eBusiness and eCommerce
Starting Your Own Internet Business |
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Trust in your web designersays Award winning Nicola Holland of www.giftbagz.co.uk Turning her back on a career in finance and leaving a job as company treasurer, Nicola Holland reinvented herself as founder of www.giftbagz.co.uk and has gone on to win the 2006/2007 Test Valley Business Award for excellence through e-commerce sponsored by eHampshire and Affili8 New Media.
www.giftbagz.co.uk is a site that lets you choose a variety of beautiful gifts, which are then gift wrapped and forwarded to their recipient in a gorgeous gift bag. As Nicola says, “The idea couldn’t be simpler. I’d always enjoyed putting together bags of goodies for family and friends on special occasions and at the end of 2005 when I found myself looking for a new challenge gift bags on a larger scale seemed like quite a good idea.” The company and website officially went ‘live’ on 1st April 2006 after four months of putting together a business plan, developing the website and sourcing gifts to sell. “The best thing I did was to find myself a fantastic web designer. This is absolutely crucial as they create your ‘shop window’ and you have to work with somebody that understands where you want to take your business. I am not at all technology minded and so Larch from Virtual Support Services has had to really lead that aspect of the project. My trust in her abilities has meant that I can go out and develop the giftbagz offering.” Within the first month of business, Nicola secured her first corporate account – a national property company. The company want a gift bag for new home owners full of appropriate goodies ,including, coffee, tea, tea towels and rubber gloves. Nicola’s other corporate accounts include the Law School in London and she has just started working with Vodafone. Nicola is the first to admit lessons have been learnt along the way: “When I first started out I spent a lot of money on Yahoo sponsored links that didn’t really bring me additional business. People seem to find me without advertising and that is great.” Customer service is vital to Nicola and with her growing portfolio of corporate accounts she invests time to establish a personal relationship with the companies. “I want them to be able to put a face to the name and know me well enough to discuss any issues they may have, or ideas for what they would like to see in their giftbagz. The internet is a great medium for reaching the masses, but for my larger accounts I think it’s vital I get out there and develop a personal relationship. When asked what three top tips Nicola would impart to any budding internet entrepreneurs, she confirmed: • Don’t be afraid of the technology. Find yourself a great web designer and trust them to use their skills and expertise to make your site the one people find first and grabs their attention. Last year www.giftbagz.co.uk had a turnover of £40,000 and this year Nicola is anticipating this to rise to £60,000. As she concludes, “The concept has taken off so well and we’ve got lots of ideas for the future. Having an internet business provides so many advantages: - less overheads than a conventional shop, the flexibility to provide a great work/life balance and the ability to do something I really enjoy. My financial background has without doubt been a great advantage, but having had a taste of being an internet entrepreneur, I couldn’t go back to my old life as company treasurer now.” Chance Conversation Leads to £200,000 Business
A chance conversation with a customer two years ago provided JJ Heath-Caldwell with the germ of an idea that was to become www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk Operating from rural Hampshire, www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk provides customers with direct online contact throughout the UK with local surveyors and structural engineers able to carry out surveys and inspections on a property.
JJ Heath-Caldwell was working for a friend’s company –1st ER Surveys - when a customer said what he wanted from a website was not the rigidity of having to place an order with a particular surveyor, but the flexibility to view a range of estimates from surveyors local to him, and the ability to liaise with them directly.
Taking this idea forward, JJ brought together the expertise of four friends, all of whom made a £1 investment in the company and provided www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk with a loan of £499. The company was founded in 2005, its current turnover in excess of £200,000 and the initial loans were all paid back within two months of starting the business.
In terms of getting the company off the ground, JJ explains: “The first thing we needed was to populate the site with suppliers and this was achieved through Terry White’s and Mike Royall’s 1st ER Surveys list. Then we had to develop the site. I knew what we needed, but brought in a friend, Kevin Hopkins, to develop the software which generates the estimates. Once the technical elements of the site were in place we were open for business.
One of the most incredible things about starting an internet business is the fact that ten years ago it would have been impossible to launch a company such as ours without major financial backing.
The entry cost of the technology required to build a site is within the realms of anyone who has the entrepreneurial spirit to make it happen.
” A customer looking for a surveyor simply needs to complete an online form by providing the following information: property address and postcode, approximate purchase price of property, year the property was built, number of bedrooms, type of property and personal contact details. In a matter of seconds the customer receives a range of estimates from local surveyors, all unique to his requirements, with full contact details for each expert.
A confirmatory email containing details of the estimates is also forwarded. Customers are then able to get in touch directly with these experts to discuss requirements and timescales in more detail and decide whether they wish to employ the services of that particular surveyor. The relationship going forward is then between the customer and the surveyor."
JJ Heath-Caldwell continues:
“The service is a win-win situation for both the customer and the surveyor. Historically, a surveyor’s day is often taken up with travelling long distances between surveys, but with www.localsurveyorsidrect.co.uk their work can be more localised and customers feel more comfortable using a company that knows their area and who really understand the regional market. Spin off advantages to the surveyor include the ability to undertake more jobs in one day, less petrol and ultimately lower business running costs.”
Surveyors pay a fee to www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk for each estimate that is generated offering their services and the fee can range from a couple of pounds to as little as 20 pence. “A couple of surveyors have confirmed that more than 50% of their business is coming through our website which is fantastic, but most surveyors agree that they like being on our system as it is a low-cost means of winning a few extra orders every month.
The company is going from strength-to-strength and now offers customers access to a range of specialist property consultants involved in all aspects of the industry, including architects, structural engineers, electricians, cctv drainage surveyors and many others.
The website also provides estimates from companies offering HIPs (Home Information Packs) and Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). When asked about how www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk has changed JJ Heath-Caldwell’s life he says: “It gives me heaps of satisfaction as it’s a great feeling having built something from scratch.
Another great advantage an internet business has provided is the freedom of working for myself without the time restrictions of a conventional business. I work long hours but they are hours that suit me and that’s quite fantastic.
We also all work remotely –two of us live in small villages just outside Winchester - and so there are none of the overheads associated with a conventional business, which makes a huge difference to our costs. “Looking ahead, there’s no stopping us – we want to be the UK’s no. 1 means of finding a local building surveyor or property specialist.
Currently we have just over 1,000 suppliers on our database, but in the next two years we want this to increase ten fold and provide customers with the best choice available, whether they live in London or the Lake District.
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