VC Warehouse & helemill.com
Mike & Maggie Shaw know all about the benefits of broadband and electronic communications. Based near Bude, the couple run two online businesses; VC Warehouse and helemill.com. VC Warehouse supply refurbished, second hand, ex-demo and liquidated video conference equipment. helemill.com sells exclusive wooden bikes – LIKEaBIKE - for young children.
Mike helped to organise a local campaign to get broadband in his area and was the first to sign up when the Widemouth Bay exchange went live in February 2004. Having a strong IT background, Mike knows how to make the most of technology for his business:
“We have customers all over the UK. Previously I used to travel as far afield as London, Nottingham, Lancashire & the Midlands, but now I have virtually stopped travelling and communicate by video, email and voice over IP in addition to normal telephone instead. In doing so, I have reduced business mileage personally from 20k to 10k per year.
“We can communicate for nothing through broadband – and, not only has it maintained the working relationships with our customers, it has helped if anything.”
Mike and Maggie find broadband has really helped their LIKEaBIKE business take off:
“We run online catalogues for both our businesses and before getting broadband, keeping them up to date would have been nigh on impossible. helemill.com started trading in started in Sept last year and from a standing start we’ve now sold over 250 bikes worth £135 each!”
