Ict, e-business and Small and Medium Enterprises

Box 5. An on-line retailer with a personal touch 

West Country Violins, with three employees in East Devon (United Kingdom), is run by a husband and 

wife, Brian and Felicity Ward-Smith, who purchase, restore and sell French, German or Italian violins from the 18

th

, 

19

th

 and early 20

th

 centuries. The company was started in 1997 to supply local students with inexpensive but 

professional violins, but this market was soon saturated. Brian decided to use the Internet to reach much a wider 

market without radically increasing his overhead costs. After selling a couple of violins via an on-line auction, the 

couple started developing the company’s e-commerce site themselves. 

The Web site (www.westcountryviolins.com) shows high-quality, detailed photos of each instrument, 

allowing the on-line customer to examine the listed violins. It also has sound clips with the recorded sound of each 

violin, which the customer can listen to through a desktop computer. The price of the instruments ranges from 

GBP 295 to GBP 7 000. The package is delivered by Parcel Force International, part of the UK Postal Service, with 

full insurance and a refund guarantee (minus shipping costs and bank/credit card charges) if the shipped instrument 

does not meet customer requirements. 

In the 12 months to April 2001, the company’s turnover doubled to GBP 120 000, and it has continued to 

prosper. The site has attracted customers not only in the United Kingdom and Ireland but also throughout the world 

Australia; Canada; Germany; Japan; Korea; Hong Kong; China; and the United States.  

Above and beyond the simple but practical on-line catalogue, the personal touch the couple tries to 

maintain is a key to the company’s success. They consider violins to have a personal relation to the owner. They reply 

to every question regarding the items for sale and general care of the instruments and pay attention to a customer’s 

individual requirements and requests. The Web site now includes a customer feedback page that carries comments by 

customers who have bought an instrument through the site. Some customers, impressed by the presentation of the 

instrument on the site, visit the physical shop. The Web site can also be found through Violink, a popular 

violin-related site among individuals, dealers and others interested in the instrument.  

Source

: UK E-Commerce Awards (http://www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk/) and the company Web site 

(http://www.westcountryviolins.com). 

 

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 34 

Small retailers may not be comfortable with a live link to stock levels because such information 

instantly reveals how (well) the shop sells the supplied products. Although direct access to stock data is 

technically feasible and can help to minimise inventories and improve production planning at each level of 

the supply chain, some retailers do not provide their suppliers with electronic access to such data. They 

continue to order over the phone or via fax (Moodley, 2002). B2B on-line marketplaces and auction sites 

have also not been attractive to many SMEs in the sector particularly in the light of most of these markets 

proving to be unstable and short-lived.