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Company: Plummer & Laidler LLP
Project: Welcome Baby Home

http://www.welcomebabyhome.net

Dates: Mar 2008 to May 2008

How did the project start?

We visited a baby show in Birmingham in May 2006 and other mums asked about what my baby was wearing. He was wearing a traditional little romper suits and had a white pram and also wore a knitted hat and coat. Many mum's told us they had not seen them in the shops and would be interested in buying them for their own children if they could. We saw an opportunity and gap in the market and when an opportunity arose for a website from an American company we seriously considered it but we looked for local companies but could not find what we wanted other than what we had been offered. We then decided we would sell maternity wear and maternity wear by drop shipping.

What options did you consider?

We did consider opening a shop but we are both unable to do so due to medical problems and an e-commerce site was ideal for us. We tried to find other companies offering us what we needed but could not. We also considered taking courses at college to learn more about what we would be doing.

What help and expertise did you receive?

We contacted the Business & Innovation Centre in Sunderland and were told about the New Entrepreneur Scholarship course. It was a 20 week course with an NVQ in business Start Up and at the end a sum of £1500 which would help with printing and other things. We also received some very good advice from the Business Innovation Centre and learned a lot about business. When we purchased our website the company included coaching via the telephone for 12 weeks once a week. This was invaluable and helped us tremendously in that we learned to put our products on the site and many other things.

Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?

We have faced a lot of challenges, not least as we did not really have any start up money for the business and are both disabled and on Incapacity Benefit and had been for up 11 years between us due to ill health. We had to scrape the money together to pay for the site and many other things. We also learned that we could not just do dropshipping and needed to take stock so we could get the suppliers we really wanted. Many suppliers do not like to deal with Internet retailers as larger retailers stop them. We learned how to manage with that. We have also had to change some of the ethos of the company due to unexpected circumstances.

What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?

We do have many of the suppliers we wanted but it has been very expensive for us. We have also learned a lot about the business and how to try to direct our marketing to the correct criteria. Therefore, our business has improved in that way.

What are your plans for the future?

We intend to add to our advice links with Health Visitors and Midwives online when we can afford to and also to join the Baby Products Association which will give us more credibility. We would also like to possibly have an Obstetrician & Gynaecologist for advice related to our site.

We also would like to add a second site within the next 5 years for children of 5 to 10 years of age. Also, we would like to add to our organic range in the short term.