Australia and New Zealand’s Top 100 Online Services Revealed

Finalists for the 3rd Annual AMBER Awards have been announced today with 100 companies taking out the honours across 15 categories.

Each AMBER finalist represents the “people’s choice” as to who are Australia and New Zealand’s best online service providers.

The AMBER finalists were selected from a comprehensive field of online businesses that receive the most traffic by Australian visitors. The winners will be established using a combined result of scores from an independent, nationwide customer satisfaction survey and expert analysis from an independent online services lab testing facility.

Australian financial services are largely represented throughout the list of finalists, including some of the major banks. Editor of Technology Spectator and AMBER Awards Co-Founder, Charis Palmer, comments on the importance of innovation in the online banking sector.

“Australia's major banks continue to invest heavily in online banking, and with mobile banking experiencing exponential growth, the gap between the leaders and fast followers is clear. The case for innovation has never been stronger,” Ms Palmer said.

The Awards were established to provide an independent yardstick by which to measure and recognise Australia’s best mainstream web and mobile services.

“We’re revealing the hottest and most loved consumer online services, derived from a comprehensive, independent nationwide survey,” said AMBER Awards Co-Founder, Paul McCarthy.

Finalists are now in the process of being ‘lab tested’ to establish how comprehensive they are to use.

Scores from lab tests and the customer satisfaction scores will then be combined to determine who will be Australia’s AMBER Award winners for 2011.

“There are 100 finalists in fifteen categories covering the most used online services in Australia and NZ including online banking, online retail and online travel,” said Mr McCarthy.

“We have introduced a new category covering the rapidly growing group buying and private shopping club phenomena”, he added.

Winners of the 2011 AMBER Awards will be presented at a gala cocktail event at Sydney’s iconic Customs House, on Thursday September 15. To view the full list of finalists please click here.

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What is AMBER?
Australia’s AMBER Awards are designed to recognise excellence in eServices in Australia.

AMBER is an independent, consumer-centric award for digital services that combines customer experience and expert usability analysis. Awards are determined based on the results of thorough customer experience testing and analysis of  Australia’s most used mainstream eCommerce and eService providers.

Who is behind it?
The AMBER Awards were devised by Paul McCarthy, the longstanding Chair of Judging of the Annual Interactive Media Industry Association Awards and Charis Palmer, one of Australia’s leading independent commentators on online financial services.

The AMBER Awards are an initiative of Australia’s peak body for digital content, services and applications — the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association. The partners include Online Banking Review, TNS, MyOpinions and Access Testing.

When and Where
The AMBER Awards will be presented at a gala cocktail event at Customs House, Sydney on Thursday September 15, 2011.

More information www.amberawards.com.au

For more information please contact:

Corinne Franks                                               Paul McCarthy
Phone: 02 9248 7900                                      Phone: (02) 9372 8286
E-mail: Corinne@aimia.com.au                        Email: paul.mccarthy@services.nsw.gov.au