Polished Bliss

www.polishedbliss.co.uk

Based in Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland, Polished Bliss is a small business run by three passionate individuals who have carved out a niche in the car maintenance sector. In just four years the business has grown from nothing more than a vision to become a highly successful specialist car care business. Selling mostly (over 70%) via the website www.polishedbliss.co.uk, but also via a shop and telephone/mail order, it supplies a top quality range of 400 car care products (including many exclusive brands), plus offers car detailing (extremely high-end valeting) services for local enthusiasts, all backed by free expert advice. In this article we look at the secrets of their success.

Polished Bliss Shines Out in the Economic Gloom

Richard and Angela Cooper launched the business in January 2006 and since its inception Polished Bliss has seen orders climb each year to reach £500,000 in 2009/10, with £650,000 forecast for next year. The current downturn has had no impact on the rate of growth; in fact Richard reckons:

“People seem to be keeping their cars for longer instead of trading them in, and this appears to be encouraging many owners to venture into the world of proper car care for the very first time; we have welcomed many brand new customers in the last twelve months.”

History

The idea for the business originates with Richard Cooper. Fed up with the bureaucracy associated with being a research scientist, Richard started to plan an exit which would enable him to work with his wife and turn his favourite hobby into a viable business. As a car care enthusiast, he was frequently quizzed about the quality of his SEAT León’s turnout: no one could match it. Using this detailed knowledge of how to get car paintwork to gleam, Richard identified a clear gap in the market for offering high quality, imported car finishing products alongside free advice from professionals.

The first step was creating a web store and with an investment of only £3,000 for development, www.polishedbliss.co.uk was born, powered by Actinic’s ecommerce software. Soon the product side was supplemented by recruiting Clark Aitken (who is now a company director) to provide a comprehensive range of specialist detailing services based on defect correction and paint protection.

Keys to success

-Business model

This focus on a model of premium products, expert advice and high-end services is certainly one of the secrets of success. Richard claims:

“Our three pronged approach remains unique in the UK. Competitors either just offer products with little or no advice, or detailing services with no product sales.” He adds, “Quality is our keystone and has to be reflected in everything we do. The recent revamp of the website by Green Jersey Web Design (www.greenjersey.com), which retained the Actinic software but radically customised the design, is a good example of this and we get lots of compliments. It just shows what you can achieve with the software.”

-Customer mix

But in hard times you also need to balance your customer mix and Polished Bliss has got it right in this area too. The sales split is 90% via product, 10% through service. It has cash-rich, time-poor clients with prestige cars prepared to pay from £300 to over £3,000 for world class detailing, as well as over 5,000 loyal customers who love their cars and want to polish them at home and get outstanding results. It's a small market but Richard knows those passionate about cars will put them first even when money is tight.

-Product selection

Sourcing the right products is important and the team often find the best abroad and then negotiate exclusive distribution deals. Richard explains:

“It doesn't matter if you have a Fiesta or a Ferrari, we're here to help with top quality products and advice to make your car stand out. By detailing to the highest possible standard using only the products we sell, and by then showing the results off on our website and various internet forums, we instantly create interest. Furthermore, when customers then buy and use our products we are well placed to offer free expert usage advice on the back of our professional experience; this reinforces trust and fosters loyalty"

-Ecommerce focus

Richard also recognises that Actinic ecommerce is a significant factor in their success as it initially enabled Polished Bliss to punch well above its weight and to penetrate the UK car care market quickly.

“Following rapid initial growth, ecommerce continues to enable us to attract and convert customers from all over the UK and beyond. It means that the potential marketplace is vastly larger than would be the case for a traditional bricks and mortar-based business, which is obviously helpful in a recession.”

-Marketing magic

However good your offering is, no-one succeeds without marketing, and in this area Polished Bliss has excelled. Richard feels that interacting with customers and visitors on the site, on social media and in specialist forums, giving advice, running competitions and generally demonstrating their expertise, has been key so far:

“Traditionally we have been very active on numerous car forums and this has been wildly successful for us, with one thread about our work attracting more than 420,000 visits!”

However, as the business has grown the trio has found it increasingly difficult to put the same amount of time into the forums, so in the future, Richard is planning a more balanced approach to marketing. This involves mixing old and new media: social networking with targeted print and radio advertising.

“We currently tweet daily news updates, run giveaways and show off some of our work on Twitter and in just under a year we’ve attracted hundreds of followers. But analytics show that far more people find our site via Twitter without becoming followers, so it’s an important channel.”

The blog is also gaining in popularity and he intends to make more of the opportunities it presents to interact with customers on a more regular basis.

-Team chemistry

And finally, there’s one ingredient to any business success story that is about having the right team chemistry for growth. The trio of Richard as marketing director, Angela as finance director and Clark as service director has proved a perfect combo of skills and personalities. Richard and Clark both have characteristics which explain the incredible attention to detail that permeates all areas of the business, while Angela has strong organisational tendencies that enable her to manage the business effectively and keep everyone else in line. As Richard explains:

"Having great ideas and an eye for detail is only a small part of our success; if Angela wasn't on hand to manage the finances properly and channel Clark’s and my enthusiasm we would have been in trouble long ago!"

Moving forward

So are there any areas that Polished Bliss struggles with? Richard admits that the biggest problem is fulfilment:

“Securing sensible rates for shipping and getting deliveries to the South of England on time is a challenge, as our location in the north-east of Scotland is a hindrance. Using a third party fulfilment warehouse further south may be on the cards in the future, or opening another outlet, but quality control remains an issue that we cannot afford to overlook.”

Other plans for the future include further customisation of the site to make it even easier to use; the addition of new sections to the store; and widespread roll out of video clips to showcase the products and how to use them. Richard concludes:

“We’re recruiting more people to keep up with demand so that our standards of customer care don’t slip. I’m confident that the recession has been a good thing for us: the business is focused and has a strong reputation, so we’re in a good position to expand even further when the economy picks up,”

Advice to other web start-ups

Richard Cooper recommends:

• Focus on the core of your web business first -- Money is usually tight during the startup stage for any business, so don’t blow the budget on too much customisation or bespoke design work. Instead, get a simple but effective template-based website produced.
• Then focus your efforts on engaging with your customers and growing your business. Early growth pays dividends in the long run, and will provide the cash needed for top quality development once you become established. Customers will forgive a basic design if your service and offerings are good, but not the other way round.

Why did you choose Actinic software?

Polished Bliss chose Actinic Ecommerce from the outset because it included all of the features that Richard and Angela had identified as being important, plus the interface was easy to use.

“Having now used Actinic since 2006, I can honestly say that it is a very impressive package that really does enable small businesses to punch above their weight. It has proven itself to be reliable and, in the hands of the right web developer, highly customisable, which means that it can grow with your business.”