16 March 2005

Multimap and Robert Dyas Announce Major Deal at Retail Week, 2005, London

Converting Online Researchers to In-store Purchasers; Multimap Shows the Nation the Way to the Nearest Robert Dyas Stores in Seconds

Robert Dyas, the big-brand home and garden retailer, and Multimap, Europe’s number one online mapping provider, today announce the implementation of Multimap’s “Storefinder” service on www.robertdyas.co.uk at The Retail Week Conference in London (16th and 17th March). The service enables customers looking for their nearest store to access detailed, interactive maps in a few quick steps. The ease–of-use of the service, and the accuracy and sharpness of the maps, are expected to increase the conversion rate of those researching outlet locations online to in-store customers.

Visitors to www.robertdyas.co.uk click on the “Our Stores” link on the left of the page, and enter their street and town or postcode, or click on the map that subsequently appears, to conduct a search. An interactive map pinpointing the location of the nearest store appears on screen, with a list of the top five nearest outlets beneath it. Each listing gives distance from the location entered plus full contact details, and users can opt to view the map of any one of these locations, plus the stores’ respective opening hours.

Roland Witherington, Direct Supply Chain Manager, Robert Dyas, commented, “We are very happy with Multimap’s services. The maps delivered are consistently clean and sharp, and the results are returned by true distance, which means that customers really do see their nearest stores, as opposed to stores located around the centre of a particular postcode, which can be slightly misleading. The feedback from our customers has been great!”

Jeff Kelisky, CEO of Multimap, said, “If a customer selects the store locator on a retail web site, their intention to buy is clear. It’s at this point that you don’t want to lose the business. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to find their nearest store, to make their purchase. By implementing our ‘Storefinder’ service, this is exactly what Robert Dyas has done, and we are delighted to be working with such a high-quality retailer.”

About Multimap

Multimap is Europe's leading provider of mapping and location-based services. The company delivers more online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches to more companies than any other supplier in Europe. All services are offered on mobile, PDA, kiosk, and interactive TV platforms and in multiple languages.

The public web site, www.multimap.com, provides a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life. Key features include street-level maps of Europe, USA, Canada and Australia; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; weather forecasts; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking. The public site attracts over 7.3 million unique users, registers more than 140 million page impressions every month, and is one of the top 10 most visited web sites in the UK. Multimap recently featured in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 league table of fastest-growing unquoted UK companies across all sectors.

About Robert Dyas

You can shop with confidence at Robert Dyas; we are not just another new Internet start-up venture. We are a leading independent housewares retailer with a huge range of products for the Home and Garden. Established in 1872, we have been providing our traditional high levels of service to customers throughout the South of England ever since.

Robert Dyas Holdings Ltd. has an annual turnover of £100 million from over 85 stores in such diverse locations as Theatreland in London through to Bristol in the West and Colchester in the East.