Claims to sell a product through its own or one of its clients’ websites every 10 seconds.

Sales growth % pa 173.07
2008 Sales ‡£14.1m
2005 Sales £0.7m
2008 staff 42
Founded 2004
Location of HQ Cheshire

* = annualised figures
‡ = draft accounts

Founded in 2004 by Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore, this Cheshire company creates, runs and maintains the online content of companies such as Asda, Lovefilm and Dixons. Its own website, Thehut.com, sells a range of home-entertainment and electrical products and is about to introduce a selection of perfume, lingerie and outdoor leisure equipment, inspiring the likes of the Co-op to ask it to look after their online sales. A recent recruitment drive and burst of promotional activity have helped to push up sales 173% a year from £692,000 in 2005 to £14.1m in 2008.

Holiday Villa, Pantai Tengah, Langkawi

Our hotel, The Holiday Villa was once nice I’m sure but it is now a little worn. We’re a little silly in that we tend to judge all of the hotels that we stay in by the hotel we had for our honeymoon which was ridiculously expensive and our room had its own private pool so it would take a lot to beat that one. It was fine to stay in for a week and had the essential amenties e.g. wireless internet access (40 RM per 24 hours)for me.

I wouldn’t recommend it as a hotel but it wasn’t unpleasant. 3 out of 5 maybe.

Pantai Tengah

Pantai Tengah (where we were staying) was very quiet and pretty small. It wasn’t the cleanest beach I’ve been on but it wasn’t filthy. Apparently litter on the beach is common all over Malaysia and they certainly weren’t as well kept as in Thailand.

The beach had very few activites and the water was particularly murky. You couldn’t even snorkle there. There were a few restaurants that sit in the road behind the beach, Fat Mum (chinese, quite nice), Cactus (looks rough but dirt cheap food and great atmosphere with great breakfasts. We ate breakfast here nearly every day), Tang Lung (really great fried fish). Enough restaurants for a few days but after that…

Pantai Cenang

Pantai Cenang (main beach on island) was busier and a lot larger. This is where most of the restaturant and accomodation is on the island. See above for details of cleanliness of beach. We booked our tours here and ate out quite a lot. Large number of restaurants covering all tastes. Distinct lack of bars. I don’t like boozy bar resorts but when Becky and I went looking for somewhere to have a quiet drink after our meal, we walked the entire length of the beach and found 2 bars (1 irish). I was also surprised by the number of restaurants which didn’t serve any alcohol. I know not a major problem but I do like a glass of wine with a meal. Some will let you go and buy your own, some actually do have wine but don’t have it on the menu, just ask.

We didn’t venture to any other beaches on the main island but we heard that they were the same. The visibility for diving and snorklelling was supposed to be better on the north and west coast but they tend to be private resort beaches.

Kuah

Kuah town is where the majority of tours can be booked from. Becks and I went in one night and were amazed that there was actually nothing in the town. The biggest town on the island had maybe 1/20th of the restaurants compared to Pantai Cenang. Biggest disappointment of the holiday. Bit of a waste of time really.

Island Hopping on Langkawi

Basic Island Hopping RM 55 (£8)
Really good fun if a little short. This included… in ‘The lake of the pregnant maiden’ where Becky enjoyed a catfish foot massage, Eagle feeding (lots of them) and Beras Basah Island. A good day out.

Pulau Payar Marine Park near Langkawi

Pulau Payar Marine Park (Coral Island or Langkawi Coral are the companies) - Snorkelling, shark feeding, diving RM128 (£20, more for diving).

This was great fun although a little scary with the sharks. The sea was a lot clearer than the other places but I wouldn’t say it was as clear as Thailand or Mexico. We went snorkelling in the morning, lots and lots of fish including huge barracudas and baby black tip reef sharks. I asked if there were babies where ‘mummy and daddy’ were and the guides said that they never come in so shallow and that it was perfectly safe. At lunch they started baiting the sharks and ‘mummy and daddy’ showed up which was amazing to watch. More snorkelling was planned for the afternoon but I wasn’t too keen. Becks wanted to go and see the big sharks underwater so we both went back in. I got out quite quickly once we had seen the big one which was the same size as me.

Things we should have done

Hire car

If we were staying longer we would have hired one. We didn’t see that much of the island and would have ventured further with more time.

Langkawi Cable car

The Cable Car system is the latest tourist attraction for Langkawi and is located at the Oriental Village, a theme shopping centre housed in 30’s individually designed buildings showcasing Malaysian and Oriental architecture.

Great views of the islands and Thailand apparently. Some couples we talked to highly recommended it but didn’t get round to doing it.

Resources

Websites:

Before I forget, Langkawi Online was invaluable in our planning. It is realy good and breaks down the different areas of going to Langkawi e.g. hotels and activities etc.

Langkawi pictures can be found on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossboardman/sets/72157606006360337/

The judging criteria took in to account amongst other things, best customer service, best design and most satisfied customer.

Phones 4u were proud to be named Online Retailer of the Year 2006. Just take a look at what the judges had to say:

“The website is industry leading, particularly in terms of navigation”    

“Phones 4u has a very clean and tidy site”

“…customers too seemed to like Phones 4u’s site, with over 75% in exit polls rating it as good or excellent”

Read The Press Release…