Member Article

Inspiring new website boosts family business

A re-launched website has helped a Darlington mum and daughters’ sales soar by 50% since December. Sisters Joanna and Dawn Lee and mum Linda, owners of gifts and party products specialist store Inspirations, are seeing the benefits of the new site, www.inspirations4u.co.uk, which launched last year with the help of Business Link.

The inspiration for the business came in October 2004 following a struggle to find accessories for a friend’s hen night. The original website was launched at the same time as the shop, but did not initially prove as popular. The trio decided to upgrade last year and found they were eligible for funding support via Business Link’s Subsidised Consultancy Programme. Tom Newbould, from Business Link was able to secure funds towards the services of Stockton-based Visualsoft. Visualsoft designed the new site so that it was search engine optimised and could be easily updated with new product ranges.

Joanna said: “E-commerce has helped the business to reach customers who can’t come into the shop or don’t live in the area. Effectively it’s created a network of virtual branches across the country. “The design and look of the new website is fantastic and the most important thing is that it’s search engine friendly.”

Tom Newbould said: “Whilst e-commerce potentially delivers great benefits for a retail business, any site within that sector faces a highly competitive and increasingly challenging market. “We have been delighted that our Specialist e-business team has helped and advised them to a successful outcome.”

For further information regarding Business Link, email: enquiries@businesslinknortheast.co.uk or visit the website: www.businesslinknortheast.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .