Internet blinds firm eyeing up growth

247 Blinds, based in Huddersfield, turned over £22m last year and is on track to hit £26m this year.

Directors David Maher and Jason Peterkin, who set up the business in 2005, are now looking to double this and become a “household name” in the sector.

Mr Peterkin told The Yorkshire Post: “In the next five years we would like to be known as the number one blind retailer in the UK.

“We are in the top two now but I would like us to be comfortably number one.

“We want to double turnover and become a household name.”

Prior to forming 247 Blinds, Mr Peterkin and Mr Mahar both taught themselves to design websites and soon began designing and selling e-retailer sites together.

They were then approached by local blinds company to build them a site. When the brand wanted to sell up, the two saw the opportunity to be a retailer who manufactures nothing and reaps the benefits of being the selling point for made to fit blinds.

When the two entrepreneurs founded the business they expected to sell 500 blinds a month. They now sell a minimum 1,000 blinds per day.

“We entered this market at a very good time,” said Mr Peterkin.

“We quickly built a quickly good reputation in this market. We have a very strong customer base. Forty to 45 per cent of our business is from repeat customers.”

The growth has been brought about by a combination of investment and marketing.

“We have invested massively over the last three years in our website,” said Mr Peterkin.

“We make it really easy to build a product online. We do spend a lot of money on Google ad words. That generates a lot of business.

“But we have a really good reputation and do a really good job for people. We have people who have been dealing with us from 2006, still doing business with us now and they have passed us on to their friends and people they know.

“We have the best part of 20,000 reviews on the internet and the vast majority are four to five stars.”

The firm, home to 25 full-time employees, does not manufacture the blinds but works with trusted partner factories in the UK and in Israel.

“We made a conscious decision right at the beginning that we did not want to get involved in manufacturing. We wanted to sell products.

“We are a very lean company. We have very modest premises.

“Anything we can solve with the business with IT we do. We run a £22m company with an accounts team of three. For an average company this would be unheard of.

“We don’t spend any money that we don’t need to. There’s no need for us to have posh city centre offices.”