16 Apr 2007
Dixons.co.uk one year on. From high street to cyberspace.

• From high street to cyberspace
• The first major UK brand to transition from high street to online

When DSGi announced in April 2006 that it was taking Dixons off the high street and going online there were many who questioned the move, but one year on Dixons.co.uk is proving the doubters wrong.

Sales are up over 160% in the first nine months of the year, the site receives nearly 300,000 unique visitors per week (one every two seconds) and the average basket size is up 40%.

The move was part of DSGi's multi-channel strategy in which Dixons.co.uk sits neatly as an e-tailing operator within the Group's brand portfolio and is part of the DSGi e-commerce division.

DeVere Forster, DSGi eCommerce Director, responsible for Dixons.co.uk says; "In some respects retailing online requires the same disciplines as retailing on the high street such as needing to understand your customer, offering broad ranges at competitive prices, supporting customers with excellent service. It also offers many opportunities such as making it particularly easy to find the product you want, having the product available for immediate delivery, offering help and advice, having good comprehensive content and information and publishing customer product reviews.

"One of the key advantages of being an e-tail brand is that we can compete with other online electrical retailers without the cost of being on the high street. Competitive pricing is even keener than in store and customers shop around on the web looking for the best prices. At Dixons.co.uk we saw this as an opportunity and launched the UK's first online price promise in autumn 2006. We check 75,000 competitor prices every day, benchmarking against a field of over 40 competitors. The site has rapidly built a reputation for market-leading pricing and our products regularly appear in the top 3 by price on PriceRunner . We believe that this together with the fact that 'Dixons' is a trusted name with a long, 70-year, heritage in retailing gives us a competitive edge.

"During the year we have doubled the Dixons.co.uk product range through for example extension into kitchen appliances. We also offer a catalogue of 1 million spares and accessories.

"To help customers when making their purchase decisions we have introduced an impartial customer review service, which contributes substantially to the depth of information available to customers.

Reviewing the progress of Dixons.co.uk's over the past year John Clare, chief executive of DSG international plc, commented: "I am very pleased with the progress that Dixons.co.uk has made to date in cyberspace.  We set out with the ambition of building a reputation for price and range online and the evidence is that we are making headway.  The range of products has grown dramatically and we have been able to successfully stretch our brand into new and profitable areas.  I have also been encouraged by the reaction of our customers.  As an online business, Dixons.co.uk today is leaner and much faster growing.  More site visitors are buying from us than ever before and they are also spending more.  This vote of confidence in our trusted brand has been greatly encouraging and a credit to the Dixons.co.uk team."

More information:

Anina Castle
01727 202379

NB: FACT SHEET BELOW

Notes to Editors:

DSG international is Europe's leading electrical specialist group.

It operates a multi-channel approach to electrical retailing and trade through more than 1,200 stores and online stores, spanning 27 countries and employing 40,000 people.  More than 100 million customers shop in-store and online with DGSi every year.

DSGi's retail and e-tail brands include PC World, Currys and Dixons in the UK and Ireland, Elkjøp in the Nordic countries, UniEuro in Italy, Kotsovolos in Greece, Electro World in central Europe, PC City in France, Spain, Italy and Sweden, and Pixmania.com across Europe.

DSGi offers customers a comprehensive range of after sales services, including its national customer support operation for IT and digital technology, The TechGuys, which offers telephone and home-based support services throughout the UK. It also runs a multi-brand business-to-business operation in the UK.

FACT SHEET:  Dixons.co.uk - the first year

Sales and growth

• Dixons.co.uk sales performance exceeded our expectations, delivering a growth of over 160% sales in the first nine months.  This was driven by strong price propositions and the introduction of new categories and product ranges such as white goods, accessories, toys, fitness, games equipment and CD and DVD software.

Product range

• The product range has doubled through extension into white goods, addition of a catalogue of 1 million spares and accessories and a programme of affiliations.
• The average basket size has increased 40% year on year, with up to 4,000 orders per week.
• Dixons.co.uk added an extensive range of domestic appliances to its site during the year and sales have been very encouraging
• Dixons.co.uk launched a toy store on the site in the lead-up to Christmas, which was an enormous success.

Price checking

• Dixons.co.uk launched the UK's first online price promise in autumn 2006.
• Dixons.co.uk checks 75,000 competitor prices every day, benchmarking against a field of over 40 competitors. Price data is gathered through a number of sources, including PriceRunner and through the use of "intelligent spiders" (software applications that trawl the Internet for price data).
• The site has rapidly built a reputation for market-leading pricing.  Dixons.co.uk products regularly appear in the top 3 by price on PriceRunner.

People

• Dixons had a core employee base of 3,000, (taken over by Currys.digital). Dixons.co.uk has a core employee base of just 10.  The e-tailer leverages DSG international plc infrastructure for buying, IT support, fulfilment, distribution and logistics.

Unique visitors and demographics

• The Dixons.co.uk site receives nearly 300,000 unique visitors per week.  In the past year, the conversion rate has more than trebled.
• Approaching half of Dixons.co.uk's customers are women (45%).
• One in five Dixons.co.uk customers are aged 55 and older.

Partnerships

• Dixons.co.uk has created an array of partnership deals in the last twelve months and has introduced ranges that match the lifestyle needs of Dixons.co.uk customers, spanning CD and DVDs, cars, digital memory products, utility items and many more.
• One of Dixons.co.uk's most successful third party ventures to date has been its partnership with LoveFilm (DVD rental).

Customer reviews

• Dixons.co.uk uses an independent customer review service, Reevoo, which contributes substantially to the depth of information on the site.  Already 1,700 key products on the Dixons.co.uk site have Reevoo-managed customer reviews.

Trading patterns

• More than a quarter (26%) of Dixons.co.uk's customers are based in the South East. The North West is the next strongest region, accounting for 12% of site visitors.
• Dixons.co.uk's transactional peaks are lunch hours and evenings.  Mondays are the strongest sales day.
• Greatest sales growth has come from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

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