West Marine recently honored the winners of its 15th annual VIV (Very Important Vendor) Awards at the company’s Watsonville, Calif., support center.
The awards program celebrates vendors who continually seek to satisfy their customers by offering what they want while always being innovative in their approach. Winners are selected based on consistent excellence in product quality, sales growth, and the helpfulness of their sales support staff.
“West Marine is proud to announce Columbia Sportswear and Starbrite as the co-winners of the West Marine VIV Awards for 2009,” said Ron Japinga, executive vice president of merchandising for West Marine, in a statement. “Each represents the ideals of offering customers high quality products, a commitment to innovation and excellent customer service that has been the hallmark of West Marine’s mission since its beginning.”
Winners of West Marine VIV Awards for 2009 were:
Co-Vendors of the Year: Columbia Sportswear and Starbrite
Best Sales Growth: Vertext Standard
Best Vendor Representative: Mark Jordan, ICOM
Best New Product: Revere McMurdo FastFind 210 GPS Personal Location Beacon
Best Supply Chain Partner: Schaefer Marine
Best Store Sales Support: Raymarine
Best Direct Sales Support: Sierra
Best Port Supply Sales Support: Norcold-Thetford
Best Visual Merchandising Support: Caframo
Best Green Product: Starbrite
