It has been an eventful year for Carphone Warehouse. The timing of the incredible £1.1bn deal with Best Buy for half the retail business couldn’t have been better. Carphone had relinquished its debt and teamed up with the world’s most powerful force in electrical retail.

Big changes and successes have also been afoot in the heart of the business, with the most radical review of staff pay ever in mobile retail, its biggest ever rebrand and new store formats.

It was Carphone’s leadership in the industry that impressed the judges most, and it took the majority of the industry vote with over 50%.

‘It seems the others respond to the market eventually, but Carphone showed some fantastic foresight this year,’ said one judge.

The judges felt the retailer had ‘found themselves again’ after a period in recent years when it appeared to struggle with major changes in the industry and possibly suffered an identity crisis.

The recent rebrand and return to ‘simple impartial advice’ was seen as well executed, especially with the simple, child-like doodles, and the theme of simplifying the complexity of phones and laptops.

It was also the first and fastest mover to take advantage of Woolworths’ exit in the market with substantial market share gains.

The change in staff behaviour through the new non-commission pay scheme was widely rated as brave and innovative.

‘It’s amazing what they’ve done and on what scale,’ said one judge. Another added: ‘The striking thing for me is the staff engagement scores.’

New formats (Wireless World) have been trialled across a range of locations, and Carphone’s ability to ‘make things come alive’ in retail made the company stand out for the judges.

Above all, the surveys and judges were agreed on one thing: ‘Carphone represents consumers better than anyone else in the industry.’