ERT Awards 2017 – the winners
The winners of the ERT Awards 2017 were revealed at a lunchtime ceremony that celebrated 10 years of the event.
Over 200 people attended this year’s ERT Awards at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Covent Garden on September 25.
The ERT Awards are aimed at recognising excellence and outstanding achievements in the electrical retailing sector.
This year’s event kicked off with a Turning Point discussion panel, in which ERT editor Sean Hannam asked three independent retailers – Ed Griffiths, operations manager of Purewell in Christchurch, Dorset; Martin Jukes, head of retail at Avensys, Crawley, West Sussex; and Tim Moss, owner of Moss of Bath, Somerset – for their views on how to adapt your business to embrace areas such as the smart home and custom installation.
Mr Moss won this year’s Special Achievement Award.
Marks Electrical in Leicester walked away with two trophies – Independent Electrical Retailer of the Year and Digital Marketing of the Year.
Superfi in Nottingham won Consumer Electronics Retailer of the Year, while Consumer Electronics Showroom of the Year went to Avensys in Crawley for the second year running.
Coopers of Bath picked up the award for Domestic Appliances Retailer of the Year. Booth Scotland of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, won Domestic Appliances Showroom of the Year, and Dacombes of Wimborne scooped Small Domestic Appliances Retailer of the Year.
Unilet Sound and Vision of New Malden, Surrey, won the Turning Point Award.
Salesperson of the Year – Independents – went to David Baron, managing director of Hanson Electrical, Hull, East Yorkshire.
This year, independent retailers were asked to vote for their preferred suppliers and sales reps in an online survey carried out by leading field marketing agency Gekko.
Manufacturers who won prizes were Panasonic (Consumer Electronics Supplier of the Year), BSH (Domestic Appliances Supplier of the Year), Miele (Training Award) and LG (ERT Product Innovation Award for the W7 ‘Wallpaper’ OLED TV).
The award for Sales Rep of the Year – Independents went to Beko’s regional sales manager for independents, Peter Forster-Dark.
Sponsors of this year’s ERT Awards were Amdea, Astra, Blomberg, Electrical Safety First, Exertis, Freeview Play, Hoover, Miele, Panasonic, Retra, Roberts, Smeg and techUK.
The welcome drinks reception was sponsored by Yamaha and there was a music quiz sponsored by Glen Dimplex Consumer Appliances. This year’s social media partner was Qualtex.
Said ERT editor Sean Hannam: “It was great to see the industry come together to celebrate 10 years of the ERT Awards – the most prestigious awards event in our sector. Congratulations to all of the winners and thanks to all of this year’s sponsors.”
