FSB Worldpay UK Best Online Business of the Year Award 2014

We are delighted to announce that we have won the the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Worldpay UK Best Online Business of the Year Award 2014, which was presented by Innocent Co-Founder Richard Reed at the London Waldorf Hilton Hotel on 21st May.

Home Leisure Direct FSB Awards 2014

From the Federation of Small Businesses membership of over 200,000 companies there were nearly 1,000 entrants for this years awards. Home Leisure Direct was selected as Best Online Business amongst the South West Region, going through to the finals where 44 businesses attended the presentations last week.

There were four categories being hourly contested: Business Innovation, Young Entrepreneur, Micro Business and Online Business - which is the category we won. Full details can be found on the FSB Awards website: FSB Worldpay Award Winners 2014

From our humble beginnings back in 2007, when husband and wife team Andy and Michelle started the business in a back bedroom with a second hand PC we have grown rapidly. The company now employs 8 staff in our showrooms situated just north of Bristol - Home Leisure Direct Showrooms

Home Leisure Direct Showrooms

We have always challenged ourselves to provide the best range of premium games room products on the market, presented on an innovative and easy to use website, all backed up by fantastic customer service for which we won an award last year - ECMOD E-Commerce Award Winners 2013

None of our success would have been possible without the help and support of our incredible web developers bluebox, all of our fantastic business partners providing services such as payment processing, banking, finance, IT and telephony. Plus, our thanks goes to our wonderful manufacturers and suppliers who provide all the amazing products we sell.

A special mention must go to all our loyal customers, without whom we wouldn’t have a business. Your enthusiasm for what we do and the items we sell motivates us everyday to work even harder to bring the very best in games room products to what can be a complicated and confusing market.

Our final commendation must go to our awesome team of enthusiastic staff - Roger, Dave, Dave, Abi, Charlotte and Emily. Their dedication to the business and our customers is incredible. This award is testiment to what they do every day.

Home Leisure Direct Team Photo

From left to right: Michelle, Andy, Abi, Roger. (Dave, Dave, Charlotte and Emily - you shouldn't have had the day off when the photographer came!)

Andrew Beresford, managing director of Home Leisure Direct, said: “The idea for the business was born from a terrible experience we had when trying to buy a pool table. We were appalled by the experience so we set about proving it could be done so much better.

“We take great pride in delivering excellence in everything we do – from the quality and range of products, to developing the richest web experience, to providing the best customer service available. With a lot of hard work and lessons learnt along the way we think we’ve cracked it and our national Online Business of the Year Award would seem to prove it too.

“There was a huge pool of talent in the room so to come home with the gong means a great deal to us and we know the team at Home Leisure Direct will be thrilled.”

Carol Undy, Chairman FSB (Member Services) Ltd, said: “Small businesses are what make Britain great. It takes one idea and the passion to see it through to create a successful business and that’s exactly what Andrew and Michelle did – from their back bedroom. The success of their online business platform is a result of always putting the customer experience first and they have never lost sight of this, probably as a result of their terrible customer service experience, which sparked the idea for their business in the first place.”

Ron Kalifa, Deputy Chairman of Worldpay, said: “Home Leisure Direct has raised the bar for ecommerce, impressively perfecting their online customer experience for a niche product in an industry that has seen UK sales grow by 17.03% in the last 12 months. They, and all our other finalists this year, have been just outstanding, which is why we’re proud to sponsor the FSB Worldpay UK Business Awards.”

Richard Reed, who is no stranger to the small business world, having founded and grown innocent drinks into a £200m+ business and the UK’s largest smoothie brand, delivered a motivational keynote speech and presented the awards to the winners. Richard comments: “I know all too well about the daily trials and tribulations that small businesses face but also understand they are the back bone to our economy. They must be championed for their contribution – which is exactly what these awards do and I would like to applaud every one of the amazing businesses and entrepreneurs in the room.”


The Press Release from the FSB is available to download here:

Microsoft Word Logo Home Leisure Direct - FSB Worldpay Online Business of the Year 2014 (Word).docx
PDF Home Leisure Direct - FSB Worldpay Online Business of the Year 2014 (PDF).pdf



For any further information please contact Andy Beresford: [email protected]

Andy

  Written By: Andy Beresford

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