Peter Vardy has awarded students from Strathclyde Business School a £2,000 cash prize, following a 12 week project to develop digital marketing ideas.

The winners were Ailie Bryson, Sophie McNeill, James Macinnes, and Elsemieke Kuiters. The runners-up also won cash prizes donated by the group.

The challenge was made to the second year marketing students in February by the group's chief executive Peter Vardy, who first learned his marketing skills at the university.

The teams had to make recommendations for the Scotland-wide Peter Vardy Limited car dealerships, set out the implications for these recommendations, and address any challenges the company may have in implementing their proposals.

Chief executive Peter Vardy said: "I was delighted to come back to campus and launch this project which provided the students with the chance to get a real insight into the world of retail. They have put a lot of work into this project and we enjoyed hearing all the recommendations and strategies put forward by the students at our CarStore showroom."

The top five teams presented their projects to Professor Alan Wilson from Strathclyde Business School’s marketing department and a panel of senior managers from Peter Vardy.

Year-on-year web visits to petervardy.com are up by 128%, reaching nearly 12,500 potential buyers a day.  The surge in online interest has been driven by Peter Vardy's optimisation efforts, and recognising that the online experience is every bit as important as the showroom journey.

The group appointed dedicated digital marketing executives to each site who look after dealership-specific social media pages and stock feeds back in March.