Agame-changingjob

WHAT started out as a single shop in Forfar is now a thriving sports retailer for owners Bryce and Joyce Gibson.

The couple, from Dundee, are celebrating 20 years in business and their company, Direct Soccer, has undergone significant growth during that time.

Here, Bryce, 57, and Joyce, 50, tell us the secrets to their success over the last two decades.

Can you tell us about your products?

We sell a wide range of football kits, equipment and trophies, as well as offering a personalised print and embroidery service to football teams and individuals across the UK and Europe.

We sell a host of big-name brands including Nike, Adidas, Mitre, Joma and Prostar.

Where did the idea for the business come from?

Bryce returned home after working in Australia for eight years and was at a crossroads in his career.

His brother Ian, a former professional footballer, owned a sports shop in Dundee and this inspired us to open a similar shop in Forfar. The success of this shop led to us buying the Dundee store and opening another in St Andrews.

What’s the background to the Direct Soccer story?

We opened our general retail sports shop, trading as Sportstyle, in 1997 and, by 2002, we had two additional stores.

But by then, we firmly believed the key to growth going forward was to focus on online sales as our research showed there was a demand for football kits aimed specifically at local, youth and amateur squads.

So we moved online, specialising in these kits, but offering other products, too. Since then, we’ve reached TARFF VALLEY £2million turnover and moved into a purpose-built facility to support our growth strategy.

Our increased sales allowed us to grow our team to 13, adding sales, marketing and IT staff.

What’s the secret to your success over the last 20 years?

We have a fantastic team. Everyone works hard and contributes to our success.

We have a strong ethos of investment, innovation and customer service, which we believe sets us apart from our competition.

We embrace change and were the first online sports retailer to have a website where customers could order and personalise their full team kit online.

What help/advice have you received along the way?

Scottish Enterprise has supported us with various aspects of our business, including IT and marketing.

The Bank of Scotland backed our business plan, which has helped us realise our growth potential and enabled us to keep investing in our business. What’s a typical day like? There is no typical day for us as each and every day can be very different. But the day usually starts with a morning briefing to review any issues that may have arisen the previous day or overnight, then we answer some emails.

From there, the rest of day can include planning and reviewing products, buying, supplier meetings, planning content for our marketing and social media campaigns or dealing with machine breakdowns.

Financial and inventory planning and analysis are regular tasks for us, as are staff planning, training and recruitment.

It is crucial to an online business that we keep abreast of technology changes so we regularly review our website and systems both from a technical and creative perspective – our to-do list can seem endless at times!

Best bit about having your own business?

The sense of achievement. Knowing that you have created something from scratch that is now prosperous is extremely enjoyable.

There is always something new to learn and the breadth and variety of what every day holds is always interesting and often challenging.

Find out more about Direct Soccer at www.directsoccer.co.uk For business advice, visit www.

bgateway.com