IN BRIEF
No monkeying around
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ongratulations to local online shopping website business Mighty Ape for its recent success at the Westpac Auckland Business Awards 2014 − North. Not only did this fast-growing company win the Excellence in Customer Service Delivery award but it also took out the Supreme Business Excellence Award. Mighty Ape founder Simon Barton recently took some time out to speak with FYI Magazine.
Tell us a bit about yourselves. Who are the people behind the Mighty Ape business? What are the main opportunities for Mighty Ape in the future?
Mighty Ape is run by a team of around 100 hard-working monkeys located here in Albany. We’re a diverse bunch with a common goal to revolutionise and change the way Kiwis shop and build a world-class online shopping site for New Zealanders. We’re a 100 percent New Zealand-owned company with strong roots in the North Shore. Our family is from the North Shore and most of our staff live locally.
How old is Mighty Ape?
What’s the strategy behind your business?
Mighty Ape celebrated its sixth birthday earlier this year but the company has been around a lot longer than that. Before Mighty Ape we were Gameplanet Store and before that Gamezone. Our background was in bricksand-mortar retail and we’ve really enjoyed the challenge of working out how to deliver a great customer experience online.
It’s pretty simple − to create a great online shopping experience for our customers. We are 100 percent focused on customers and finding new ways to meet and exceed their expectations. Creating customer satisfaction and loyalty in an online environment has been a fun and interesting challenge. We’ve learned to invest in lots of stock (we operate from a 5,500m2 distribution centre in Albany) so our customers can enjoy same-day delivery in Auckland and overnight delivery anywhere in New Zealand. We have an inhouse customer service team with trained service monkeys that can help our customers by phone, email and social media. We even have a pick-up service for customers on the North Shore.
How did you come up with the Mighty Ape name? It’s a nod to our roots in videogames and one of the greatest videogame characters of all time − Donkey Kong. We always wanted something unique and a name/brand we could make our own.
NHBA’s new office Our training and member programmes keep growing. So, after three years in our former premises, we’ve moved to new digs. One of the many plus-points is a dedicated training room which can host 30 people theatre-style. And we’re making this available to members to host their own seminars and meetings. Please come and visit us at 12 Parkway Drive, Albany. Our office phone number will remain the same: 09 968 2222. To use the boardroom or training room facilities, please email admin@nhba.org.nz 4 NOVEMBER 2014 FYI NHBA.ORG.NZ
Broadly speaking our main opportunity is to introduce new customers to our service, and to sell a broader range of products to our existing customers. We started life over 10 years ago as a games store, and quickly added movies and CDs to our list of departments. We now operate 15 departments including clothing, hobbies, baby, and fitness and nutrition which were all added in the past two years. Later this year we’re excited to launch our new health and beauty department and there will be more to follow.
What advice would you give to someone about to start up their own business? My number one tip is to focus on the customer. Mighty Ape is often held up as an innovative online retailer but our company philosophy adheres to classic retailing truths. We believe a website is just a proxy for what really matters − getting to know your customers − and giving them what they want. Customers are the ultimate sounding board. They tell you when they’re happy and they tell you when they’re not. So just listen to them.
Upper Harbour Business Sector and Migrant Volunteer Pilot Project
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on-profit community development organisation Raeburn House would like to create a network to connect new migrants seeking work experience through volunteering to suitable businesses. Volunteers can bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to businesses that are in need of vital support that they might not be able to afford, especially new start-ups that have not yet built the
capacity within their organisation to cope with extra demand. Not only should this enhance businesses in the area in the short-term but help future growth through the retention of highly-skilled and qualified new migrants. Each placement would last for a maximum of three months with each volunteer working a maximum of 15 hours a week.
For more information contact Delaram Khezri, Business Hub / Project Coordinator, Raeburn House. Ph: 09 480 9625. Email del@raeburnhouse.org.nz