31 January 2005

Multimap Guides People to their Nearest Dollond and Aitchison Stores in a Blink of an Eye

People looking for their nearest Dollond and Aitchison stores can now locate them on www.danda.co.uk, thanks to Multimap, Europe’s number one online mapping provider. Multimap’s “Storefinder” solution has been deployed to make it as easy as possible for people to find their nearest D&A store, in a bid to drive more traffic through the doors and increase the number of appointment bookings made online.

To find their nearest optician, visitors to www.danda.co.uk enter their area name or postcode in the ‘Storefinder” tab on the homepage. Multimap then delivers a list of the top five nearest stores with their respective contact details, plus an overview map plotting the location of those stores as icons on the map. Users click on an icon or on the “Optician details and map” link to access further details about the store, e.g., store manager name and opening times, plus a detailed map with zoom in/out capabilities. Should visitors wish to set up an appointment online, they simply click on the “Make an appointment” link, fill in their contact and appointment details, and request the appointment at their selected store.

Rob Halliday-Stein, Digital Media Manager, Dollond and Aitchison, said, “We are really pleased both with the finished solution, which makes it as easy and quick as possible for people to find their nearest D&A stores online. We were also very satisfied with the ease and speed with which it was implemented. The team at Multimap has been extremely professional, helpful and flexible at every juncture, and we are delighted to be working with them to provide such a useful service to our customers.”

“We are particularly pleased with how easy it was to customise the icons that appear on the map, and to tailor the service so that users can conduct searches by store name, postcode or place name in just one box on the homepage.” he continued.

Jeff Kelisky, Multimap’s chief executive officer, said, “Our “Storefinder” service is an excellent enhancement to D&A’s web site, making it easier and quicker for customers to locate their nearest store. Independent research indicates that the addition of services like ours significantly increases footfall; the impact of this on a business’s bottom line can be substantial.”

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 website, 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 websites 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 Dollond & Aitchison The Opticians

D&A have 380 stores across the UK. D&A have been looking after the nations eyes for over 250 years and are the oldest optical retailer in the world.

For further information about Dollond & Aitchison visit www.danda.co.uk or contact: