actinic ecommerce
case studies
Read about the experiences of some of Actinic's users
For a list of our better-known clients, click here
New July 2008 The Cotton Patch
The Cotton Patch is a family-run business that has developed from a single shop into a multi-channel operation with the addition of a quarterly catalogue mailing, telephone ordering and a website with an international following. Together these channels account for 78% of sales and ecommerce is the most important and profitable of all: turnover leapt by 67% in the year following its introduction.
Updated April 2008 Stinkyink
Most people who are swindled out of £32,000 and have had their stock worth £50,000 stolen in a raid might decide to give up and go back to PAYE employment. But John Sollars is made of sterner stuff. His may be one of the unluckiest online startups ever, but he decided to persevere and quickly learned how to protect his web business from scamsters.
Rannoch
Smokery
This traditional Scottish smokery, whose customers include Harrods,
Selfridges and Waitrose, used the Internet to open up a direct
retail market for its smoked fish
and game.
The
Cake Store
In early 2001 Tim Slatter
was co-running a struggling bakery business with a 70 year
history and four shops in south London,
but local superstores were undercutting his bread prices. Tim and his brother
Kevin fought back with an ecommerce business called The Cake Store selling
imaginatively decorated, mouth-watering celebration and wedding
cakes together with creations
for corporate events.
Colliewobbles
Marcus and Mandy Bainbridge are proof that every cloud has a silver lining.
From the devastation of foot and mouth in 2001 these sheep farmers were able
to use ecommerce and Actinic Catalog to fight back and establish a profitable
business based on their second passion – their Border Collie sheepdogs.
Dream Racer
Exquisite moments don't arise all that often in life, and when
they do, it's important to recognise and savour them. One online
business that has reached such a moment is Dream-Racer.
Nigel's Eco Store
For Hove-based Nigel Berman, doing business is not just about
selling anything that will turn a profit. Since the late
1990s when he attended a course on teaching companies to
operate
in a more environmentally friendly way, he has been a convert
to
the approach. In 2005 he was able to launch a new business
that both sold eco-products and used an eco-friendly business
model:
ecommerce. Nigel's Eco Store is the home of the Green Web Awards.
Spices Of India
42 year old Bill Stevenson is not your typical Indian grocer
- he’s based in rural Dorset and is a software developer
by trade (for the last decade he was a top programmer on
the Human
Genome Project in fact) but harbours a lifelong passion
for Indian cuisine.
Luna Spas
An idea that came during the redevelopment of an old Yorkshire
mill turned into a profitable business for brothers Nic
and James Auckland. An initial investment of just £1 in online
promotion was all it took to test their idea, and set them
on the path
to success.
The Gentleman's Shop
Having a close shave is an everyday experience for Robert Johnston and his customers. He has run a successful barber's shop in the Berkshire market town of Hungerford since 1988 and prides himself on the closeness of the shave he and his six barbers offer with their traditional open blade razors.
Classic-leisure
Many people dream
of quitting the so-called rat race and moving to, say, the South
of France and earning a living from there. Some
people even do it – but it doesn’t always work out
as smoothly as the migrators had hoped. For Peter Mulcock and his
family the idea was appealing and had a happy ending, but because
of red tape and changes in circumstance, they have retained a base
in the UK as well.
Anything
Left-handed
Established in 1968, Anything Left-Handed
is a family business offering products, services and advice for
left-handed people. Owner and MD, Keith Milsom sells over 250
products which have been tested & approved by his left-handed
team, from a shop in central London, mail order and the web site.
The
case tells how the business recovered from a disastrous overhaul
of the ecommerce website & learnt the importance of keeping
control of core IT functions in-house.
Boxed
Ecommerce vs Bespoke Development
Only a few years ago, web designers who wanted to build
a professional ecommerce site had little option but to
code
it by hand. Ecommerce
sites were hugely expensive, and only an option for large
companies. Today web designers are increasingly finding
that modern packaged
solutions are more than up to the job - and almost half
of all professionally-built sites are now based upon them.
Take
That:
In 1996
Chris Brown's new site, www.gamble.co.uk, was selling books
on gambling but visitors kept asking about gaming chips.
Fed up
with being asked, Chris found a source and so stumbled
on a profitable niche that was to change the very nature
of
his
business. The
first
order of chips was for 500, now he takes delivery of 1.3m
chips at a time.
Surf-Wax
When Jo Morecroft set up Surf-Wax, she just
wanted a way to share her passion for an
extreme sport. Soon the site
was drawing almost 1,000 visitors a day, and she
began to see it as a potential
revenue generator. In May 2003 she added
the facility to sell extreme sports videos
and DVDs, surf wear and equipment, using Actinic Catalog.
Now Surf-Wax typically generates a monthly
revenue of £1,200 -
not bad for a site that only
cost about £1000 to set up.
Orate
Telecoms Solutions
Imagine going from a monthly turnover
of £20,000 to zero in four weeks. That's what happened
to Richard Atkins and his telecoms consultancy in April 2001
when the dot-com
bubble burst. Fortunately he already had an ecommerce channel
(powered by Actinic Business) selling travellers’ international
prepaid SIM cards plus mobile accessories (over 6,000 lines in
all) to companies
and consumers based in the UK & across the EU. The site
was his lifeboat and is now moving to 80% of his turnover.
Comic
Domain
As avid collectors of sci-fi comics, Dave Cresswell and his
brother realised that there was money to be made out of the
hobby. Thus
Comic Domain was born in January 2000 in two home offices.
Average sales
are now over £2500 per month. Along the way Dave learnt
a few lessons.
Snowlines
Retailing in the diverse areas of freshwater fishing and winter
sports is an unusual combination but Snowlines has been selling
both successfully
since July 1999. The web site, launched in summer 2000, now
helps it to sell across Britain and overseas, particularly
in Scandinavia.
Overall the internet has increased business by about 40%.
The web accounts for around 35% of the present £750,000+
turnover.
Elizabeth
Botham and Sons
This traditional craft bakery that has been trading since 1865
and was an early adopter of the internet in 1995 due to the
vision of
managing director, Michael Jarman. The company already used
mail-order internationally and the internet acts as an extra,
interactive
sales channel. Online orders are now a significant proportion
of the company's
turnover and the internet is a key sales channel.
