Commended for its outstanding use of new technology for information provision and online trading, the jurors agreed that the Livingston-based operation perfectly demonstrated the massive capacity of the internet as a business channel.
Established in 1998, one of BuildStore’s key e-commerce products is the groundbreaking ‘PlotSearch’ service, a dynamic online database of verified building land in the UK. PlotSearch is a subscription-based service with a number of features only available via the Internet. These include an e mail alert service when a piece of land matching a subscriber’s requirements is sourced, and an aerial photography facility which links plots to an aerial map to enable subscribers to view sites to help them to decide whether or not to travel to view them. PlotSearch will attract revenue of £1 million in the current financial year, a figure which even the most lucrative of e-businesses would envy.
Commenting on the award, BuildStore’s Managing Director Raymond Connor said, “I am delighted that BuildStore has been recognised for the contribution we have made to stimulating and serving the self build market. The Internet has proved to be an ideal information and sales interface between the company and our customers, to the extent that 50% of our business is now conducted online.”
