How Daniel is expanding his online empire

Dec 3 2009 By The Journal

A NORTH East entrepreneur who began by selling watches over the internet two years ago is now counting down to his first million after adding another string to his online bow.

Daniel Richmond, from Darlington, now sells high-end electrical and digital showers, trays and screens by Aqualisa, Mira and Triton Showers through a new operation, shower sos.co.uk

The venture will fall under the umbrella of Tic Trading Ltd, which also includes online fashion distribution outlet ticwatches.co.uk which was established by Mr Richmond in 2007.

That’s just the start though. The Teesside University graduate aims to launch other retail ventures as part of plans to grow annual revenues from £170,000 to up to £5m in five years.

Tic Watches already exports designer watches to Denmark and Sweden and attracts around 600-700 website hits per day.

Mr Richmond, who chose the online retailing route to keep overheads low, said: "If we had a shop in Darlington we wouldn’t get all of these people through the doors in one day.

"We don’t have much money tied up in stock and there is potential to grow revenues – there’s £1m-2m turnover potential just on the watch site."

Mr Richmond started retailing in July 2007 after losing his job as a graphic designer at Darlington Borough Council.

Since then he has secured UK distribution rights for Original Penguin and Andy Warhol watches and has supplied to large retail outlets including ASOS.com and Next Directory.

He is one of many entrepreneurs who are capitalising on an online retail boom.

According to the latest IMRG/Capgemini sales index, UK web shoppers spent an estimated £3.89 billion in September, while growth in the third quarter of this year was up 13% on the same period in 2008.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said more than half of small firms rely on the internet for up to 50% of their turnover.