Sheffield businessman launches £1m car mat website in lockdown

Ash Young, 37, who is the managing director of digital agency, Evoluted, decided to start his new venture during the first lockdown and since setting up the online car mats business CarMats.co.uk he hasn’t looked back.

The website specialises in bespoke car mats to fit every make and model.

Ash said: "I had always wanted to start up a new e-commerce site but I just didn't really have the time along with running a busy digital agency.

"When lockdown hit it was a very strange time. I found that a lot of client work dried up and I didn't have anyone to go out and meet with or clients to talk to. Many businesses had decided to cut their marketing spend or hold off until things started to get better.

"So it was the perfect time for me to look at the site I wanted to set up. I had looked into the car mat industry before and knew that was what I wanted to do."

Ash set out to find a trusted supplier for his goods, built a website from scratch himself, and enlisted the help of his wife to assist with customer support.

The success of his side business has come as a surprise even to him.

Ash said: "I thought that we would hit £1 million in sales, but not for a long time. It's absolutely bonkers that we have done this in nine months.

"We're doing an average of 250 orders a day, which is crazy. I think the reliance on online shopping recently has really helped us as people now can't go into a shop to buy car mats like they might have before."

To celebrate the one million pound day, Ash wanted to do something special that would make a difference. He decided to donate the entire revenue (not profit) from the day of reaching £1m, to local charity Ashgate Hospicecare, which was a total of £11,470.24.

Ashgate Hospicecare provides compassionate, specialist palliative and end of life care, free of charge, to patients with a life-limiting illness and their families across North Derbyshire.

Ash from Chesterfield is now looking to push on towards a projected £3,000,000 sales for 2021.