Where did the idea for ekmPowershop.com come from and what does it involve?

ekmPowershop.com is a hosted ecommerce solution that allows anyone to build their own easy to use online shop. Potential customers visit www.ekmpowershop.com and pay us £19.99 per month, for that we effectively rent them an empty online shop which they can upload their own categories and products too. Its similar to renting a shop unit on the high street in that affect.

The shop owner has no contract which means that we need to ensure their online shop is a success if we are to continue to get the £19.99 per month rental fee. Because the system is online we are always upgrading and working on improvement for customers, so for example we can always ensure all online shops powered by ekmPowershop are using all the most recent search engine optimisation techniques.

Back in 2002 when I setup ekmPowershop.com their was only two choice for someone wanting to setup their own online shop. They could either pay a web designer several thousands of pounds to build them an ecommerce website and pay a monthly hosting fee. The other option was to buy some ecommerce software that enabled you to build your own online shop, this generally cost around a thousand pounds and you still needed to pay a monthly hosting fee and you needed alot of technical knowledge to setup and install the software on both your pc and your web server.

I thought there must be an easier way, surely people don't need a computer science degree to build an online shop?

So I set about creating ekmPowershop.com which would enable anyone to build an easy to use online shop no matter what their technical ability was. I also decided to build it to run over the internet, so the only thing you need to use ekmPowershop.com is a web browser. This was new back in 2002 but its all the rage now with companies like Google, Facebook and even Microsoft all offering Software as a Service (SaaS) business models just like we do.


After realising the amount of debt you were in did you ever get to a point where you felt like giving up and when did you see the signs that business was improving?

Once I started working on the company I had no job and no income so I had no choice but to live off credit cards and personal debt. You need money to get customers and you need customer to get money, I was in a vicious circle which carried on spirarling down moving me into over £25,000 worth of debt.

I often get asked if I was worried about having so much personal debt but to be honest I wasn't, in my head I couldn't fail and it was just a matter of time.

I tried to get various business support grants which were available at the time, including one called the Michelin Development fund in Burnley. They came to see my business along with a bank and looked through my business plan and told me that it would never work and to give up.

I didn't give up. I couldn't give up.

I carried on persevering for three long hard years until I had managed to get around 100 customers through cold calling myself. Once I had 100 customers each paying me £19.99 per month I had enough money to take on my first member of staff which enabled me to focus on growing the business even more.


How has your business expanded since its creation? What new clients do you have?

It took me three years to get 100 customers, we now get in excess of 500 new customers each month and the company had gone from strength to strength. We now employ over 35 people and ekmPowershop.com powers one out of every five online shops in the UK.

Over 17,000 online shops have been opened since ekmPowershop.com was launched and we have several well known clients such as Lotus Cars, ITV, PGA Golf, Madam Tussards, BBC and the O2.

Running ekmPowershop.com is great as you get to meet and talk to litterly thousands of people all setting up their first businesses, expanding their existing ones and of course the large multinationals trying to increase their online presence.

We have some great success stories of people who have setup their own businesses using ekmPowershop.com and have gone from a bedroom operation to a multi-million pound business. There is one customer who originally setup in his front room who turnsover in excess of £250,000 per month.


You have been named Enterprising Young Brit at an event in London - how does that make you feel?

I was very surprised to win the main award and feel very honoured. I got the award from Lord Mandleson who came in especially to present it to me.


What advice would you give to people who have put their all into a struggling business and feel like giving up?

Keep on persevering. I know far too many people who have given up too early on their own business. Its not easy, if it was everyone would be multi-millionaires and everyone would work for themselves.

Also dont be afriad to ask for help and advise, for example for all our customers we have a community forum called ekmCommunity.com where shop owners can log on and discuss various topics and concerns and get help from other shop owners. Its a great resource and it shows that the small business community will always work together to help each other.

"Market leader offered me £100k to close my website down!"

Plantedtanks.co.uk, a brand new online shop specialising in aquatic plants is owned and run by Tony Newsom-Virr. Tony signed up with ekmPowershop.com to build his ecommerce website just a few weeks ago,

“We decided to try ekmPowershop.com as it seemed to be the only ‘cheap’ and no contract shopping facility we could find on the web, plus the interface seemed simple enough. We purchased our shop on the 5th March 2010 and started work.”

Tony used the intuitive control panel offered by ekmPowershop.com and the expert knowledge of their Technical Support Team, to build his new online shop in a matter of weeks:

“We purchased a domain name at roughly the same time (as we purchased the shop) and started to create our store front. We then continued for the next 2 weeks uploading stock – and believe me typing in nearly 200 Latin plant names is a chore! We spoke to ekmPowershop.com’s support team for assistance on product variations and options, how to upload using a spreadsheet and add new products etc.”

Tony set his site live on the 23rd March and bagged his first order the very next day! Going from strength to strength, it is hard to believe that the website is still less than a month old,

“We have already been listed on several of the major industry websites and we are higher ranking on Google and Yahoo than the European Industry leading companies that specialise in these products. We have also had several serious enquiries from competitors to see what we are doing that is making us so successful. Already we are ranked as the 3rd largest importer of aquatic plants in the UK for the fishkeeping industry… we have overtaken one competitor already, and one even offered me £100k to close my website!””

Within 4 weeks of its launch, Plantedtanks.co.uk has taken its competition by storm, and Tony has even been asked to do an interview for the world leading publication for fish keeping! 

How has Tony managed to set up an online business and make such an impact in such a short space of time? 

“Using a combination of ekmPowershop (ecommerce), ekmPinpoint (web stats) and ekmResponse (email marketing) has really shown how you can grow a business on a budget. I want to say thanks to Ekm Systems for ekmPowershop.com and their suite of products. I can honestly say this has completely blown my mind!”

So why does ekmPowershop.com work so well against other shopping cart providers in the UK market place? How can somebody like Tony find instant success with an outlay of just £19.99 per month? 

Antony Chesworth, owner and founder of ekmPowershop.com observes 

“These days there are lots of platforms to choose from when it comes to selling your products online. Many are in the region of £20 per month, just like ekmPowershop.com. 

We were the first company to offer the software as a service model to the UK ecommerce market, and established the price point which has now become industry standard. I’m quite proud to be the originator of such a fundamental model to online retail as we know it.”

Simplicity to the end user (the shop owner) is the key, and of course… performance as standard,

Perhaps ekmPowershop.com’s pedigree in off the shelf shopping cart technology explains why the performance of one online shop to another depends entirely on the platform you choose to build it on. 

Why not give your online business a fighting chance like Tony at Plantedtanks.co.uk from the offset? Choose the right ecommerce provider for your ecommerce venture and turn a pipe dream into reality.

ekmPowershop.com, the UK’s leading ecommerce software provider shows some interesting findings for Valentine’s gifts bought online this year.

We saw the usual; chocolates, flowers, underwear and general items in red or heart themed all selling out fast.

But the big surprise we found from our panel of online shop owners – the increased demand in pet treats! Certainly the most prominent finding for ekmPowershop.com this year, as our study profiled over 6000 online shops in the UK over the Valentine’s period.

When probing our busy online shop owners, Kelly Copeland of www.prettypawsaccessories.co.uk commented on what has become a massive growth industry both off and online:

“We do a lot on the heart ID tags, collars, "I love my mum" T shirts and any other Valentine type stuff. People want to buy their pets something now as they're a loved one also.”

And Dana Parry from www.spottiedottie.co.uk added “I'm doing a roaring trade in Valentine treats for dogs!“

As a nation of pet lovers it appears as though Valentine’s trade is reaching new levels, largely attributed to the online sector. Where could you buy your cat a diamante collar on the local high street? It’s possible there may be the odd shop up and down the country, but by in large most people wouldn’t know where to find such a shop… but they do online. 

As a holiday season, Valentine’s is a short, sharp burst. However for the week preceding February 14th many online shop owners say it’s as busy as Christmas, particularly within the industries you might normally associate with Valentines, as Jason Stanley from www.cupidlingerie.co.uk observes:

“It is probably on a level with Christmas in terms of volume of sales per day...but for a shorter period… We have also noticed an increase in sales of bra solutions (clear backed, and diamante backed bras) for backless dresses. Maybe the ladies are anticipating a special night out”

Jason also observed how men in particular ramp up their spending over the Valentine’s period: “We always notice an increase in sales of the higher end brands, and an increase in sales to gentlemen in the lead up to Valentine's Day.” 

So do men buy more presents at Valentines? Do men feel pressured to do so? Do women expect a present without buying one back? Or do men just shop online at the last minute more than women? 

Either way, whether you are male or female – don’t forget… pets have feelings (and Valentines) too. 

Press Release:

ekmPowershop.com, the UK’s leading shopping cart provider surveyed over 6000 online shops in the run up to Christmas 2009. The biggest independent survey of its kind in the UK found that independent retailers are growing more resilient against the perceived clout of the ‘retail giants’. 

Most of the headlines were rather predictably grabbed by the bigger retailers like Play.com, Amazon and John Lewis, but what about the SMES? They are the heart and soul of the British economy and employ the bulk of our population. Independent businesses are thriving online as our studies show. 

Across the board, merchants have seen an increase on last Christmas (2008) in the region of 23%. That’s solid proof that despite the recession, retailers can still grow their businesses by diversifying through online channels. It’s also an encouraging sign of consumer confidence picking back up as we start to loosen the purse strings. 

Steven Hickey, Head of Commercial Development at ekmPowershop.com reflects on the biggest annual survey for online retail in the SME sector – one which the online retail industry looks forward to every year:

“As a hosted platform with more merchants than any other company in the industry, we can query our servers and get live, accurate data like no other provider can. The stats we produce are used by both the hosting and payment service providers as a glimpse at the coming 12 months and any changes or shifts in buying patterns we may be in for. At the moment the big shift seems to be in value based purchases; as people shop around for the best price and make a more considered purchase with their diminished funds compared to 2 years ago before the recession set in. Stocking hard to find products and offering a more personal level of Customer Care also seems to be a big advantage for the smaller online businesses.”

Caroline Rutter from online retailer www.PrettyCool.co.uk comments on how smaller retailers have greater flexibility which gives them a competitive edge over the retail giants:

“We have many, many products that the retail giants only stock when they see shops like ours selling weeks before hand. For instance, our bendy necklaces have been on our site for two years and we sell many each week, but you will not see them on the retail giant sites”.

Stocking hard to find items and offering a more personal touch makes smaller online shopping websites a more popular choice than in previous years. As they develop over time it seems as though things will only get better too. 

Sarah Burns from online jewellery retailer www.Jewellery2clear.co.uk observes how her business competes with the major retail brands online: “It is possible for smaller companies to compete if they rank high enough within the major search engines, and can provide diverse products at the right price. Such a service that can in many respects be better than larger organisations”.

Even industries where we might expect there to be a downturn over winter months such as swimwear and swimming equipment have felt the surge online this Christmas. Carla Lloyd from www.FunSwimShop.co.uk added:

“The online environment does create more of a level playing field for retailers, smaller companies can compete if they offer products people want and invest time and money optimising their site for the search engines. Orders are up 100% on this period last year.” 

Antony Chesworth, Managing Director of Ekm Systems Ltd has seen the year on year growth of independent online retail since he created ekmPowershop.com eight years ago: 

“"We see too much emphasis given to the giants of the retail sector both online and offline, when year on year we see how small independent businesses with small budgets win big by having their own online shop. Many of these small independents today will become the giants of tomorrow."

Full Press Release at http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=52809

In recent years, ‘Cyber’ or ‘Mega Monday’ has been coined by the online retail industry as the busiest online shopping day of the year.

This year it seems to have fallen early – before the advent month of December had even started.

So are we all buying presents a tad early this year? Or are we in for a bigger Monday in December? Last year’s busiest day fell on Monday 8th December in the UK.

Industry analysts are already counting the pennies spent, and have blown the whistle a week early in declaring this year’s Cyber Monday as the 30th November – with Visa estimating around £300m being spent online.

According to ecommerce software provider ekmPowershop.com, a survey of over 6,000 online shops revealed that online spending is up on last year by around 21.3% in the independent retail sector.

Antony Chesworth, Managing Director of ekmPowershop.com comments “We have seen another year of increased spending in the online sector. Despite the recession and businesses closing due to the climate around them, consumers still seem to be increasing their online spends. The perceived savings offered by online retailers over the high street is proving to have counteracted the impact of the recession for online retailers in general. Some are still facing the challenges of the economic downturn, as despite year on year growth in demand; supply chain failure is now becoming a more prominent issue. The continued rise in demand pitted against issues of supply seems to be the biggest challenge for the online sector over the next 12 months in the UK. ”

To put the level of year on year growth, and popularity of online shopping into perspective: John Lewis actually recorded bigger sales in one day last month (November 22 2009), than on Cyber Monday last year (the biggest day of 2008). Could they be in for an even bigger Monday in the December weeks to come? Along with the rest of the online community, they will be hoping, and probably projecting ‘Yes’.