Thompsons eParts has seen rapid growth with sales doubling in the year to March 2016 to more than £1m, according to the company.
The business was launched by tipper bodybuilder Thompsons (UK) in February 2014 (a picture of a tipper-bodied truck it recently supplied to Gatwick-based Cook & Son is pictured), and had sales of £500,000 in 2015.
The online firm, which offers more than 5,000 tipper parts online, serves customers in the construction, waste, environment, highways, utilities and rental sectors.
Since launch it has also managed to attract new customers from some unexpected sectors, including the Household Cavalry and a number of nail bars, hairdressing salons and beauty and tattoo parlours [selling them mobile sinks].
Thompsons (UK)’s after sales services manager Dave Lees, who runs Thompsons eParts, told Commercialmotor.com: “There is a big market out there for tipper related products and because we are internet based we have expanded our customer base into all sorts of industries.”
“The business has seen phenomenal growth since launch because no one else in our industry is doing what we do. We have invested heavily in our website which took six months to build and we also do a lot of web promotion and trade shows.”
Thompson eParts has taken on three internal sales staff since launch to help boost sales and is currently in the process of creating an external sales force.
Lees said the salesforce will initially target customers in a 60-70 mile radius of the online firm’s headquarters in Blackburn.
