George Baxter can still remember the long, cold days he spent on the langoustine boats. He was in his early 20s and, in the summer months up in the North Atlantic, he would often put in 20-hour shifts, catching shellfish for buyers on the mainland. It was physical work, often dangerous, and low paid. But fish, the lifeblood of communities all along the Scottish coast, was all that Baxter knew.
More than 40 years later, Baxter’s world still revolves around fish, but not much else is the same. This January, the Edinburgh businessman sailed into the digital age by taking his fish business online and using Google tools to market to customers in Scotland and as far away as London. “I wasn’t convinced that fish would sell online,” he admits, “but it’s been amazing.”
Baxter says a willingness to invest in his business – against many odds – helped him to get off the boats and grow. He started processing fish first, before launching a fishmongers, which supplied premium fish and seafood to wholesalers, hotels and restaurants across Scotland.
Like many small businesses with enough offline trade to keep things ticking over, Baxter had for years not acted on friends’ recommendations to sell his produce online, even as the wider sector grew steadily – by 2019, a fifth of all UK retail purchases were made online.
But finally, in January, he launched an online store, under the name Fresh Fish Daily. By selling directly to customers, he could control the retail environment and sell premium quality to those who valued it in their own kitchens.
Baxter’s team began investing in Google ads to promote the online shop to customers who never knew his stores existed, targeting London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, where he saw a market for premium fish. He also created a Google My Business profile, so that Fresh Fish Daily appeared in Google Maps and Search results. “The profile housed beautiful imagery of our fresh fish, and reviews from happy customers,” he says.
This meant that when lockdown came, “we were well prepared and able to mitigate the temporary closure of the high-street store in Edinburgh that has been the heart of the customer-facing side of my business for more than 20 years,” says Baxter.
Baxter’s fish business has had a high-street presence in Edinburgh for more than 20 years with George Hughes & Son
With Fresh Fish Daily’s nationwide visibility and investment in targeted advertising during the lockdown, growth that might have taken months to achieve happened in an instant.
“Things just rocketed,” Baxter says. “Overnight we went from maybe 20 to 30 online orders a month to between 200 and 300. We received so many orders that I had to redeploy staff from other areas of my business in order to meet demand.” Half of his online sales now go to London via courier.
Baxter also appreciates the customer insights he gains online, as well as the visibility generated. “The information featured on Google My Business will always be an important resource to a business like ours,” he says.
The closure of restaurants and hotels has flipped Baxter’s business; now it’s about 75% retail and 25% wholesale. Thanks to the newfound ease of selling premium produce directly to consumers, Baxter and his team are keeping their heads above water. Moreover, when some sort of normal returns, he feels he will be in a position to grow the online business even further.
“Although the shop is back open, we are still seeing a lot of demand from people who have discovered how practical and easy it is to get their fish delivered to their door,” says Baxter.
“Had we not launched a website in January and used Google tools to promote it, it’s questionable whether we’d be here at all by now. It’s made such a difference.”
To find out how Google can help your business adapt, visit: g.co/smallbusiness
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