Shop Direct celebrates retail awards hat-trick

SHOP Direct scooped a hat-trick of awards at the retail industry’s prestigious annual awards, including the “pureplay etailer” honour.

The Liverpool-based firm triumphed at the Oracle Retail Week Awards, as it also won the retail technology initiative of the year and the supply chain initiative of the year categories at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

Shop Direct emerged victorious in the hotly contended online retailer category, where the shortlist
included Bolton-based AO.com and ASOS.

The judges, who were made up of influential figures from the retail sector including Asda president and chief executive Andy Clarke and House of Fraser chief executive John King, declared: “In2013/14, the business delivered a 512% increase in profitability – a stunning achievement. It did so
by building the business on three pillars: good things, easily accessible and more people. Shop Direct is now very much the etailer to watch.”

Shop Direct group chief executive Alex Baldock said: “These awards show that people are sitting up and taking notice of Shop Direct’s transformation. When other retailers say we’re setting the pace online, it makes us even more confident we’re on the right path. Our ambition of becoming a world class digital retailer is in reach.

“We’re investing heavily in cutting-edge technology to help us move closer to that goal. But it’s not just about technology – our people are driving this transformation of a catalogue business into a digital leader, and I’m proud to be working with them. We’re determined to put Liverpool on the
map for etail.”

Shop Direct was awarded Retail Technology Initiative of the Year for its experimentation programme. The retailer is constantly testing ways to make the online experience easier for shoppers and has built a state-of-the-art user experience lab in its Speke HQ to bring
customers into its business to see how they shop and navigate its websites.

It conducts 50 experiments a month, which judges of the Oracle Retail Week Awards commented was more than the yearly output of some of its rivals.