Case Study: E-Commerce | Marketing Strategy, Business Processes, Management Accounting

Background:

From scratch start-up e-commerce business. Identified a gap in the market for a ladies’ shooting clothing business (growing market).

Challenges:

Set up from concept to launch to trading: business planning, financials, marketing, funding required, supplier relationships, systems and processes, website build, customer retention, stock holding.

Approach:

Identified gap in the market for a ladies’ shooting and outdoor clothing supplier that wasn’t an afterthought to the men’s ranges. Produced detailed competitor analysis to support the idea. Customer service needed to the at the heart of the offering to differentiate, not price.

Built business plan to cover marketing strategy, financial projections, systems and processes, supplier relationships and procurement processes.

Attended the Game Fair with a stand to raise awareness of the brand – arrange collaboration with other groups in the same industry.

Outcomes:

Comprehensive marketing strategy – positioning and branding, digital marketing, website build, customer journey mapped and enhanced. Built strong customer base, outstanding reputation shown by repeat orders and recommendations, social media following, email lists.

Identified the funding gap and sourced funding to support the launch and for initial trading period.

Sales systems (website design, shipping processes) and after sales processes,

Secured high quality suppliers to give options at a range of price points. Hand-selected pieces to stock to give a complementary range to customers.

Integration of software systems: Shopify, Xero, A2X, Royal Mail, Parcel2Go, Klaviyo to give maximum automation and data flow for analytics.

Exited the business successfully after 5 years – sold to another marketer with an interest in the shooting industry.