The loan from The North West Fund for Loans Plus has helped Mail Order Online, which sells seasonal goods, stock up in time for Christmas.
Mail Order Online used the £250,000 from The North West Fund for Loans Plus to purchase additional stock and new racking for its warehouse to meet increasing demand. The wholesale business has grown year-on-year since brothers John and Steven Rushton established it in 2010 with fellow director Paul Huckstepp.

With sales up significantly in 2011, the company moved to a new 14,000sq ft distribution centre and, by 2014, it had taken on an adjacent warehouse and now occupies 28,000sq ft.

Strong sales over Christmas 2012 then enabled the company to introduce a range of pet products, boosting revenues and evening out seasonality in the business. "Our Christmas business has gone from strength to strength since we started up in 2010 and we're continuing to expand it through our weRchristmas brand. We've also expanded and diversified into product lines we can sell all year round," said director Paul Huckstepp.

He added: "Stock availability is crucial to us and we've focused on building an effective global supplier base to meet growing demand. The loan from The North West Fund for Loans Plus has enabled us to capitalise on an opportunity to purchase a large amount of stock to sell this Christmas."

FW Capital investment executive Graham Ingham worked with Paul and his team to agree the loan. He said: "FW Capital agreed the loan from The North West Fund for Loans Plus within weeks, enabling the company to take advantage of a significant Christmas stock opportunity. Mail Order Online has already recruited a number of full-time staff to cope with the increased demand it's now seeing for the new stock it purchased."

Mail Order Online is now hoping to take advantage of the predicted £2.3 billion increase in sales over the Christmas period this year.

The North West Fund for Loans Plus, managed by FW Capital, is part of the £155m North West Fund and is financed jointly by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.