Why Broadband is the backbone to business

How PETSHOP.CO.UK scaled their business

This is an excerpt from our e-guide, CONNECT BETTER – Open doors to amazing opportunities, produced in partnership with BT

Adam Taylor was browsing the internet one day, looking for a site that would regularly deliver pet food to his mother when he spotted the gap. There was no such thing as a pet food subscription service. Worse still, supermarket pet food prices had become very expensive. Cue light bulb flashing Eureka moment!

“At that point me and Lexi [Adam’s partner] packed up our entire lives into my granddad’s old beaten up Astra and moved to a farm site in rural Warwickshire,” explains Adam.

They had some big concerns at the time: Could they get running water? Could they get Artic trucks up there? But their chief concern according to Adam was, could they get broadband and a telephone line to run the e-comms business?

“Broadband is essential, it is the backbone to PetShop.co.uk,” explains Adam. “We use it not only for downloading the orders and delivery slips but for communicating with our customers”.

Like many successful online businesses, PetShop.co.uk uses a mix of email, phone and social media to communicate with customers. To date, they’ve amassed a 156,000 strong following on Facebook and more than 5,500 followers on Twitter. They’ve achieved this “through live communication” with their customers says Adam and by acting quickly.

“We have a live chat and a telephone number on every page – we want to communicate with people.”

Today PetShop.co.uk stocks over 10,000 products and customers can sign up to the ‘Bottomless Bowl’ subscription service, of which all deliveries over £19.99 are delivered free. The business reaches out to its local community too, by supporting dog trusts and sponsoring local guide dogs. “We think helping charities is really important,” says Adam.

TOP TIPS FROM PETSHOP.CO.UK:

> Try a live chat function: PetShop.co.uk has a live chat function on every page of its website, meaning customers can speak to an employee at any time of day between 08.30 and 17.30.

> Go multimedia: The team post live videos and product reviews of their products across their social media channels.

> Bring the retail experience online: Although PetShop.co.uk is an e-commerce business, that doesn’t stop them from having a customer-centric attitude in everything they do.

> Don’t give up! Adam admits that starting a business is tough, especially in the first year – but worth it.

This is an excerpt from our e-guide, CONNECT BETTER – Open doors to amazing opportunities, produced in partnership with BT