- This topic has 0 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 9 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Monkey makes jump to being ‘serious player’
Cartridge
and printer supplier manages to quadruple sales with same number of
staffGary Flynn’s first five years as a company director have at times
proved to be a little uncomfortable. The 39-year-old managing director
of web retailer Net Giant has had to contend with an industry giant
peeved at how the Bolton-based firm sold generic ink cartridges at much
lower prices than branded product. He has also had to contend with the
dissolution of his business partnership with co-founder Keith
Scott.However, the company he started from his dining room table in
2003 has prospered to the point where he expects to turn over £3.7m
this year and is just about to relocate to a new 2,000 sq ft unit it
has purchased at Rok Group’s Atherleigh Business Park in Westhoughton.Monkey business
The
company is best known for its main trading site, Cartridge Monkey,
which provides ink cartridges to home users. Flynn, whose background is
in large format print, said that he continued to work full time until
September 2003 and only moved into proper premises in April 2004.“There
was a big market in third-party manufactured products which is where we
really started as a business. We could access the product easily and
there wasn’t a lot of cash outlay,” he said.However, despite racking up
almost £1m in sales within its first 12 months in the unit, the firm
decided to diversify and offer branded cartridges.“We were a one-trick
pony and at that time there was pressure coming on us from the
manufacturers. They were suggesting that these cartridges infringed
patents and it became clear to us that we needed to broaden our
horizons.”He said the move into branded products allowed it to become
“a more serious player in the consumables market”.The firm also started
supplying toner to business customers and launched the Toner Giant site
in November 2006. However, he and Scott disagreed on strategy so Flynn
bought out his partner last March.“It was very amicable…Well, it was
reasonably amicable. Keith got a sum of money he was happy with and my
wife came into the company as a director. Since then, the business has
changed dramatically.”The firm has since significantly altered its
business model. Instead of sending out cartridges itself, it has
tailored a software system which receives an order and automatically
places it with a preferred supplier based on a number of factors
including availability, cost price and reliability of the supplier.
Once the order is placed, it is sent directly from the distributor or
supplier.“We decided to concentrate on the marketing, the website,
customer services and post-sales.”As a result, he argues, the firm is
much more efficient — employing the same number of people now it
generates run rate turnover of £4m as it did when annual sales were
£1m.It has also expanded relatively painlessly into other areas. The
firm has just started selling Epson, HP and Canon printers and Flynn
said digital photo frames and other electrical goods will follow. He
also intends to take on more staff in order to bring web design and
development work in-house.He said: “We’ve used various agencies along
the way and some have been great but some cost an awful lot of money.
There’s no guarantee at the end of it, and you don’t gain the
expertise.”A spokesman for Epson, which has carried out some joint
marketing initiatives with the firm, said that Net Giant’s move into
providing printers was “a logical business extension for them”.The
spokesman added: “Consumers, having purchased the printer from
Cartridge Monkey, may well return to the site to purchase further ink
supplies.”
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.