The leading figures in electrical retailing gathered on Thursday 11 April at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel in London for the 27th iteration of the IER Awards. Organised by Datateam Business Media, publisher of the Innovative Electrical Retailing Magazine, the event celebrated the achievements of the sector from the past twelve months.
The unique format of the afternoon gave guests the chance to witness live demonstrations of innovative products from leading manufacturers in the field, followed by an opportunity to network with peers at the exclusive drinks reception.
Following lunch, IER magazine’s editor, Jonathan Swift kicked off the afternoon’s award’s presentation with an inspiring speech: “The IER Awards is the ultimate hub for rewarding excellence in the electrical retailing industry… Winning an award is an unrivalled seal of approval in a highly competitive field; separating your company from competitors, elevating your profile and attracting new business opportunities. We designed these awards as a great opportunity to network… to share good practice and most importantly to have fun.”
Critically acclaimed comedian Sean Collins and household favourite Alan Dedicoat were on hand to announce this year’s winners, as well as giving guests lots to laugh about throughout the course of the awards presentation.
Alternating between the manufacturer/supplier and retailer categories, the awards ceremony began with the Technical Innovation in Consumer Electronics accolade. Humax was the first victor of the afternoon, clinching the trophy for its FVP-5000T Freeview Play Recorder.
The Best Small Independent Retailer in Consumer Electronics was the first retailer accolade up for grabs. After intense deliberation, judges decided that Moss of Bath deserved to win the Award. Following this, the Technical Innovation in Major Domestic Appliances was awarded to Blomberg for its Integrated Washing Machine LWI28441.
The Best Large Independent Retailer in Consumer Electronics accolade went to Avensys, which was the first of its four wins at the event. The company also collected the Best Independent Retailer Website and the Best Omnichannel Retailer trophies, before Adam Pole won the Best Young Gun Award – retaining Avensys’ streak of winning the trophy since its creation in 2017.
Smeg came out on top in the Technical Innovation in Small Domestic Appliances category for its White SDA Range: Coffee Machine, Blender, Citrus Juicer, before they later returned to the stage to collect the Best Training in Small Domestic Appliances trophy.
Next up, Coopers Stores won the Best Small Independent Retailer in Domestic Appliances Award, before Samsung Electronics UK was announced as the winners of the Best Training Award in Consumer Electronics.
Stellisons was the victor in the Best Large Independent Retailer in Domestic Appliances and the Best Independent Kitchen Retailer Showroom Award categories, while Beko won the Best Training in Major Domestic Appliances accolade.
The hotly contested Best Floorcare Award went to Hoover for its H-Free Cordless Stick vacuum cleaner. Shortly after this, the Best Industry Trainer/Training Award went to Kay Ainsworth from Beko, before the coveted Best Customer Service Award went to Marks Electrical.
In the final retailer categories, Donaghy Bros won the Best Independent Retailer of the Year Award and the highly regarded IER Retailer Award went to Appliance World, North West.
The manufacturer/supplier awards came to a conclusion with Samsung winning the Best UHD TV Award for its Q9 QLED TV, Pik-a-Pak picked up the fiercely contested Best Distributor Award and the Best Company Representative Award went to Kevin Sloman from Hoover Candy.
The final accolade of the afternoon was the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Beko. Stuart Hopwood – director of events on behalf of The Sirius Buying Group, was invited to the stage to collect the accolade for his continuous contributions to the sector. The presentation of this momentous award aptly marked the end of the ceremony.
The afternoon also gave attendees the opportunity to give a little back in the form of a charity raffle. Raising money for the retailTRUST, raffle tickets were sold in support of the hard work that the organisation does to help improve the lives of all those involved in retail and related fields in the UK. A plethora of gifts were won, as the lucky ticket holders were invited to the stage to collect their prizes. Thanks to the generosity of those in attendance, £1050.00 was raised for the charity.
Following the success of the event, special projects and events manager Linda Dorling said: “The award winners for this year’s ceremony really stepped up their game to clinch an award. I would like to thank those who entered, voted, our judges, everyone that attended, and the sponsors for the event – without your support, the IER Awards would not be possible”.
The IER Awards would like to thank the following industry heavyweights for their support: AMDEA, Beko, Calculus, Connect, Domestic Appliance Distributors (DAD), Electrical Safety First, International Housewares Associations (IHA), Montpellier, retra, Sirius Buying Group, TechUK and Yamaha.
To find out more information about the IER Awards and to view a full gallery of photos from the ceremony, visit www.ierawards.co.uk