Many UK businesses are turning to offer their products products and services online. A starting point is ensuring a .uk address is used as recent research shows that 80% of British users searching on the internet will visit a British web address above any other.
Tregothnan.co.uk is one such business which is now very successfully operating online.
It’s a working estate which has a wide product range, from English tea, Manuka honey and flowers to Kea Plums. Traditional skills and craftsmanship combine with modern tools to ensure the estate thrives.
Offering their products and services online started in a very small way some 25 years ago when their .co.uk web domain was registered. Today sales are just over £1 million and are expected to reach £20 million by 2020.
Are you one of the 30 million who bought goods online last year? How does this compare with your online shopping this year? The expectation is that the UK’s internet economy is set to grow by 10% this year.
It’s not just shopping for products that attracts people online, savvy Brits are able to save money by using comparison sites to shop around for better deals on their utility bills, insurances and other banking and financial products.
Using an online presence is a great way for companies to communicate to a wide audience who they are and offer their products and services.
Tregothan.co.uk for example is internationally known as the home of English tea with their online .co.uk name helping them demonstrate their Britishness and build trust with their customers.
The tea is grown, dried and packed on site and then sold online. A huge percentage going overseas to places like China and Australia.
There are over 9 million .uk domain names. Nominet maintains the register of these, ensuring there is consistency and fairness in the registration and transfer of these domains.
Equally they provide a look-up service should you want to find out whether a .uk domain name has been registered and, if so, by whom. If there’s a dispute about a domain they also offer a Dispute Resolution Service.
Back to Tregothanan.co.uk, of course it’s not all online, they do have some great local services, including The Tea Bar. This has been born out of the idea that despite being the world’s number one beverage, tea lacks a social space in this country; a place where people can meet and mingle around the formal and informal rituals of taking tea. It’s all about taking to think and enjoy.
On that note, it feels like time to put the kettle on!