Furniture News explores the practices and philosophies behind e-tail enterprise BuyDirect4U in a discussion with general manager Andrew Steel …
BuyDirect4U is a home, garden and leisure e-commerce retailer which sells thousands of products to customers across the world.
Why visit your website?
BuyDirect4U.co.uk is a home, garden and leisure e-tailer, sourcing competitively priced goods from across the globe. By sourcing directly from the manufacturer and supplying straight to the consumer, BuyDirect4U.co.uk is able to sell products to its customers at a more competitive price, without compromising on quality.
During the last 11 years, BuyDirect4U.co.uk has grown into a successful business with an annual turnover of £8m and now distributes to 31 countries across the globe, with further expansion in the US planned in 2016.
Who is your e-commerce hero?
Amazon is an obvious one. It was started in a garage, selling only books and has grown into one of the biggest online retailers in the world.
Describe a typical working day
Thankfully there is no such thing as a typical day at BuyDirect4U.co.uk, which is why I enjoy the job so much. My role involves overseeing every aspect of the operation, so this week I may be in the office planning our sales and marketing campaign, but the next I could be in China sourcing the latest lines, including furniture, which is one of our biggest sellers.
What part of your job would you prefer to avoid?
Black Friday. It is one of the biggest days of the year for us in terms of sales, but there is so much work that goes into ensuring it is successful. From choosing to promote the right products to having enough staff, every aspect of this one shopping day has to be carefully considered. We pride ourselves on our customer service, so it is imperative that we are able to fulfil our promises and dispatch and deliver goods within an appropriate timeframe.
What has been your greatest challenge?
Last year BuyDirect4U.co.uk invested £6m in purchasing a new warehouse and we faced the enormous challenge of relocating our entire operation to the 202,000ft² building, which is the largest single building in Loughborough.
How much do you invest in making your site more visible?
As an ecommerce retailer, our website acts as our shop front, so we have to make significant investments in order to make it user friendly. In fact, we are currently gearing up to launch our redesigned website, which will be easier to navigate for our customers and will feature improved photography of our products. This will be complemented by investments in Google AdWords and SEO to make the website more visible to consumers.
What’s your take on how the relationship between online and physical retail might develop?
Online shopping continues to grow, but Amazon has shown that having physical premises can support the growth of e-commerce retailers, after opening its first bricks and mortar premises in Seattle.
I think in the future we will see more e-commerce companies taking up physical space on the high street. Internet businesses have much lower overheads than shops, but there is a point where they have to look at other ways to grow. BuyDirect4U.co.uk is seeing the benefits of having a physical location, having recently opened an outlet shop at our Loughborough warehouse.
Consumers are increasingly looking for retailers to meet their expectations in terms of customer service and delivery, which is where multi-channel retailers can really get ahead. Having parcels delivered dropped by drone, delivered to the boot of your car or available for click and collect are just some of the ways that e-tailers are trying to improve the speed and convenience of delivery.
What are your growth plans for the business?
So far, BuyDirect4U.co.uk has exceeded expectations in terms of year-on-year percentage growth. Our retail turnover forecast for 2015 was £10m, which we achieved comfortably, and we have increased our overall sales by 50% in the last 12 months. With the investments we have made in our new premises and our website, we plan to further expand this growth in 2016 and beyond.
What advice would you offer an aspiring e-tailer?
Invest in your website, as this is the first impression a customer has of your business – make it easy to navigate and they will enjoy the shopping experience, and are more likely to return. Always offer something different, whether that is a particular product or ensuring that you are offering it at the best price – give customers a reason to come to you.
This interview was published in the April issue of Furniture News.
