Dabs.com cleans up

Online trader doubles profits and increases market share

Dabs.com has doubled its profits and increased its market share because most other online traders have failed to deliver on the original promise of e-commerce, according to the online reseller's financial director, Simon Brayshaw.

Last week, Dabs posted pre-tax profits of £5.1m for the year ended 31 March 2003, up from £2.1m in 2002. Turnover was up by 30 per cent.

Brayshaw claimed that Dabs had increased its market share because of its automated business processes.

"We've spent £3m on IT infrastructure and £2m on automation," he said. "We've bought customer confidence at a huge cost, but that's the price of success. Sadly, a lot of other firms weren't willing to pay it."

Brayshaw added that Dabs's results prove that SMEs want service but won't pay for it. But Tony Price, managing director of rival WStore, said that firms should still offer service.

"We focus on slightly different markets but like Dabs we've increased profitability by automating processes," he said.