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Sector: Ceramics Manufacture
Technology: e-commerce
Location: Urban
Above: Manufacturing coasters in the Dinamic Ceramics factory in Ashington
“The IT platform has revolutionised the way we approach our business”
Garry Dawson, Managing Director
For more information on this project, contact The North East Regional Portal on
+44(0)191 487 2002
or e-mail
enquiries@n-e-life.co.uk
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Background
Dinamic Ceramics is a Social Enterprise based in Ashington manufacturing a highly distinctive range of ceramic giftware products targeted at the regions growing tourism sector. The company produces high quality English bone china and ceramic products featuring striking images of the region’s history, heritage and culture.
The products include the world heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall, the county of Northumberland and Northumbria Ecclesiastica, a range featuring the wealth of the regions early Christian monastic sites. The products are available through the regional network of Tourist Information Centres, gift shops and visitor attractions such as Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, Tyne & Wear Museums and the new Woodhorn colliery centre.
As a Social Enterprise Dinamic Ceramics offers both employment and training opportunities to those who are furthest from the local Ashington job market and will support them when they leave to continue their careers with mainstream employers
Why did the Company need to act?
Managing Director Garry Dawson explains, “There were 3 driving forces. First we knew from the outset that we had markets beyond this region, principally those who have either lived here or visited here as tourists and want to purchase a memento of their times in the North East. Second was the need to introduce IT, in a friendly and uncomplicated way, to our employees in order to streamline our sales and marketing operation. Third was the need to be able to react quickly to market driven opportunities that traditional sales methods would have taken a long time to capture.
What did the Company do?
“The funding from the Catalyst project enabled us to design a suitable IT platform that could deliver the three essential elements we needed. At the design stage we took the decision that the platform would become the central management information system for the company thus saving on individual IT products we would otherwise have had to purchase. We contracted with deBurca Ltd of Sedgefield, a Catalyst approved supplier, to deliver the platform”, explains Garry.
What has been the result?
Garry is delighted with the results, “The IT platform has revolutionised the way we approach our business. Previously, we used to scour the daily print media to identify regional public sector procurement tenders, now each morning we electronically download lists of UK wide tenders each day and react accordingly. The website platform has enabled us to launch into a completely new market sector, that of personalised giftware. We realised within a few months of start up operations that there was strong market potential for the production of promotional ceramic products for the business community but the advertising costs involved in reaching potential customers was prohibitive. Our blog solved that; within two days of writing the piece we had our first response requesting prices and quantities. Cost – 15 minutes of my time in writing the blog entry, the result, a potential new customer to begin negotiations with and a vehicle to receive feedback or ideas.
“I suspect that in the long run the greatest benefit of the e-commerce platform will be that of speed to market. Mary Maguire, one of our team, was playing around with an image and said it would make a wonderful fridge magnet product. Within 48 hours we had gone from initial concept to a photo of the mock up on the website and now have a new product available for worldwide sales. A week later we had 2 regional retail customers stocking and 40 fridge magnets on their way to Beijing! The platform provides us with the information we need to make decisions and it’s completely streamlined the order capture to delivery system. More importantly, it makes us completely professional in today’s fast moving marketplace.”
Contact:
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