Money Supermarket
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moneysupermarket.com is a price comparison website that allows visitors to compare prices and services for a wide range of financial and insurance products through the use of a unique search engine. Initially a way of researching financial products in the UK such as credit cards, loans and mortgages, its service has expanded to incorporate insurance, motoring, utilities and mobile phones.
Moneysupermarket.com is a part of Moneysupermarket.com Financial Group Limited, which also trades as Mortgage 2000, and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).[1] Its affiliate brands include Travelsupermarket.com which, among other products, compares flights, hotels and car hire. In a 2005 survey by The Telegraph Travelsupermarket.com was voted one of the best online travel companies.[2]
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[edit] History
Moneysupermarket.com was launched in December 1999[1], originally based in Chester, and now with offices in Ewloe, North Wales.[1] Chief Executive Simon Nixon and Duncan Cameron own the majority of the company’s shares.[1] They currently employ over 500 staff including approximately 200 I.T. staff.
In 2002, the company sourced more than £2 billion in personal loan lending[1], tens of thousands of other products such as mortgages, insurance and secured loans and more than a million credit card applications. The following year, these numbers were doubled.[1]
In September 2003, Travelsupermarket.com was launched.[3] and, later in the same year, Moneysupermarket.com scooped both the regional and national Growth Strategy Award and Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the National Business Awards.[4] In 2004, the company claimed regional awards for the best use of technology and as the business of the year.
Moneysupermarket.com continued to reap the rewards of their expanding service in 2004, appearing at number five in the Real Business Hot 100[4] and gaining the Large Business Award at Chronicle Newspapers’ Cheshire Business Awards.[4]
In March 2005, the company launched a motoring section comparing new cars; motor breakdown cover, car, van and motorbike insurance and personal contract plans (car leasing). Later that year Moneysupermarket.com expanded further with a utilities section comparing gas and electricity prices and suppliers as well as dual fuel.
The following year the company began its first television advertising campaign for both Moneysupermarket.com and Travelsupermarket.com and in March 2006 a mobile phones section was introduced comparing handsets and tariffs. In July 2006 a Broadband comparison service was added to the company's portfolio.
In October 2006 Neilson netratings ranked Moneysupermarket.com top in its sector with a unique audience of 1,877,000.
On 12 February 2007, Simon Nixon was featured on Granada Reports and gave his story on how the company formed.
[edit] Other
Moneysupermarket.com has established partnerships with many big names in the media industry, including The Times, The Guardian[3], The Observer, the Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph. Each of these newspapers uses the moneysupermarket.com price comparison tool on their respective websites.
The company has also been featured on television and radio including BBC's It's Your Money, and Breakfast programmes as well as BBC Radio 4's Moneybox and Radio 5 Live.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f About Us. Moneysupermarket.com (October 2004). Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ^ Telegraph travel award. Moneysupermarket.com (2005-10-08). Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
- ^ a b Travelsupermarket.com launches, eyes partners. E-consultancy.com (2003-09-17). Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ^ a b c Awards. Moneysupermarket.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
