Press Release: Startershop Launches
ONLINE SHOP STARTERS START WITH STARTERSHOP
Low cost online store for small businesses launched
Startershop Ltd, today announced the launch of an ecommerce web shop product for £199. A Startershop can hold up to a thousand products, with descriptions, prices and pictures. Significantly, Startershop owners require no web design skills or understanding of any technical terminology.
Startershop is the company’s initial offering and comes to market at a time when people are spending more on goods through the web than ever before. The latest Government statistics show that over half the UK’s households are spending in excess of £18 billion through the web on goods and services. Startershop has been designed as a way for small businesses and individuals to claim a share of that income.
David Yates, Startershop’s Marketing Director explained:
“There are a lot of small businesses out there: entrepreneurs; bedroom businesses; retailers and crafts people, all of whom need to be selling over the web. When you consider that sales through the Internet are rising by over 80% every year, you can see why. Startershop has been designed to allow small businesses to get their share of that market.”
The idea of trading online is nothing new to small businesses. However, the available research points to costs in excess of £2000 to acquire this sort of ecommerce capability.
David went on to explain, “Until now, for a small business, trading on the web has either been prohibitively expensive, totally confusing or both! At £199, we have made Startershop cheap enough to be affordable to just about any business or individual. We have also designed it so that, if you can turn on a computer and use the keyboard and mouse, you can run a Startershop”.
Today’s launch comes after six months of research and development on Startershop. Following initial testing with a range of businesses and individuals, sites have been set up by a wide variety of organisations already. These include an international commercial rights organisation, a site selling Fair Trade goods from South African community projects, and a group of students selling tee shirts.
Further information can be found about Startershop on their website at www.startershop.com
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Contact details: For more information, photography of the launch or Startershop success stories, please contact:
David Yates Tel: 0870 460 5499
Email: david.yates@startershop.com
More information about Startershop can be found on their website at: http://startershop.com
Notes to editors
Startershop Limited: Startershop Limited was formed in August 2005. It was set up to design and market products that provide individuals and small companies with robust and easily usable tools to help them to compete with bigger companies.
Statistics: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on 4th November 2005 that:
Online purchasing: The value of Internet sales to households rose to £18.1 billion in 2004 from £10.8 billion in 2003, a rise of 67.6 per cent.
6.7 per cent of businesses sold over the Internet in 2004 (5.4 per cent in 2003) while 35.3 per cent made purchases over the Internet in 2004 (29.4 per cent in 2003).
32 per cent of businesses with 1000 or more employees sold over the Internet in 2004 and 70.3 per cent purchased over the Internet in 2004.
Internet purchases by businesses rose 64.6 per cent, from £37.9 billion in 2003 to £62.4 billion in 2004.
33.8 per cent of businesses had a website in 2004, compared to 30.7 per cent of businesses in 2003. Of businesses with 1000 or more employees, 98.1 per cent had a website in 2004.
For businesses with an Internet connection, the use of broadband as the primary connection method rose from 25.7 per cent in 2003 to 42.3 per cent in 2004, an increase of 64.6 per cent.
Detailed results of the ONS reports can be found online at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STatbase/product.asp?vlnk=6645
Costs: In 2004, the ecommerce software company Actinic reported that the average price charged by a web designer to build an online store for a client was £2293.
Full Actinic report can be downloaded from: http://www.actinic.com/resources/actinic_webDesignReport2004.pdf
Background to Startershop The founders and directors of Startershop Ltd are David Yates and Simon Wheatley. David and Simon have worked together in designing industry leading web sites in the Financial Services sector for organisations such as Bank of Scotland, Sony, Clerical Medical and Egg.
David and Simon have individually designed for organisations including The Ministry of Defence, BP, The Princes Trust, BAT, Jaguar, Deawoo, Ricoh Cameras, Sharp Electronics, Rohan, Karrimor and others.