How to grow an E-commerce business to over £1 million sales
If your business grows quickly, you need a team that can cope with it
The Challenge
This business started off as a lifestyle business that ran alongside their everyday job.
They saw an opportunity to grow an e-commerce business selling eyelash extensions and all the accessories that go with them to other professional lash artists.
They started to grow their e-commerce business very quickly and it wasn’t long before they were hitting £50,000 a month in sales.
They needed access to a finance function and a team that could help them analyse their business website’s e-commerce sales data, so they could better target the right products to sell and expand into different countries.
This quickly developed from a lifestyle to a fast-growing business. The director knew their industry exceptionally well, but they couldn’t wear all the hats.
The Approach
This was an exciting opportunity and project for any financial accountant to get involved with.
You couldn’t just be a ‘standard’ accountant though to add the value this fast-growing e-commerce business needed. You had to be able to present financial information to the director, so that they knew what their next step would be, like a numerical storyteller.
Things were moving quickly, and the e-commerce website data was coming in thick and fast.
This was about creating a system and finance function to deliver financial information consistently each month.
By creating and streamlining the financial analysis of the e-commerce website sales data, allowed the relevant information to flow to the director to see what was selling well and what wasn’t.
This impacted decision-making around what stock to buy and when, website enhancement opportunities and plug-ins, and what countries to focus their marketing campaigns on.
Because the finance function became a system, it was consistent, month after month. Without systematic delivery, data isn’t very meaningful.
The Outcome
They grew their e-commerce business to over £1 million in sales.
The director is known as one of the key people of influence in the global eyelash industry.
The director has won over 14 national and global awards.
“They have taken my business to the next level and continue to give me absolute confidence that my accounts are always in hand, up to date and the business is running efficiently.”
Frankie Widdows, Owner of Eyelash Excellence
