Excellence in Housewares Awards 2016

We’ve done it again! We have made the finals of the Excellence in Housewares Awards 2016. And we are doubly happy as we are a finalist in two categories – Excellence in Direct Retailing and Excellence in Retailer Initiative.

About the awards

Organised by Progressive Housewares Magazine in conjunction with the Cookshop & Housewares Association, the awards are now in their 17th year. Affectionately known as the ‘Oscars’ of the housewares industry, they shine a spotlight on suppliers for service acumen and product innovation and retailers for their retailing excellence. The finalists were either chosen from an industry-wide poll of housewares suppliers or via self-submitted nominations.

Excellence in Direct Retailing

No strangers to this award, we’ve been two times finalist and two times winner in recent years. Building on this success we have integrated FeeFo customer reviews onto our website. This allows customers to review our level of customer service and the products they have purchased. At the start of the year FeeFo awarded us with their Gold Trusted Merchant Accreditation. To receive one of these you need to achieve an average service rating of between 95-100%. We are certainly up against some very tough opposition. Amara Living, Amazon, Lakeland, Prezola and Shop Direct will all be vying for top spot on the night. It's a great honour to be mentioned alongside these household names.

Excellence in Retailer Initiative

We are particularly proud of our entry and nomination in the Retailer Initiative Award. This was for our involvement in the Mouse Trap Food Theatre at the Sturminster Cheese Festival. Each year the two day show attracts almost 50,000 people to our small market town with its mix of local food, crafts, entertainment and of course, plenty of cheese! As a result the festival is one of the biggest of its kind in the west country and we were asked to sponsor and organise the Mouse Trap Theatre. So we duly arranged an entertaining programme of top local chefs and food experts who created a variety of tasty treats in front of an enthusiastic audience. Firstly each session started with a short trivia quiz and concluded with an omelette challenge. Three members of the audience battled it out against the demonstrator to make the quickest (edible) two egg omelette. In addition the quickest time recorded received a prize. Furthermore the fastest overall time of the weekend won a £300 prize. Consequently we've been invited back to organise this year’s event. Once again we are up against some stiff competition. Borough Kitchen, Kitchens Cookshop Bristol, Leekes and Upstairs Downstairs are all in with a chance to be top dog on the night.

Excellence in Housewares Awards Night

Winners of the Excellence in Housewares Awards 2016 will be revealed at the Lancaster Hotel in London on Wednesday 5th October. The glittering black tie event, which this year has a Bollywood theme, gets underway with a champagne reception. The all-important winners will be revealed after a sumptuous dinner. The evening concludes with entertainment and dancing into the night. We'll be dusting off our lounge suits and cocktail dresses hoping that they haven't shrunk since the last time they were worn! Finally we'd like to wish the 'best of luck' to all the finalists on the night. We'll be crossing fingers, toes and everything else we can think of! For more information about the awards visit www.theexcellenceinhousewaresawards.co.uk Read our blog about being a winner at the Housewares Innovation Awards 2016