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Company: CELL PACK SOLUTIONS LTD
Project: CPS HOBBIES - FLYING HIGH
Dates: Dec 2007 to Feb 2008
How did the project start?
The project came about as a challenge to create an outlet for the passion of two people. Eddie Czestochowski , founder of Cell Pack Solutions Ltd, a successful company started from scratch 9 years ago and now employing 15 people, much of its success coming from the enquiries and business generated from its focus on IT and the internet and a passion for batteries.
Derek Hunter , who for 3 years worked as a courier delivering to Cell Pack , but whose passion for flying Large Model Remote Control Planes and burning desire to turn his hobby into a business ticks so many boxes that it would be criminal not to try .
A chance discussion led to CPS Hobbies being set up in December 2007 initially as a division of Cell Pack with the plan to create its own entity in the near future.
Our starting point is the creation of an Ecommerce Webshop that will sell remote control planes, cars and helicopters and related accessories.
What options did you consider?
We considered creating a stand alone OS Commerce website and we also considered a website that could be integrated into our existing back office systems that had served Cell Pack Solutions so well. The benefits of the second outweighed the first option, but a compromise was reached and we decided upon a combination of the two and have tried to incorporate the best features of both. We have integrated our back office system combining Sage for stock and management control and Access for Product Database Control.
What help and expertise did you receive?
Impatience seems to be characteristic of the entrepreneurial spirit, we could probably have done this project in house but it would have taken a longer time and the burden of other necessary IT projects would have got in its way. We decided to utilise the skills of a local web designer, who worked in conjunction with Derek on the design aspects and our in house IT manager on some of the integration issues to achieve the first phase of the project, a fully working integrated website.
Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?
Once the bones of the website was created we faced with the problem of entering thousands of product data records. These had to be entered in both Sage and Access which then fed a MYSQL database .The previous database for our battery products had been built over many years and essentially had been built up on a one by one basis. We learnt about using CSV formats but at some point during the process we made a mistake and some of the information got mixed up and we end up a section of products that were entered at cost price. This was only noticed when the first three orders were received. As a result of this unfortunate situation an additional feature was added to cross check all prices in all the databases; this had the added benefit of being utilised in on all our other sites.
What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?
We are in the start up phase of this business; within two months we have completed phase one and that is to have a fully functional and integrated website that works well within our existing systems. We have created a professional looking website that has impressed a number of new suppliers, demonstrating our commitment to breaking into this competitive market place. We are already beginning to receive regular orders and the signs are looking good for the future.
What are your plans for the future?
The important aspect in the design of the website was that once the initial hard work is done the ongoing admin should be kept as simple as possible. The intention is that Derek would spend more time exhibiting and flying at Air shows around the UK and promoting the website as much offline as online. In March he has been invited to fly at a competition in Ireland. We will spend a lot of time trying to improve our position on the search engines but we intend to spend as much time having fun and success will follow.
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