http://www.printerland.co.uk/pr/bbc_covers_printerland.html
printerland uk Online Sales Defy the Credit Crunch
Boom, not gloom, online
From
the highest business premises in Manchester, Lawrence Jones has an
unrivalled view of a hidden world: the world of online sales.The web
host company UK Fast, which is based on the 28th floor of City Tower in
Piccadilly Gardens, looks after 250,000 web sites, all busy trying to
compete in the world of e-commerce.Yet, far from the gloomy sales
figures down below on the High Street, managing director Lawrence Jones
believes that online sales are flying high.”I’d say we’re in the middle
of a boom,” he said confidently.”And I’d say we’ve been in a boom for
some time but because of the boom of the early years that went horribly
wrong, people have been very nervous of saying that.”
Elaine
Ferneley, Professor of Technological Innovation at the Salford Business
School said there were a number of reasons why online shopping was
proving so popular.
“People are more conscious of what they’re
spending and, with sites like Kelkoo and Pricerunner, the web allows
them to make useful cost comparisons when they’re looking for a
bargain,” she said.Professor Ferneley also said that shopping online
was less painful than going to the shops with your hard-earned cash.
“If you’re sat in front of your laptop, there’s a perception by a lot
of people that they’re not really buying anything!”
Niche
She
added that big companies like IKEA were already questioning whether
they needed more shops and concentrating on their online sales. Even
small niche businesses were seeing growth online, extending their sales
globally, she said.
Printerland.co.uk based in Altrincham is one
of them. The computer printer business has seen its turnover soar from
£2 million to £18 million in just three years – largely from online
sales.
In spite of the global gloom, managing Director James Kight
said they’d just witnessed their best two weeks’ sales ever and were
even recruiting staff to cope with demand.
“We’ve not dropped our
prices or anything,” he said. “We’ve just increased our marketing. It’s
about getting the fundamentals right, in terms of good customer
service, and having a online side to the business that delivers.”