-200,000 recipients," said Sip, "and about 20% of people didn't receive our EDM messages--this was unacceptable."

According to Sip, Baby Kingdom gets about 4,000 new registered users in Hong Kong monthly, with a Hong Kong database now at around 450,000 users. Aiming to turn user-growth into EDM success, Baby Kingdom took three months last year to implement Microsoft SQL Server along with home-grown Radica Intimate EDM software, which went live in early 2012.

Baby Kingdom looked at Oracle's database offering, "but it was too expensive and has too many functions the firm doesn't need," he said. "Microsoft SQL is more affordable."

The firm also prefers on-premise EDM software like Radica Intimate (RI). "All we have to pay is the license fee," Sip said. "We don't want to jack up our cost by using a pay-per-email service." According to him, SQL Server plus RI cost the company less than HK$500,000.