Shardlows

– How a local Christchurch family business became nationally competitive

Shardlows is a packaging supplies company that was founded in Christchurch in 1965 and continues to thrive in a very competitive market. Nadia Marinelli, who had worked in the family business for many years, took over the reins in 2015 and has since then expanded their product range dramatically.

Our involvement with Shardlows began in 2012, when Nadia came to us wanting to add an online store to their physical location. Now the shardlow.co.nz website is onto its second iteration and is attracting new customers from all over New Zealand all the time.

Shardlows consistently ranks at the top of Google organic results, making it a top choice for businesses throughout New Zealand looking for packaging supplies and a wide range of associated workplace products. The other benefit of their E-Commerce website is that it opened the door to Shardlows being a niche supplier to small businesses throughout New Zealand – a market their larger competitors can’t serve.

Since launching their Pinnacle&Co. E-Commerce website Shardlows cash sales have grown exponentially, showing the power of a professionally designed E-Commerce website backed up by highly effective, well-targeted SEO management.

‘The Monday Morning Deluge’

Nadia says that her team are greeted every Monday morning by dozens of orders in their inbox, which can be daunting before the first coffee of the day, but it’s a good problem to have – and it’s proof of the effectiveness of their marketing strategy.

“Seeing a local business develop into a national player is fantastic to see. It just shows that with the right online strategy, anyone can compete on equal terms and even win against the big boys!” says Phillippa – Founder and CEO of Pinnacle&Co.

Succeeding online in packaging supplies is complicated

With thousands of SKUs and countless variations means packaging supplies is a complex business – but Shardlows has turned that into their key strength. Being flexible and making product selection as easy as possible online means buying from Shardlows is easy and accessible in ways that other suppliers aren’t.

“With so many variables, it’s difficult to have a seamless website experience – but with a flexible, customisable website platform, we’ve made it work. And Phillippa is always coming up with ways to improve it” says Nadia.

But there’s more – printed collateral and vehicle signage

Another advantage to Shardlows of working with Pinnacle&Co. is that we’re a full-service advertising agency that works in the physical world as well as online. As well as websites and SEO, we’ve created printed sales collateral material and designed vehicle signage.

Why does Pinnacle&Co. work for Shardlows?

Apart from our expertise, one of the main reasons Nadia began working with us is that she wanted a local business like hers where she could speak to the team face to face, exchange ideas, and be closely involved in the creative process. Since we first worked together in 2012 Shardlows and Pinnacle&Co. are still going strong.