Group buying retailers dominated at the 3rd annual AMBER Awards, which recognise excellence in e-services, customer service and e-commerce in online banking, retail, travel and government in Australia and New Zealand.

The awards reflected strong and expanding Australian e-services, customer service and e-commerce sectors. The growing popularity of group buying sites led to the inclusion of an award dedicated to the online trend.

AMBER Awards co-founder, Paul McCarthy, said group buying was a hyper-competitive environment with a significant amount of investment.

“At the intersection of social media, pure-play online retail and private shopping, the group buying sector will continue to be an interesting one to watch.”

McCarthy said this year’s awards reflect a coming of age in Australia’s online retail sector.

“Online retailing by the major Australian retailing groups Coles Myer and Woolworths is now mainstream with over 1.5 million Australians each month using online grocery services. Dan Murphy’s, Woolworth’s online liquor store has been a standout success in this sector recording stellar growth in 2011.”

“At the same time, there’s also plenty of healthy competition from “pure-play” challengers and independents who have significantly expanded their physical franchise online such as Peter’s of Kensington.”

Finalists were selected from a range of online businesses that receive the highest traffic by Australian visitors. The winners were established using combined results of scores from an independent, nationwide customer satisfaction survey and expert analysis from an independent online services lab testing facility.

The full list of winners includes: