Comic Domain

As avid collectors of sci-fi comics, Dave Cresswell and his brother, Steve, realised that there was money to be made out of their hobby. Thus Comic Domain was born in January 2000 and still runs from two home offices. The annual turnover has gone from a couple of thousand to over £50,000 combining online and offline sales, yet it is still an adjunct to their day jobs.

Along the way Dave learnt a few lessons, like the importance of choosing the right ecommerce solution - ASP or desktop. It made a difference to his wallet as well as sales. Dave tried both and strongly favours Actinic Ecommerce software which has scaled with the business's needs and gives him full control of the design and maintenance.

Marketing needn't cost a packet. Dave finds using flyers and exhibiting at weekend sci-fi conventions works. Advertising is second, in cult magazines and also cinema campaigns. Online marketing makes use of the ecommerce software's inbuilt search engine optimised design to keep them near the top of the listings. Seasonal slumps have been eliminated by timely special offers emailed to customers, and visitors come back regularly to input to the message board. The result is visitors have grown to over 40,000 per month.

Website: www.ComicDomain.co.uk Location: South London.

(Full story is 1124 words)