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MULTIMAP.COM PROFILE


10 August 2004

Powerhouse Plugs in and Plays Multimap’s “Storefinder” to Make it Easy and Quick for Customers to Find their Nearest Store

Visitors to www.powerhouse.co.uk can now locate their nearest store, and access full contact details for it, thanks to Multimap.com, Europe’s number one online mapping services provider. The leading independent appliance retailer has deployed Multimap’s “Storefinder” service to enhance users’ experience online, and increase the number of visitors to its stores. The service encompasses all 129 Powerhouse stores across the UK. Axida, the multi-channel sales order and fulfilment solutions provider, built and maintains the site.

Visitors to www.powerhouse.co.uk click on the “Store Locator” link on the homepage to view a UK map. They either click on their area of interest on the map, or enter their street, town and/or postcode, to view a list of their five nearest Powerhouse outlets, with full contact details and distance from location entered, plus a map of the location entered, with panning and zooming in/out capabilities. Users click on the store of interest to view a map of the area with an icon showing its exact location. Again, users can zoom in/out, pan N,S,E,W, and select one of 13 different scales to adjust their view.

Willem Mijnarends, Multimap’s UK sales manager, said, “We are delighted that Powerhouse Retail has joined our 700-strong client portfolio. We have always been strong in retail and are pleased to welcome another major brand from this sector on board.”

Bethan Edwards, internet manager, Powerhouse, commented, “We were looking for a reliable and accurate mapping service, available around the clock, that would deliver maps to our customers at sub-second speed. Multimap was the front runner on all these counts and we’re really pleased with the results. Feedback from our customers and our store managers has been positive; not only does the service provide a useful tool for our customers, but it also drives more of them through our doors. And, the level of professionalism of both the customer services and technical teams at Multimap has been excellent, making the deployment of the services quick and smooth.”

About Multimap.com
Multimap.com 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 WAP, 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 came 27th in The Sunday Times' Tech Track 100 league table of fastest-growing companies.

About Powerhouse
Powerhouse is the third largest independent appliance retailer in the United Kingdom, operating 129 stores in England and Scotland selling electrical and appliances and employs in excess of 1,953 staff. Powerhouse’s head office is in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Turnover for the year to March 2003 was GBP 398.6 million. The UK appliance market size is estimated at approximately GBP 12.5 billion.

In the last few years, Powerhouse has created a full National Distribution and Servicing operations this was following the acquisition of the former ScottishPower Retail stores. In October 2002, Powerhouse embarked on a re-branding of the stores, with the launch of a distinctive new corporate identity. This corporate identity was developed to reflect the national status as well as product expertise and service values.

Alongside this re-branding, stores have been converted to the same in-store Information Technology and information systems platform; this ensures efficient communication of data to enable operations as a single company. In September 2003, Powerhouse was purchased by Pacific Retail Group.

About Axida
Axida is a multi-channel sales order and fulfilment solutions provider. Working with some of the UK’s best-known companies, leaders in retail and distribution, contributing to overall supply chain efficiency and enabling them to deliver customer satisfaction. The Axida product set has been designed to support sales order capture from any channel and manage the order and service fulfilment process. Our solutions will co-ordinate interaction between internal operations, suppliers, partners and your customers, providing full order visibility and proactive problem resolution.