My website has made a huge difference to my business

What does the business do?

Established back in 2013, The Lincoln Tea and Coffee Company is a Lincolnshire based wholesaler of high quality, locally produced tea and coffee products. The business recently became winners of the 2017 Select Lincolnshire award for Wholesaler of the Year, and Susie and the team continue to channel their passion in tea and coffee not only through their high quality products, but through their customer service for both large and small companies, an ethos that they feel makes the company stand out.

What’s the history?

Originally the local company focused on end user sales, reaching their client base predominately through visiting local food fairs and events. Back in 2013, The Lincoln Tea and Coffee Company had an online presence, however it wasn’t generating a satisfactory level of sales. Within the first year, the company started to gain increasing levels of commercial interest. In 2017, the team set out to create a new high quality tea, designed specifically to work particularly well in ‘hard water’. However, it was at this time that Susie understood that their current website wasn’t working for them as well as it could be, and that the new ‘hard water’ tea called Lincolnshire Tea needed its own website and branding to stand out from the crowd.

Lincolnshire Tea packaging containing 80 tea bags with tea pot and cup and saucer

How have Business Lincolnshire helped?

Susie contacted Toni, a Business Lincolnshire adviser she had known for some time, and discussed the idea of developing their existing website and also building a brand new website specifically for the Lincolnshire Tea brand in line with the future plans for the company and to help increase sales further. Toni talked through the options and helped Susie through the application process, which she felt was relatively simple. They were awarded a Sustainable Business Growth Grant which was used to re-design the Lincoln Tea and Coffee Company website and produce new separate branding for Lincolnshire Tea. The new online platforms showcased the wide range of services on offer, something that the original website struggled to do effectively, and allowed customer interaction with the brand through a page titled ‘Where would you like to see it?’, where website visitors could recommend local outlets that should stock the tea.

With the completion of both websites, Susie felt more confident in directing customers to the online platform and started to incorporate Facebook advertising in her marketing plan. This has increased the exposure of the business, which has extended to radio stations and local publications expressing interest in doing features on the fast-growing business.

Overall, the new websites and increased advertising and customer interaction have helped Susie and her team to double their sales income in the first quarter of the financial year (from Oct to Dec 16, to Oct to Dec 17), with the popularity showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Lincolnshire Tea packaging containing 80 tea bags with Lincolnshire Flag

What's next?

During the next year, Susie and the team are continuing to focus on maintaining their high level of standards and service that they are currently providing. Furthermore, with their wide range of exciting teas, they are eager to grow the awareness of the products and in particular, the Lincolnshire Tea brand.