Distinctive Chesterfields is a furniture company known for its hand-crafted sofas, from its fabric Chesterfield sofa to its brown leather bestsellers. Founded in 2006 by husband and wife team, Steve and Claire Laidlaw, the company workshop, showroom and sales office employ 20 staff worldwide. In June 2015, the firm cut the ribbon on its flagship showroom in London’s St John’s Hill, which has seen a hugely successful first year of sales. As well as the UK premises, Distinctive Chesterfields has global partners in the US, Australia, Japan, Sweden, Germany and France. We spoke to Steve and Claire to find out how their business has grown in such a short space of time.
PayPal (PP): What have been your greatest successes?
Steve Laidlaw (SL): Our team members here at Distinctive Chesterfields continue to impress us – and thanks to everyone’s hard work and dedication over the years we’ve been able to take our products to 10 showrooms around the world. For us, opening Distinctive Chesterfields’ flagship showroom in London was a big investment and particular highlight of the last few years.
Claire Laidlaw (CL): Developing trade links in new countries like Australia, Japan and Korea has helped us invest in the communities where we sell. We train local people in traditional upholstery and offer them lifelong skills, as well as a great place in which to learn and grow.
PP: What is the greatest challenge you faced in setting up your business that other prospective small business founders should watch out for?
CL: We constantly face tough competition in what is an ever-changing industry, but we’ve been able to uphold a strong presence and reputation – not just locally but around the world. Getting the right companies on board from the very beginning is important. We also work with specialists who develop our PPC and SEO campaigns. We also have to deal with the challenges that arise from trading world-wide, such as offering payment options in multiple currencies to ensure our customers get the highest level of service possible. We’ve worked hard to develop long-lasting partnerships, as well as maintain a local presence in a number of countries.
PP: What advice would you give to other small businesses and those thinking of taking the plunge and creating a start-up?
SL: Ensure your business plan is well thought-out. You should also, of course, offer a product or service which you think is unique enough to have the edge over the competition.
CL: We pride ourselves on our service here at Distinctive Chesterfields, so we’d say pay attention to ensuring what you’re offering in terms of the personal touch is second to none. Think about how you’re coming across on social media too; we have a really great and e
ngaged following on our Facebook site especially, which helps boost sales.
PP: When did you start using PayPal and why?
SL: We signed up to use PayPal as a company in March 2012. Our reasons for doing so were simple: it’s easy to use and customers trust PayPal because it’s a recognised company. It also allows easy integration into our UK website – as well as those in the USA, Germany and France, because it accepts multiple currencies. Best of all, the PayPal web team dealt with everything!
PP: Has using PayPal helped your business?
SL: As well as linking our retail site up with PayPal, we also have the PayPal Here device in our showrooms. This ensures everything is completely seamless in regards to sales. Customers can simply insert their card to make a payment, which means they no longer have to hand over their card details to us.
CL: Many of our customers already have a PayPal account, which means they’re ready to make a payment straightaway. As PayPal is a recognised company they feel they can put their trust in the service we provide.