Take the leap to a global triumph

Jan 15 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

GEORGE Riddle of North-east web designers simplywsi.com and Dean Benson of Stockton’s visualsoft.co.uk make a living creating parallel retail worlds. Many clients now have their own international sales division, generated exclusively on the web.

Middlesbrough’s fashionable outlet Psyche picked up valuable customers among style-conscious squaddies in Afghanistan suffering fatigues fatigue, while one traditional nightshirt maker was astonished to find she had attracted a loyal following of web wired monks, desperate to keep off the chill whistling around the cloisters.

“It’s a dynamic market place out there,” says George. And it can have a fundamental impact on the way a business operates. But many fail to make the critical leap in thinking that takes a firm from high street retailer to global etailer. “There’s quite a steep learning curve,” says George.

“The most common thing I come across is they assume everybody knows their name. The internet is a very different medium - it’s random. You have to look at your product from the point of view of the consumer who has never heard of you. That’s the hardest switch for some people to make.

“The word browser is something of a misnomer these days as very few people browse. Most search for very specific information, products or services.”

He cites a northern food firm selling alternative meats who improved their hit rate on Google by 400% when, instead of “alternative”, they introduced the key word “venison”. “It was a classic case of thinking from the inside out, rather than outside in.”

And there are other, more practical implications for firms to consider, he says.

“You need someone who’s completely happy working with a computer and recording that sales have been made and despatched. You get up at 4am and find four sales have already been made overnight and you have to handle that - that comes as a surprise to many people.

“The hardest lesson to learn is that once you’ve set up a shopping cart there are extra charges you have to account for in terms of bank and payment network charges so you have to up the volume of sales to pay for it. That sometimes leads to careful thought about the pricing structure.”

Dean Benson of Stockton’s visualsoft.co.uk, which was responsible for the Psyche site, says clients often go through a “Dragon’s Den” experience when they first propose a voyage into cyberspace. Even the biggest operators sometimes get it wrong.

“If the MD of Next walked in I could tell him 10 things wrong with the website - 10 routes to market that Next isn’t capitalising on,” says Dean.

One of the most impressive quick wins is intelligent use of Ebay, he says.

“We had a client looking to sell french furniture, but he was concerned that there wasn’t a market place,” recalls Dean. “We had a look at another firm selling on Ebay and they were doing more than £90,000 a month there alone. About 15-20% of a firm’s total web sales can come from Ebay.”

And even if you’re not the next Amazon, an ecommerce site can add value to your core business.

“One of my clients in Redcar trains people in safety procedures,” says George. “That cannot be delivered online, but he also now sells safety equipment. It’s not going to make them a fortune but it enhances what he’s doing..

“So much of the web can be used as part of the business I cannot imagine anybody not selling online.”