references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . october 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message mighty ape ltd type private company industry retail founded 1999 as virtual stores 2008 as mighty ape founder simon barton headquarters auckland new zealand area served new zealand website www.mightyape.co.nz www.mightyape.com.au mighty ape ltd. is a new zealand electronic commerce company based in albany auckland . formerly known as gameplanet store it is one of the longest running online retailers in new zealand . founded by simon barton as virtual stores nz ltd. in 1999 the company began by selling computer and video games under the gamezone brand . in 2003 the business rebranded to gameplanet store or gp store . over the following years the product range expanded to include dvd movies pc hardware and music . in 2008 the company relaunched as mighty ape and began selling books and toys . mighty ape has launched in australia . 1 history edit simon barton first founded micro world in 1993 a small retail store in mt eden auckland which sold amiga computers . 2 when amiga production ceased the business shifted its focus to selling video games and rebranded to gamezone . several other stores were opened in auckland ; however this proved unsuccessful and gamezone reverted to having one store on symonds st in the auckland cbd run with the help of zane hemingway . gamezone became well known for its large scale product launch parties including one for the original playstation . gamezone created its first e commerce website in 1998 allowing the company to begin selling video games online and cater to a wider customer base . the site was mostly developed by simon garner whom simon barton later partnered with in 2000 to start a separate venture called gameplanet a gaming website which publishes video game news reviews previews downloads and community forums . gamezone began operating under the company name virtual stores nz ltd in 1999 . in 2003 gamezone was rebranded as gameplanet store or gp store . this coincided with the closure of the symonds st store and opening of a new retail store on dominion rd in mt eden and the launch of a new web site . as gp store grew the product range gradually expanded to include dvd movies pc hardware and music . while the e commerce side of the business went from strength to strength the retail store in mt eden was not so successful . in 2007 the retail store was closed enabling the company to focus entirely on its e commerce operations . with the increasingly diverse range of products on offer a new brand was sought that would fit better with the company s ambitions and in november 2008 the business was relaunched as mighty ape and began selling books and toys . the database and applications running the web site had to be largely redesigned to handle an increase in the number of products sold from some tens of thousands of games to now listing over six million products including games books movies home and office products toys and collectibles music electronics and computers . in early 2011 mighty ape launched a new feature called mighty ape marketplace which allows users to sell second hand items to other customers on the site . the used items appear on mighty ape product pages together with items sold by the company but are shipped from the user selling the item directly to the customer . when a user purchases a marketplace item mighty ape handles payment processing and holds the money in pseudo escrow until the purchaser confirms they have received the item successfully . this allows mighty ape to offer a marketplace safety guarantee with a 100 % refund under certain conditions . 3 mighty ape takes a 9 % commission on each sale . 4 in 2013 mighty ape launched a new online shopping site specialising in everyday household items . mighty mart stocks over 200 items such as bathroom and cleaning products baby care products pet food drinks non perishable food items such as pasta pasta sauces etc. it offers featured deals which are changed daily . in 2014 mighty ape launched its same day delivery service in new zealand s main centres auckland wellington and christchurch . the company continued to grow at a healthy rate and went on to win the westpac supreme business excellence award and excellence in customer service delivery award . 5 awards edit net guide web awards year category website result 2004 best online store as gp store won 2007 best online shopping site as gp store won 2008 as mighty ape won 2009 best online shopping site as mighty ape won best new site relaunch or innovation 2010 best site for gamers as mighty ape won 2011 best shopping site 6 as mighty ape won best site for gamers 7 as mighty ape won 2012 best shopping site 8 as mighty ape won best site for gamers 9 as mighty ape won best social networking page 10 as mighty ape won overall best site 11 as mighty ape won 2014 westpac supreme business excellence award 12 as mighty ape won westpac excellence in customer service delivery 13 references edit mighty ape australia about mighty ape mighty ape marketplace safety guarantee . mighty ape marketplace fees . business excellence awards 2014 . 25 september 2014 . retrieved 15 january 2015 . mighty ape wins best shopping site . 26 august 2011 . retrieved 26 september 2011 . mighty ape wins best shopping site . 26 august 2011 . retrieved 26 september 2011 . mighty ape wins overall best site at the 2012 netguide web awards . 21 september 2012 . retrieved 21 october 2012 . mighty ape wins overall best site at the 2012 netguide web awards . 21 september 2012 . retrieved 21 october 2012 . mighty ape wins overall best site at the 2012 netguide web awards . 21 september 2012 . retrieved 21 october 2012 . mighty ape wins overall best site at the 2012 netguide web awards . 21 september 2012 . retrieved 21 october 2012 . business excellence awards 2014 . 25 september 2014 . retrieved 15 january 2015 . mighty ape wins top award at westpac business awards . retrieved 15 january 2015 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mighty ape & oldid 744341118 categories new zealand websiteshidden categories articles lacking reliable references from october 2016all articles lacking reliable referencesuse dmy dates from february 2015use new zealand english from february 2015all wikipedia articles written in new zealand englisharticles needing additional references from january 2010all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more 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