How we beat the supermarkets using ecommerce

July 1, 2009; 01:02 AM

With local supermarkets squeezing the lifeblood out of their business, bakers Tim and Kevin Slatter moved their business online with phenomenal results. As the pair say in a recent Marketing Donut case study, “e-commerce saved the business”.

Marketing Donut is a free marketing resource that’s been developed specially for small businesses. As well as providing expert advice and tools, Marketing Donut publishes case studies where small business owners share their experiences.

In the case of the Slatter brothers, it was an all too common scenario – a small business facing dwindling profits because of supermarket competition.

In 2001 Tim was running a struggling bakery business with four shops in South London when one of his cake decorators suggested focusing on celebration cakes. Today the business has just one shop, but is a much bigger operation thanks to a website that offers 900 celebration cakes, ranging from simple to ornate £900 wedding towers.

The website generates 500 orders a month at an average of £75 each. When it was a high-street only set up, the business had less revenue and higher overheads.

“Running a shop is extremely expensive. Why battle when our customers are either prepared to travel to collect cakes or pay for delivery?” says Tim.

Backed by Royal Mail and Google specialises in practical advice and ideas to help small business owners and managers tackle all aspects of sales and marketing, including ecommerce.
Since its launch earlier this year, Marketing Donut has developed a loyal following among businesspeople who like its no-nonsense, practical approach to solving all- too-common small business challenges.

The Marketing Donut is at www.marketingdonut.co.uk