Pascal Culverhouse and Electric Tobacconist Case Study

When Pascal came to eCommerce MasterPlan:

Pascal had been working for his father’s online business, trying to improve its poor turnover.

He threw himself into learning everything he could about running a successful eCommerce store, including teaching himself the fundamentals of SEO.

It wasn’t long before Pascal found himself at an eCommerce MasterPlan course where he learnt all about the retail side of eCommerce. Sitting down right at the front he made a small rainforest’s worth of notes, which included:

  • The importance of a website being a ‘shop’, with all the elements that bring people into a physical store
  • The need to “speak” directly to customers
  • Regular Promotions, tied into seasonal, national or topical events
  • Regularly updated website content

With this knowledge Pascal improved his father’s business and was soon ready to start his own venture. He combined his learning from the eCommerce MasterPlan course and his experience of turning a struggling eCommerce business around and launched:

Electric Tobacconist

Pascal launched Electric Tobacconist in 2013, after discovering a potential for the online sale of electronic cigarettes.

Electric Tobacconist:

  • Is an Online Only store
  • Is VERY niche, selling only electronic cigarettes related products. 3,000+ skus, but essentially only one product
  • 10 people in the business, 8 in the UK, 2 in the USA
  • Based in the UK selling about 5-10% to Europe.

The Headline Results that were Achieved:

Pascal’s note taking really paid off in a big way! Armed with his expert eCommerce insights and experience Electric Tobacconist achieved:

  • 8,000 orders in just 6 months
  • A 7 figure turnover in Year 2
  • Recently opened American office

The eCommerce MasterPlan helped me focus the mind that an online shop needs to be active and constantly updated. Seasonal updates, weekend sales, weather-based promotions all keep the site looking fresh and will get your customers coming back far more often than a static, never-chaging website. The eCMP gave me plenty of tips and tricks on how to do this and in many ways gave me a road map to work to.
Pascal Culverhouse, Electric Tobacconist