A blooming boom in the online flower industry ensures profitable times for thanks-a-bunch.co.uk. Find out the secrets to succesfully trading online.
(PRWEB) March 20 2004--Delivering beautiful bouquets across the UK, thanks-a-bunch.co.uk is one of a new class of online entrepreneurial enterprises offering deliveries of gifts and flowers. Lean, flexible and all too rare for an Internet start-up – cash positive, thanks-a-bunchs online sales are soaring. Successful online advertising and search engine optimization have seen a 34% increase in sales revenue for Q4.
What started as a cottage industry, internet floristry is now big bucks and the company entered a highly competitive maturing market. So what is the secret to their success? Simon Parkhouse MD at thanks-a-bunch believes that Efficient automated supply chain and ordering process management means that we keep overheads to a bare minimum. This allows us to plough every penny back into increasing sales revenue and providing quality customer service".
A stroll around the thanks-a-bunch office is a strangely calming experience. There is none of the usual creaking and groaning of a rapidly expanding business struggling to fulfil its bulging order book. No weve managed to off load some of that!" laughs Simon, Our suppliers have that task – we like to concentrate on providing top quality customer service, and a pleasant online shopping experience. Once the customer has placed the order it is automatically transferred to our suppliers, who make up the order and send it straight out to the customer, apart from stringent quality control checks we dont need to see the product".
Organic growth
Thanks-a-bunch.co.uk have overcome the usual pitfalls of online marketing. Aggressive search engine optimization campaigns have lead to top placements on the leading UK engines but Simon is quick to point out the pitfalls of this policy. Search engine optimization is a high risk high yield strategy, If the search engines change the way they rank [which they often do] you could go from 100 sales a day to 0 it can be that devastating". For this reason thanks-a-bunch have developed more traditional strategies and via strong branding have been able to successfully advertise in print and on the radio.
Learning floristry facts
In a constant effort to improve their customers shopping experience and product knowledge the company recently launched an online forum and flower-arranging course. It is the first venture of its kind in the UK and offers valuable information and resources to the hobbyist or professional arranger. We are trying to promote an interest in flowers in general" says Simon. The idea behind this is to build the industries market base. It makes sense to do this, if the market grows then so will our share"
Future Developments
The company intends to increase its product range. Our next goal is to maximise our customers spend per visit. We intend to do this by offering a range of complimentary products." Champagne and chocolate products are expected to be launched soon. They are also looking to expand the thanks-a-bunch brand into other areas of the online gift industry.
For media inquiries, contact Simon at 01962 861324, email info@thanks-a-bunch.co.uk or visit www.thanks-a-bunch.co.uk for flower arranging resources visit www.thanks-a-bunch.co.uk/Flower-Arranging.aspx
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