Flood of Awards for Small Business

Its been a busy year for New Zealand online business Breastmates, who are getting their share of the limelight.

Breastmates won the Top Shop award in the retailing section for Waikato, the only applicant who qualified with enough points to get through, and who then scored 100% when their website had a mystery shopper. The judges commented “‘Superb site... Easy navigation, prompt responses to questions and good advice given.’

They were also a finalist in the Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence awards. Up against some big corporate’s, Breastmates was actually the only Waikato business to feature as a finalist in both the Chamber and Top Shop awards. The judges commented “extremely innovative business development and growth using innovative marking and brand development techniques.”

We’ve now heard that Breastmates is a finalist in the official, inaugural Oh!Baby awards. An event that recognizes the best products and services in the pregnancy and parenting market. The OHbaby! Awards showcase the cream of the pregnancy and parenting industry, as judged by their influential audience of 119,000+ New Zealand parents.

Angela Pederson, director and award organizer, says “this is the first time we have run these awards because we wanted to start to recognize the best products and services in the parenting market. There’s a lot of information out there and sometimes parents are overwhelmed with choices. The online category recognizes trusted brands – something that is really important when people are shopping online and not getting face-to-face store experience.”

Frances McInnes, manager of Breastmates, comments “it has been a great compliment that we have made it through to all these awards process. Our business is not rocket science, we just treat our customers well and take pride in our brand.”

You can vote for Breastmates online at www.ohbaby.co.nz/awards (they feature in section 7)
Voting closes 28 January.
Winners announced on 14 February 2011