The Garden Health & Beauty Store was started by Harry Ganz and Sunil Patel in 1984 when they opened a French-style pharmacy in Covent Garden. Since then, they’ve moved entirely online and sell beauty products including skincare, makeup, and perfume through their own website and Amazon. They’ve been a Capital on Tap customer for over a year, after searching for a business credit card with air miles. Although they came for the air miles, they’ve stayed for our handy account management and our all-in-one card solution.
Tell us a bit about The Garden?
We used to have a large store in Covent Garden, which started in 1984, but we gave that up about 5 years ago to go entirely online. So for the past 5 years, we’ve been operating online selling beauty products, including skincare, makeup and perfume. We distribute through our own website as well as on Amazon.
Why did you choose Capital on Tap?
The honest answer is, that I’m a big air miles fan! I used to use an AmEx card for my company card, but I had problems with it not being accepted in many places. I was looking for an alternative and found Capital on Tap while searching online for business credit cards with air miles.
What's the most important benefit of our card for you and your business?
The option to redeem points for air miles is what attracted me to the card in the first place. However, since using the card I’ve enjoyed the website - it’s very good and gives me all the information I need! The iPhone app is also brilliant.
What positive business impacts have you seen as a result of using Capital on Tap?
The main thing is I now have one card that services all my needs, as opposed to when I had the AmEx. I had a few cards then and had to juggle them around! I also tend to do most things on my phone, and it’s just very useful that everything I need is accessible on there. Finally, the two-step authorisation is very fast and always works.
What do you think is the most significant challenge facing small businesses today?
When we were operating in the physical shop, although we were also online, you could see that the business was starting to slow down in favour of people buying online. So the biggest problem facing brick and mortar businesses is the continued growth of online shopping. For online businesses, it’s the competitors who are working on very small margins and are selling their products so cheaply that it’s unsustainable and affects other businesses.
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