Ted’s Cameras has been announced as a finalist in two categories in the 2011 Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIA).

 

August 22, 2011: Ted’s Cameras has been announced as a finalist in two categories in the 2011 Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIA).

Ted’s (www.teds.com.au) comes up against BigW, Dick Smith, Bing Lee, ABC Shops and New Zealand’s Barkers Online in the hotly-contested Multi-Channel category, and against Appliances Online, ABC Shops, OZScopes and Le Domaine in ‘Best Site Optimisation and Design’.

‘Teds maintains a strong online presence and it remains an area of development and growing investment,’ said Ted’s Cameras general manager, Nic Peasley. ‘We expect our online business to grow rapidly over the coming three years as it becomes a highly profitable support to our successful store network.’

He said that at this stage Ted’s Cameras had a stronger mix of hardware and accessory sales than printing services from the website, ‘but we do expect significant growth in our online photofinishing category as people move toward creative printing, and in particular doing this from the home environment.’

The website was launched around 10 years ago, substantially upgraded in 2009/2010, and then completely overhauled in 2011 and moved to a new e-commerce platform.

The new site includes user reviews, rich media (including video and 360-degree product views) a ‘Camera Wizard’ to help customers narrow their options when shopping for a camera, and Live Chat, enabling customers to have their online queries answered quickly.

‘The year ending mid-2011 was a period of extraordinary growth for Australian online retail. Existing merchants vastly improved their online offers, while high street retailers took important steps online and new players continued to enter this market,’ said Steven Noble, chair of the ORIA judging panel and a senior analyst in eBusiness for Forrester Research.

‘The quality and quantity of the ORIA entries this year reflected the expansion and increasing maturity of Australian online retail. Practices that were noteworthy 12 months ago are quickly becoming standard, and this year’s best entrants have risen to the mark, setting new benchmarks for what we expect in this country.’

The shortlisted entrants will now proceed to the final stages of judging, with winners to be announced on Tuesday, September 27.

[News story courtesy www.photocounter.com.au]