Alienation Design

Gordon Carroll, proprietor of Buchanan Street Stamps and Pennyred, has been selling stamps professionally since the tender age of ten. His Glasgow city centre store has been operating since 1977 and is now well established with a reputation far beyond the city boundaries. Customers and other dealers now call in regularly from Canada and the USA whenever they are in Glasgow.

Gordon Caroll approached Scottish Enterprise in 1999 with the aim to transfer his business online. With doubts hanging over his current shop premises, Caroll had the foresight to see that he could trade from anywhere in the world through the means of the Internet.

As part of the Scottish Enterprise E-Trade project, 10 Scottish businesses, including Buchanan Street Stamps were chosen with the aim of developing an online presence. Pennyred was now born and introduced to Alienation Design! Of all the projects, Pennyred was the only one delivered on time, and on budget

Pennyred aims to be the number one source of philately information on the Internet. As well as regularly updated information, the entire stock of almost 35,000 individual stamps is available to search, view and purchase online. Each stamp in the catalogue is individual and has been scanned and added to the website.

Every element of the website can be updated online at any time of the day, from anywhere in the world using the simple to master Content Management System. With postcards, fact files, special features, online valuations and discussion areas, the website has become a real community for philatelists.

The Pennyred website truly is one of a kind. There is no other philately site like it anywhere else in the world.

The Pennyred project began simply as a means of creating a 'safety net' should Buchanan Street Stamps have to re-locate. However, it has developed in to something much more than this.

Whilst the website has been a success from day one and generating a profit, it has also transformed the offline business. Since launching the site, the Buchanan Street store has had a 30% increase in turnover.

This has come about for many reasons. With such a professional looking online presence, this has inspired confidence in customers to visit the offline store - and ultimately make a purchase. Customer numbers have increased since the website launched. The value of those purchases have also increased, with true philatelists willing to spend time and literally thousands of pounds in making a visit to the store.

Carroll has no doubts that the return on investment is much more than the turnover from the site itself. With a flexible, dynamic marketing tool at his disposal - one that portrays a confident, trustworthy business - he has taken the stamps business in to the 21st Century.