EMERGING talent in the digital world has secured top billing for a retail giant based in Bolton.

Members of the tech department at AO.com has been named Team of the Year - Large Organisations at the inaugural Computing Rising Star Awards in London.

Recently the Middlebrook firm has carried out a comprehensive overhaul of its check-out procedures.

And it was this work that saw their Basket team walk away with the honours at the awards, which were set up to pick out the individuals and organisations leading the digital field.

Judges commended thetech team for "obsessing about the customer experience and making the customer king".

Bosses at the Parklands company say nearly 60 per cent of the customers visiting their site do so via mobile phones, so the functionality improvements had made it quicker and easier for people to pay for their goods.

Carl Phillips, the firm's group IT director, said: "Everyone at AO.com is extremely proud to have won the award last night.

"The AO Tech team is full of talented people who always go above and beyond every day, making mum proud.

"The award is an enormous credit to the hard work and determination the Basket team have put in this year to continuously improve and deliver to the highest standard."

He says that the tech team has always prided itself as being at the forefront of technology and had made adapting and integrating new trends and innovations one of their philosophies.

Technicians also devise the majority of their systems in-house, always with the goal of making the shopping experience as easy as possible for customers, he added.

The awards success has come at an important juncture for the electronics retailer's IT operations.

Earlier this year AO.com, which was founded in 2000, embarked on what was described as its largest-ever IT recruitment drive.

This saw 50 new starters, including software developers, designers and business analysts recruited across their Bolton and Manchester sites, as well as expanding into new offices at Parklands to accommodate the expanded workforce.

Mr Phillips, speaking then, said: "What makes our IT team unique is the range of projects that people get to work on and the freedom that they have to get things done.

"From infrastructure to coding, our teams get the opportunity to use the latest technology and working practices on a daily basis.

Last year the company also opened offices at Baskerville House, in Manchester city centre, an operation thought to house around 220 staff.