COMPETITION FOLLOW-UP “A huge boost to business”
Last August Printwear & Promotion announced the three lucky winners of an eTrader website. P&P editor MELANIE ATTLESEY caught up with the winners to find out how they have found the experience during the last 12 months.
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decorators won the opportunity to revamp their websites with the help of the eTrader team and a new webshop worth £7,377.
Link-it As a regular reader of Printwear &
Promotion, Mark Valentine and his wife Christine entered the eTrader competition on a whim thinking they had no chance of winning. But when their name was drawn, the pair began to get excited thinking about the prospects that a website could bring to their business. As a one-man band carrying out
embroidery and transfer printing from his home in Northampton Mark did not have a website to begin with. He says: “I really was ecstatic with the win. I was previously relying on word of mouth and reputation. Off the back of the website going live in January I have received new customers and plenty of new contracts.” Since entering the world of e-commerce,
Link-it has grown considerably. Mark has picked up orders from local rugby and cricket clubs, as well as other businesses. In fact one order he received recently was worth £12,000. Mark adds: “In one instance I received business from one of the main sponsors of the Tour De France. He got let down by his supplier, heard about me through word of mouth and after checking out what I offered online he placed an order for 80 embroidered light weight jackets. This
y entering the competition ran in Printwear & Promotion last year, three lucky garment
Link-it’s website
was extremely pleasing for us.” Mark is pleased to add that in May and
June alone he gained eight new customers, something which would have been unheard of before the launch of the website. “It’s the whole service I offer, not just garment decoration and I think this is something which my customers appreciate and why they reorder. I have 12 competitors in the Northampton area, so keeping hold of my customers is important to me and the business,” he adds. Although Mark has done little to promote his website, something which eTrader recommends, he is pleased with
the result and plans to carry on with his subscription long after the 12 month trial. He is even in the process of expanding the business beyond his home and is looking for a site where he can employ a few members of staff. Mark says his regular customers have
had no complaints about his website and find it easy to navigate. Even the ordering process is simple. “I’ve got the ordering process down to a fine art now,” laughs Mark. “Once an order comes through to me from the online ordering system I have a week to turn around the order. Garment distributors are pretty good at next day deliveries which is helpful for me. Having the website has enabled customers to see what products I offer as well as the prices. Previously a customer may have ordered a standard polo shirt, but upon seeing what other polo shirts I offer perhaps now order a more mid-range product. The website provides a lot more variety for the customer.” But what advice would Mark give other
garment decorators in a similar situation? “I’m of that generation where I’m not particularly au fait with the internet and social media, but you do need a website in this modern age,” explains Mark. “Having one provides a professional image and conveys accurately the level of service we provide. I would definitely recommend the eTrader system to other garment decorators as it provides a huge boost to business.”
Sprint Sports Owner of family-run Sprint Sports,
Sprint Sports’ website | 16 | August 2015
Beverley Godfrey, jumped at the chance to
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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