Reports/Case studies

Trust in your web designer

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.
• Use the expertise of Business Link – they’ve come across most start-up concerns and issues before and so can be a great help in combating start-up nerves.
• When setting up a business the budget is vital.  Although it’s very tempting to get carried away with fancier websites or more stock than initially planned, stick to your initial budget.  The time to get more sophisticated is when the company is making a profit.

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.”