Centre gears up for festive rush

With only 134 shopping days left to Christmas, a Northern Ireland contact centre has said it is gearing up for a seasonal rush.

Belfast-based Gem said it will recruit 300 staff to handle services for Play.com over the festive season.

Recruitment manager Marcella McKeever said an online ordering surge at Christmas was now a tradition.

"The pre-Christmas period is always a busy time for the customer service sector," she said.

"Gem handles approximately 930,000 calls and answers approximately 350,000 e-mail enquiries on behalf of Play.com throughout the entire year."

Ms McKeever said that less than 1% were complaints, and that recruitment events would be organised in September.