E-Business Awards 2006
A takeaway directory, designer cake maker, hair products retailer, and bed and breakfast received prizes at this year?s West Lothian E-business Awards event. The annual awards event, which was held at the Cairn Hotel in Bathgate, showcases local businesses that demonstrate best practice in delivering services and products via the internet. The winners of the West Lothian E-business Awards 2006 are: Best use of E-business in a new company Winner: The Funky Group (www.thefunkygroup.co.uk) Hair salon owner, Chris Jack, founded the Funky Group in July 2005 to sell professional hair care, skin care and beauty products online. He achieved a dramatic increase in sales month on month, with £50,000 worth of products sold within the first four months of trading. Finalists: Kingsfield Clays (www.kingsfieldclays.com) and The Grapevine (www.the-grapevine.co.uk) BT's award for Innovation Winner: Yhum (www.yhum.com) Yhum.com is an online takeaway directory, which started trading in February this year. It was created by Caroline Howes to exploit a gap in the existing online directory market. Yhum.com has focused on the Edinburgh takeaway market, however has a model that can expand to cover all major cities within the UK. Finalists: Bill McCarthy Travel (www.in2bmtravel.com) and The Grapevine (www.the-grapevine.co.uk) Best customer experience Winner: Truly Scrumptious Designer Cakes (www.designer-cakes.com) Truly Scrumptious Designer Cakes sells decorative cakes for all occasions ? from weddings to corporate celebrations. The Linlithgow company?s website is a catalogue showcasing the variety and range of cakes on offer. Truly Scrumptious receives about 6,000 unique visits to the site per month and is listed on page one of Google for the term ?designer cakes?. Finalists: Armadale Commercials (www.armadalecommercialsltd.com) and Entrotec (www.entrotec.com) E-business Award for Tourism, sponsored by the Tourism Forum Winner: Arden Country House (www.ardenhouse-scotland.co.uk) Arden Country House is a small bed and breakfast based in Linlithgow. The website is used to promote bed and breakfast accommodation to potential guests around the world. It has been so successful that 95 per cent of reservations are made through the secure online booking form. Since implementing the site two years ago visitor numbers have risen from 30 to 1,000 unique visitors per month. Finalists: East Badallan Farm (www.eastbadallan.co.uk) and Hooked on Cycling (www.hookedoncycling.co.uk)
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that have incorporated e-business into their every day activities.