The UK is Europe’s leading Internet economy. 37 million people shop online in the UK. From April 2011-April 2012 the UK’s online sales are estimated to have reached £76bn. Even if you take 1/100 thousandth of that market, you will generate £760,000 of additional sales!

And don’t be fooled into thinking this is all B2C, B2B ecommerce is worth more than twice that of B2C ecommerce and by the end of this year is expected to worth $559billion!

The positive impact is undeniable, but so is the negative. We have all seen many well-known brands struggle and disappear over the last few years, and almost all have cited the internet and online competition as the main reason for failure. It is quite simply easier to undercut the competition, to outperform others, reach more people and respond to change faster in an online world. Take Amazon for example, to launch a new book all they would need to do is get one person to read it, write a review , post it on their website and they have reached a thousand times more people than Waterstones. Plus to launch the same book Waterstones would have had to get all their staff to read the book, generate printed advertising and then if something changed would have to spend a lot of money in re-doing all this. Amazon would simply spend 10 minutes updating the website. It’s easy to see why offline competitors struggle. It’s no wonder Borders went bust and other book retailers have cut back on the number of stores.

But, what about the SME’s?

Cycling Sports Group are a bike manufacturer who have built a private ecommerce portal for all their customers, linking into their Exchequer accounts package. Not only are they now taking £100K per week online, but have dramatically increased their average order value, reduced the cost of doing business, and opened up 2 new websites focussing on the B2C marketplace. Their forward-looking approach to eCommerce is taking the industry by storm!

Airflow Developments Ltd are another Exchequer user, who specialise in air extraction and air recycling systems to trade and retail. For them, we built a publically accessible site with a mixture of brochures and online shopping that needed to serve a wide range of different audiences. Trade customers are the main eCommerce audience, and once logged in, these customers can access their existing trade accounts as well as see their own specially negotiated trade prices, which are all automatically fed by the discounts setup in Exchequer. When online orders are placed, these flow straight into Exchequer and are first touched by the dispatch team! If you are in need of an extractor fan, of just fancy a nose around, then visit www.airflow.com.

These are just two examples out of hundreds of Exchequer customers that we have helped to move online and grow their business. There are many more great eCommerce success stories…why not contact us to find out how we can help your business.

Still not sure, well this is what Lucy Brownrigg from Forestadent Ltd, another Exchequer user, has to say about her experience with ProspectSoft:

“The information stored in your Exchequer accounts package is invaluable and having the ability to transfer this customer knowledge onto your website and offer it 24/7 is what can make the difference in a competitive online market.”

Book a free consultation with one of our eCommerce experts today to discuss how we can help you to turn your business into a successful online business.