Member Article

CEO of Pen Heaven, David Cole: ‘Working in a niche market generates quicker results'

Pen Heaven, a London-based luxury stationery ‘etailer’, was founded in 2008 by Keith Cole. Today, Keith’s son David (pictured right) runs the operation with a team of 10 digital experts at Hawthorn Retail Park.

The business, which began and continues to grow exclusively online, offers unique personalisation and engraving services, while also acting as an ecommerce platform for high-end pens and accessories.

David told Bdaily about the benefits of running an exclusively online business and breaking into a niche market digitally. He said: “When we first decided to take the plunge and set up Pen Heaven, the idea of opening a physical store was never even seriously considered.”

“These days, going online is essential rather than optional, and starting up entirely online means a fantastic opportunity to reach a wide audience, keep overheads to a minimum and ultimately, make faster profits.”

“Ten years ago, retail entrepreneurs would have to think about renting a physical shop in a prime location, designing the store, renovation costs, insurance, endless building work – all before even considering the task of hiring, training and paying staff.

“We no longer have to do this. Now, a computer and some basic web expertise means anybody can start a business and make sales 24/7, 365 days a year, to any country in the world.”

David boasts a wealth of knowledge about running an ecommerce business, and he believes this expertise is key to Pen Heaven’s success, he continued: “Running a business online provides access to a much wider audience, not just those who happen to walk past your store during normal business hours”

“The crucial element about online is that it’s a marketing tool itself - you can use your website to drive high quality traffic at any time of the day from anywhere in the world.”

“Thanks to the wonder of Google, the key for us is search marketing, which means people who are looking for a product that we sell can find us instantly at the top of the Google search list.

“Another great tool is PPC advertising, which means our site shows up on search pages immediately. It also allows us to test keyword searches, headlines and marketing strategies.”

He added: “If you’re an entrepreneur and you want to succeed, picking a niche means you’re going to bypass a lot of the competition you’d face with other approaches.

“Being in a niche is ideal for a smaller company because it allows you to become an expert in what you do, meaning you can compete against anyone in the market. And having access to a huge pool of online browsers means there is no shortage of potential customers”

David has great faith in niche marketing, and Pen Heaven owes much of its success to his tactical online marketing strategy, he said: “Put simply, working in a niche market generates quicker and more profitable results for smaller companies. In a bigger market, you could spend hundreds of hours on SEO and backlinks and not get anywhere on Google, whereas you can do half of that in a niche market and make much more of an impact.

“You can start selling instantly. This also means future competitors will be put off. If they see you leading a niche market, chances are they’ll try and find something different entirely.

“I think the key advantage though, is that by having a much more targeted marketing strategy, you can drive traffic to your website that is focused, and have customers whose needs you can easily meet.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .