eCommerce MasterPlan

  • Net Zero
  • Summit
  • Podcast
    • About The Podcast
    • Top 10 Episodes
    • Reviews
    • Interesting Stuff
    • Our eCommerce January Growth Series 2022
    • Audience Offers
    • Full list of eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast Episodes
  • Keep Optimising
    • About the Podcast
    • Monthly Q&A Webinar
  • Books
    • eCommerce Marketing – NEW
    • eCommerce MasterPlan 1.8
    • eCommerce Delivery
    • Customer Persuasion
    • B2B eCommerce MasterPlan
  • eCommerce Help
    • Consulting, Coaching, Mentoring
    • Great Deals on Useful Things
  • Contact
    • About Us
    • Email sign up
    • Be a podcast guest
    • Speaking

225: Sir Gordon Bennett’s Neil Elliot shares the pleasure and the pain of their first months live

July 22, 2019 By Chloë Thomas Leave a Comment

Neil Elliot is the founder of Sir Gordon Bennett a retailer dedicated to helping us all buy better, and buy British. Stocking a range of gorgeous brands the business launched in November 2018, and after half a year of trading and a lot of testing and measuring they have achieved sales of £7k to date, and are on the cusp of launching a big marketing campaign.

Subscribe on your Favourite Podcast App

Apple podcasts badge

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Google Podcasts

sir gordon bennett podcast

About the Business

  • Based in Britain
  • Heavy Curation relies on quality over quantity
  • Uses WordPress with Woo-Commerce

From Ad Man to Curator and Purveyor

Neil Elliot has had a varied career and describes himself as a creative at heart. He’s been a record producer and a working artists and received his degree from University with a major in Design and Media Management.

With that under his belt Neil went into the world of advertising as a career copywriting and worked his way up—eventually running campaigns with huge accounts like Procter & Gamble.

Neil’s job was an international one and he worked with other professionals from all over the world. From Brazil to Germany, Neil’s network was a truly international one. He says the funny banter between his co-workers and himself is part of what gave him the idea to start Sir Gordon Bennett.

Everyone seemed to agree that British culture and craftsmanship were top notch. While he was living in Germany for work, Neil spent many idle hours in a heavily curated import shop. The goods there were incredibly thoughtful and well curated and it sparked the idea of starting a shop of the best of British goods—all together in one spot.

The Team

Sir Gordon Bennett is still a shiny new company, and the team remains small. Initially conceived as a brick and mortar store, Neil’s decision to go entirely eCommerce has allowed him and his business partner—brother-in-law Dan—to work remotely in order to get the company going.

Neil is based in Bristol and Dan is based in Stratford-upon-Avon. Dan runs the backside and logistics piece alongside his full time job while Neil focuses on marketing, brand, PR and being the face of the brand. The two are planning on expanding into the United States next.

It’s all about the Brand

It’s no surprise coming from an advertising professional that Sir Gordon Bennett will be an incredibly brand reliant company. Neil says that their target demographic is more quality over quantity and that the brand idea of the company is what pulls customers in—not cheaper prices or convenience.

With that squared away, Neil has been hyper aware of building a compelling visual story. This reliance on visually specific brand building means that Neil went in a surprising direction with the website and opted for a bespoke WordPress site with Woo-Commerce capabilities over Shopify or similar platform.

Prioritizing Testing

Even though the company is new, Neil says that they’ve already been paying attention to who is noticing Sir Gordon Bennett. The results are surprising and Neil says they’ve noticed two major trends—self gifting and gift giving.

It’s no surprise that Sir Gordon Bennett is targeting people looking to buy better and Neil knows that he is curating a shop for people who don’t buy cheap, but buy carefully. The Sir Gordon Bennett customers are somewhat split between buying smaller thoughtful gifts for other people and those investing in quality, heirloom type pieces for themselves.

Products like Fox umbrellas embody the spirit of buying the best quality everyday objects and Neil knows that is not an impulse sort of decision. Neil has been paying close attention to where his customers are coming from and is trying to ‘not muddy the waters’ by not doing too many different things at once.

Already he’s noticed that PPC isn’t the company’s best tactic and that visual branding is working—something Neil is already comfortable with.

Looking to Print

Neil has started branching into print advertising by connecting with magazines and lifestyle outlets that reflect the same sensibilities as the Sir Gordon Bennett brand.

The team also hopes to do a cross country tour and get in touch with their customer base in real life. Neil says that connecting in person will help not only grow awareness of the brand but will help him understand what customers want more.

eCommerce Book Top Tip

  • The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
  • Creative Mischief by Dave Trott

Hear our interview with Michael E Gerber

eCommerce Traffic Top Tip

  • Work with subscription companies to include a physical product in their boxes. Unique products fit well with influencers and subscription box.
  • Building a visual brand through social platforms like Instagram

Tool Top Tip

  • Telephone. Neil chats on the phone with his partner Dan every day. He says that the telephone resolves issues internally much quicker

Growth Top Tip

  • Brand and loyalty building

Interview Links

  • Business
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Related episodes

  • Launching a watch store by focusing on brand and customers with James Reeves of Diefendorff
  • Paws with Opulence’s Simone Taylor on launching her brand for the ultra-pampered pooch!

Without the sponsors the podcast wouldn’t be possible – please do check them out:

pitney bowes

This episode is brought to you by SendPro Online from Pitney Bowes.
SendPro Online makes it easy to save time and money–no matter what you send or ship–and you’ll always get the best rates and never overpay!
With SendPro, you can compare shipping rates between carriers, plus save 5 cents a letter and up to 40 percent off USPS Priority Mail shipping.
As a listener you can get a FREE 30-day trial and a FREE 10 pound scale, but only when you visit pb.com/masterplan

sellersfunding 300

SellersFunding provides working capital solutions to e-commerce businesses so they spend less time worrying about cash flow needs and more time (and money!) investing in growth. Solutions include Daily Advances in your base currency which allow you to get paid quicker and Revenue Advances to ensure that you don’t run out of cash when you need it the most. Check us out today at sellersfunding.com/masterplan!

Filed Under: 2019 Episodes, eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast

  • B2B eCommerce Podcasts
  • Fashion & Apparel Podcast Episodes
  • One Person eCommerce Businesses
  • Shopify Businesses
  • Startups
  • Subscription eCommerce Podcasts
  • Top 10 Episodes
  • £1m+ Businesses

Keep Optimising Podcast

  • Keep Optimising Podcast
  • Monthly Q&A Webinar

Products & Services

  • Audience Offers
  • Books
  • eCommerce & Marketing Speaker
  • Join our Email List

Social Media

  • Facebook Group
  • Instagram @eComMasterPlan
  • LinkedIn Page
  • LinkedIn: Chloë
  • Twitter @eComMasterPlan

Search the site

Social proof places we've been featured

Copyright © 2022 · Privacy Policy · Website Terms · Find us on Google+

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience, for advertising and to analyse our traffic. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.Got it! Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT