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News & press releases Press releases BUSINESS DESK- YORKSHIRE BUSINESS NEWS - 3 OCTOBER 2008: Never mind the product, do your customers trust you? ... 
[...] According to a recent Opus research survey, online marketing techniques remain underutilised because small business owner managers fear they can't afford it - with 20% believing that internet marketing is too complex and 15% believing that they don't have the manpower to manage it correctly. There are other key elements such as aesthetic appeal, ease of navigation, and payment assurance. PayPal is probably the UK's best known e-commerce functionality, but it offers benefits other than a secure payment transaction such as use of gift certificates.
Swanland-based Les Parfums d'Isabelle is one small online business that has fully yaken advantage of all the tools on offer to make its website as professional as possible.
The firm, which creates and sells perfumes that are composed only of natural essential oils, was created by Isabelle Gellé after she realised that there was a gap in the UK perfume market and decided to take advantage of it by utilising her hobby to make a business. [...] To download the full article (pdf), click here>>>
THE DAILY EXPRESS - YOUR MONEY - 30TH APRIL 2008: WEB SERVICE OFFERS A CHANCE TO CATCH THE WAVE OF SUCCESS... A low-cost presence can be a huge boost for an outfit trying to make a good start. Maisha Frost explains the benefits. Tough trading times have not deterred two early-stage manufacturers from launching using low-cost websites to market new products and control budgets. Isabelle Gellé has created her own perfume range, Les Parfums d'Isabelle, from the natural distilled essences of flowering plants and spices.... Online article here>>>
WEBSITE SELECTED AS ONE OF MICROSOFT CASE STUDIES - MARCH 2008 Les Parfums dIsabelle
French Perfumer Trebles Revenue in Just One Year with Secure Online Purchasing System
Posted: 03/10/2008
In November 2006, Isabelle Gellé turned her passion for perfume into business, with the launch of Les Parfums d’Isabelle, a couture perfume company. Isabelle makes most of the perfumes herself, using ancient French methods of perfumery. The highly concentrated perfumes are made from entirely natural essences. Isabelle says: “Although many people want to smell beautiful and original, they can’t or don’t want to wear synthetic chemicals on their skin.”
When Isabelle started her business, she created a small Web site with the aim of educating and informing people about her perfumes. But it wasn’t successful at attracting online visitors, and potential customers were unable to order or pay for products on the site.
Microsoft® Office Live Small Business is a free Internet-based software service, which provides small companies with a domain name, company e-mail address, and easy-to-use tools to build a professional Web site. She says: “I thought Microsoft Office Live Small Business sounded like a wonderful opportunity to develop a Web site where people could buy my perfumes online.”
Online Purchases Treble Revenue in Less Than a Year
Isabelle used the HTML module function in Office Live Small Business to set up a PayPal payment option for each perfume. Customers click the icon next to the perfume they want to buy, and are then taken through simple steps to complete the order with their credit card. “It was simple to do and works perfectly. More than 90 per cent of my sales now come from online purchases made using PayPal,” she says.
During the festive period between November 2007 and January 2008, visits to her site skyrocketed—accompanied by a 20 per cent increase in sales. Isabelle attributes this solely to her use of Office Live Small Business search engine optimisation. In the future, she will use other forms of advertising and marketing to complement the site, but is happy with her business success for now. Isabelle says: “Revenue has trebled in less than a year and the company continues to average 10 per cent business growth every three months—I couldn’t have achieved this success without Office Live Small Business.”
DOWNLOAD COPY HERE.
For more information on how Office Live Small Business can help your company, please visit:
http://www.officelive.co.uk
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published February 2008
PRESS RELEASES 
Les Parfums d'Isabelle has been featured in: Perfect Wedding magazine Yorkshire Post on BBC Radio Leeds The Perfume Critic The Daily Express - Your Money column
Visit the archives to read the articles. For information about perfumery and perfumes, browse Les Parfums d'Isabelle's blog | | |
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