Photo credit; Tatiana Gerus on Flickr

When Jane Cay bought an existing retail business in the small New South Wales town of Cooma in 2004, it was an eclectic mix of saddlery, Akubra hats and women’s fashion and employed five staff.

After removing the outfitters merchandise and honing in on women’s fashion, the business began to grow solidly at a rate of 10-20% per year. And in 2006, given the growth in online business, Cay made the decision to take Birdsnest online.

“We quickly realised that we weren’t in the business of selling dresses — we were in the business of solving a woman’s wardrobe dilemma,” Cay says.

She did a lot of online research to get her website up and running and develop the brand, focusing on giving online customers the same high standard of customer service that the in-store customers received.

Cay’s thorough planning and commitment to the website and customer service has paid off: since the website started, the business has grown to more than 100 team members, the website records five million page views or 500,000 visits every month, and it sells to people all over Australia and the world.

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