Arks Global

Philip Taylor, Commercial and Projects, Arks Global: “We’ve about 100,000 SKUs on Amazon, eBay and Rakuten where we’ve just started trading. We sell on Amazon internationally and have numerous IDs on eBay."

“Volo offers various technologies for integrating the movement of data like stock feeds, and Arks Global uses these heavily. We partner with several different tech companies, each providing best-of-breed services, and Volo is at the centre of them, joining up all the platforms together.”

“I’m a very heavy user of the Volo reporting and analytics. This is because I’m both the data champion and data analyst in the business. I need the intelligence so that I’m knowledgeable about the business and I need accurate data to see if some new venture or product is worth doing, so we can hit our KPIs on a monthly basis. Volo helps me build the picture and build the business case for expanding our product lines.

“The data also helps me make decisions on our channel coverage. The more data you have, the easier it is to feel confident in the decisions you make. The reports on SKUs tell an interesting story on what is performing, and where they’re performing – or underperforming. Knowing the detail helps me make the right calls across the channels.

“The Volo system allows us to do a lot with a small team. It’s a key part of our trading platform, flying the flag for everything we do and helping us achieve our commercial goals. We link in everything with the Volo system. It’s a great example of how far we can take our concept with a small team. On a daily basis we’re dealing with key clients and award-wining individuals to help drive sales in an ever-changing ecommerce market.”

“Until now we’ve pretty much flown under the radar. Starting a business is a huge challenge. Online is competitive, much more so than offline. They’re separate entities really, involving different thought processes. With offline you’ve more challenges and compared to running an online business. With our model we can maximise profits by using the support of our partners and the flexibility of the services we can offer our clients, and Volo is central to this.

“So, from a standing start in 2014 with no listings and no feedback, we’ll do our millionth pound of online sales by the middle of the year. We’ve moved over 60,000 items since the start of the business to date. Now we're working with government bodies to drive our exports, and Volo underpins this effort.”