Ash Young, 37, decided to start a new business selling car mats online over the first lockdown in Sheffield. It was a venture that has proved successful following the company hitting £1m in sales.
The e-commerce website – CarMats.co.uk – was entirely self-made, with Young sourcing a trusted supplier and building the website from scratch by himself, even enlisted the help of his wife to assist with customer support.
In celebration of the day the company hit £1m sales, Young wanted to use his newfound cash to make a difference. He decided to donate the entire days revenue, which amounted to £11,470.24, to local charity Ashgate Hospicecare.
Ash said: “I had always wanted to start up a new e-commerce site but I just didn’t really have the time along with running a busy digital agency.
“When lockdown hit it was a very strange time. I found that a lot of client work dried up and I didn’t have anyone to go out and meet with or clients to talk to. Many businesses had decided to cut their marketing spend or hold off until things started to get better.
“So it was the perfect time for me to look at the site I wanted to set up. I had looked into the car mat industry before and knew that was what I wanted to do.”
The success of the business came as a surprise to even him, with Young noting the reliance on online shopping being a key factor.
He said: “We’re doing an average of 250 orders a day, which is crazy.”
“I thought that we would hit £1 million in sales, but not for a long time. It’s absolutely bonkers that we have done this in nine months.”
Young is now looking to push on towards a projected £3,000,000 sales for 2021.