“The consultancy support provided via the Marches Growth Hub was invaluable and, if required, I’d take more in a heartbeat!”
About
Established in 2015 by JJ Lawrence, an unashamed gin-lover, The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd has grown steadily to now offer a range of three distinct products – the original Tiger Gin, Ruby Tiger Gin, and Tiger Vodka. In its relatively short life, Tiger Gin has become the world’s most awarded gin and one of the most followed gin brands on social media.
With the help of experts, JJ refined the recipe to create a sweet and smooth gin which uses the very finest botanicals and spices with the resultant recipe naturally remaining a closely guarded trade secret. A blending and bottling facility was chosen where production could be carried out and JJ’s vision to create one of the best gins in the world was realised.
However, with a significant percentage of its customer base focused on the hospitality industry, the lockdowns which were driven by Covid-19 led The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd.’s team to consider how the business could reach new customers directly.
An introduction to the Marches Growth Hub and to executive mentor Will Westley was made by Elizabeth Wakeham-Jones from Telford & Wrekin Council in January 2021 and Angela Woolford, sales manager at The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd, went on to access business growth consultancy, support to build an e-commerce enabled website, and funding to support ongoing marketing efforts.
How the Marches Growth Hub helped
Previously unaware of the Marches Growth Hub, Angela was introduced to Business Advisor, Erica Sherry in January 2021 and consequently secured funding for 12 business growth and development consultancy sessions with Will Westley.
Angela is in no doubt of the value that Will’s guidance provided to the direction of the business. She comments:
“It was fabulous to be introduced to Will when we were. Not only is he a really nice person and totally approachable, but he really challenged us and made us think about the business in a way that can sometimes be hard when you’re at the coalface.
“His support was very broad in what it covered and enabled us to think about the business and its direction in a far more professional way than we had done to date. By simply asking us questions and getting us to go away and think about things that we perhaps hadn’t previously questioned, Will provided us with much needed focus and enthusiasm.
“Significantly, Will has gone ‘above and beyond’ as we remain in touch even though no further funding is available for the formal continuation of his support.”
Angela and The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd team also benefitted from support to take their online presence to the next stage by building an e-commerce site to replace their existing website. An introduction by the Growth Hub to Ascendency Internet Marketing led to 12 1:1 sessions where Angela learnt how to build specific areas of the website and was given tips, advice and support to deliver some of the more complex areas such as delivery and payment mechanisms.
Angela comments:
“Between January and March of 2021, I met with the Ascendency Marketing team, via Google Meet, for 12 sessions that guided me through what needed to be done to produce tigergin.com as a fully functioning e-commerce site.
“They set me tasks after each session and utilising a number of their recommended templates, including WooCommerce, I’m rather proud of the end result.”
The Marches Growth Hub also sign-posted The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd to the Telford Growth and Recovery Programme through which they’ve successfully secured grant funding to support business activities focused on developing existing customers, as well as reach new ones. This year is anticipated to be a great year for the Tiger product portfolio given that from February 1st, 2022, it is the Chinese Year of the Tiger – a hook that presents itself perfectly for marketing and promotional activities throughout the year.
Impact
Angela is in no doubt that the 1:1 consultancy support was an invaluable aid to The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd as it faced the combined challenges of its next stage of growth and the impact of Covid. Simply having the opportunity to talk with someone not associated with the day to day running of the business allowed her to view things with a fresh perspective. For that reason, she continues to join the Marches Growth Hub’s Friday Hub Zoom sessions whenever she can.
The introduction of the e-commerce functionality enabled The Shropshire Gin Co Ltd to reach end-customers directly at a time when the hospitality sector was forced to close. In the 10 months since it launched, online sales have risen steadily and over 50% of current customers have signed up to the team’s mailing list and have returned to place repeat orders. Investment of time and money into promotional activities has also enhanced social media engagement.
Future Growth
Looking to the future, the team has a vision to introduce new products to the range and will consider exporting to Europe and the US. Angela would have no hesitation in accessing any additional support that the Growth Hub could offer at the appropriate time and would jump at the chance to engage with further business growth support.
“With a background as an accountant, I do already have a business head on me, but Will’s guidance proved invaluable as a sounding board and confirmed much of what I was thinking and considering and I’m in no doubt that many of the Friday Hub members (as well as businesses not yet engaged with the Growth Hub), would benefit from consultancy support of this kind.”
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