Virtual Tour
Agriculture

Company Profile

Farm Fun is a family-run business with core revenues generated from a traditional arable-based farming operation. To increase income, the family have recently diversified into new and additional business areas, such as facilities for quad biking, archery, paint balling, and other low cost, high-value activities targeted at both corporate users and tourists.

Business Need

To maintain income, the family recognised the need to update farm equipment, keep abreast of the latest farming developments, and to maintain ‘best practice’ within current budgets.  In order to grow revenues and profitability, the family developed a low-cost business plan to further attract customers - such as groups of ‘stag’ and ‘hen’ parties plus the more corporate end of the market -  to take up the leisure pursuits on offer.

eCommerce Solution

The family already owned a PC for business administration and occasionally used the Internet to access Government information services and had started to use HSBC’s Internet Banking service. In addition, the children used Web mail to communicate with their friends from college.

After receiving an eMail enquiry from a relative regarding charges for 10 people on a ‘team-building’ holiday, they made contact with the Electronic Commerce Innovation Centre (eCIC) at Cardiff University, who visited them and through an eCommerce review discussed the possibilities from an increased use of eCommerce.

Three distinct areas were initially identified:

• An easy-to-use and locate Web site was designed and developed to offer images of the leisure pursuits together with availability, on-line booking and secure payment facilities.
• A number of competitively priced farm equipment and materials suppliers were identified at home and abroad through the use of Web search engines.
• Whilst ‘surfing’ the Internet, information on the Welsh Assembly Government’s Farming Connect scheme was discovered. Farming Connect put the family in touch with a local ‘agricultural ring’, offering an extensive list of local farming equipment for short-term hire on a co-operative basis.

Business Benefits

• Cost savings through short-term hire of expensive machinery from the local farming community plus purchase of essential farm equipment at competitive prices.
• Improved efficiency through fast, effective sourcing of materials at the most convenient time.
• Discovered high-value customers outside of the local area.
• Extended marketing methods to include ‘flexible’ prices to attract out-of-season business through on-line promotions.
• Cost-effective means of keeping customers informed of new and improved products.
• Business growth, increased profits, improved cash-flow.
• The success of the new Web site in taking orders led to a case study from eCIC which subsequently appeared on the Opportunity Wales Web site, so new businesses could see an example of a successful real-life implementation of eCommerce.