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Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK

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M and M Direct Scoops Hitwise Online Performance Award

April 06, 2006

Last week Hitwise held its Online Performance Awards at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall in London. The Hitwise UK Annual Online Performance Awards recognise outstanding business achievement and acknowledge the most successful websites in key industries based on popularity - as defined by the percentage of user visits a website received between January and December 2005. Over the coming weeks I will profile some of the winners of the award on this blog - so keep reading to find best practices from the UK's leading websites!

Today, I will profile M and M Direct, recognised as the most visited site in 2005 in the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds - Sports and Fitness category. M and M Direct is the UK’s biggest discount sports and leisure online and mail order retailer. Mike Tomkins, M and M Direct's CEO, said: "We are naturally delighted to pick up one of the industry's most coveted commercial awards. It is the mark of conspicuous success in a highly competitive sector." Mike Tomkins added: "It is also a fitting tribute to our staff's solid achievement and we could not have run out winners without their dedication, energy, enthusiasm and above all their abiding commitment to teamwork."

Mike's remarks about his staff are consistent with the praise he offered at the awards lunch when he again praised their professionalism and dedication. Mike offered 15 tips to the audience -- which were at once thought provoking, inspiring and side splitting! One of the tips that stood out for me was to look for non-financial rewards for employees. He compared the number of thank yous he received from staff after offering a financial bonus to employees to a fish and chips cookout. He received far more thank yous from staff for the latter. While he recognised the importance of fair compensation, he also encourages managers to be creative.

Hitwise data reveal that the share of visits to M and M Direct have grown 13% year on year in March - meaning that the site continues to attract a larger share of internet visits. M and M Direct has done a tremendous job of migrating its catalogue business to the web and leveraging the advantages of its multi-channel presence.

M and M Direct knows its business, and is consistently among the top ten site receiving visits from high volume brand searches ("nike", "adidas", "nike trainers" and "adidas trainers") and generic product searches (including "football boots", "trainers" and "golf").

The strategy to integrate the catalogue with the website and the focus on driving business through search has certainly paid off. Well done to the team at M and M Direct!

Top 10 Shopping and Classifieds - Sports and Fitness websites based on UK visits in March 2006

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