The Michael R Peters Group, which has been in business for 42 years, has won the Best Customer Service Award sponsored by retra, at this year's Independent Marketing Awards.

The summer showcase of Groupe SEB, the European small appliance manufacturer and owner of Tefal, Rowenta, Krups and Mulinex brands, demonstrated once again the ambitions of the company to remain the leading innovator of the sector.

Philips' latest shaver - the arcitec - boasts three independently flexing heads in an ergonomically designed shaving unit. Designed for the closest shave possible, the new model features a ‘flex and pivot' action to make it easier to shave hard to reach areas, such as the contours of the face.

Bernhard Vocke began to deliver customer service 15 years ago while working for the chemical and oil industries in Latin America. 

According to Roberts, this is the world's first solar-powered radio that comes complete with DAB capability. The built-in rechargeable battery pack is continually charged while the radio is in direct sunlight and once fully changed will last up to 27 hours. The radio can be used out of the sunlight until it needs recharging, either using the solar panel or the mains adaptor.

There are certainly some influential trends out there which are having a positive effect on the food prep and beverage maker sectors.

As every good retailer knows, add-on sales can be highly lucrative, so as ever, it's of paramount importance not to overlook this product area. Here, we concentrate on the burgeoning universal remote control sector, fuelled by significant changes in the way that consumers watch TV and the equipment they require.

The sixteenth Independent Marketing Awards, organised annually by Independent Electrical Retailer magazine and co-sponsored by BDC Independents were held at The Boswoth Hall Hotel in Warwickshire on 26 June 2008.  The winners of this year's Awards - companies which the readers of IER - the independent electrical retailers - recognised as having given them the best support by investing in product excellence, advertising communications and training, collected 15 awards in 11 categories. In 2008, for the first time the Awards were only voted by the independent dealers, but honoured the professionalism and the service excellence of the best independent electrical retailers in the UK.