KEEPING ahead of the competition is as important for the company supplying the sports equipment and installations as it is for the people who are using them.

That is a philosophy which has helped GTC Sports Ltd to rapidly make a name for itself as a supplier of top-class sports equipment and it always has an eye open for what the opposition is doing.

GTC Sports Ltd was formed three years ago when its parent group decided to expand its operations and relocate to Altham.

General manager Colin Beardmore contacted Business Link to see what the service could do for a new company and it was quickly realised, while developing a marketing strategy, that e-commerce was the one chink in the armour.

"E-commerce did not exist in our company," said Colin, "We were very much pen and paper and we sold our products through a printed catalogue.

"But in discussion with our Business Link personal business adviser, we identified the need, in the first instance, to have a presence on the web to explain what we were all about."

Once it was decided to provide a website for GTC, it quickly became clear that it should also include pages for the other companies in the group.

"Having done that, we looked at the project again and decided that we should expand the site and go down the e-commerce route by putting our catalogue on the website," said Colin.

"We achieved that and then moved on to phase two of the brief which was to provide on-line ordering facilities. Now, people can set up an account with us and order electronically. Our aim is to expand into Europe. But, with the web, we are already getting inquiries from further afield - America and the Falkland Islands, for example."

The next step is to translate the whole of their comprehensive catalogue onto CD, which will be cheaper to produce and to send out. The company is using a Business Link system which measures all the outcomes and also documents what is expected from the project. One measure will be the number of visits to the site and the number of enquiries that turn into orders.

Another benefit already feeding through from the website is its linkages with other sites such as, for instance, the site of SAPCA, the Sports And Play Contractors Association.

Although Colin accepts it is early days and the business gained through the web is, currently, only marginal he is enthusiastic about the future.

Once current customers and potential customers are aware of the web presence, and the ease with which products can be examined and then ordered on-line, he is convinced business will grow in their specialist sphere. Architects, for instance, can clearly see all the services offered by the group, which is a one-stop shop for the provision of sports facilities, both indoor and outdoor.

GTC Sports is part of the G.T.Group, the initial company which was formed in York in 1978 as G. Thornton (Contracts) Ltd to install all-weather tennis courts.

The business expanded to also include the design and construction of synthetic grass pitches, athletics tracks and multi-use games areas.

Then, in 1997, G. Thornton acquired Nordon Enterprises Ltd of Preston, the country's leading manufacturer of synthetic grass for sports surfaces, and decided to consolidate both companies in a new unit on the Altham Industrial Estate.

At the same time it was a logical progression to set up a third company so that the group could provide a complete package to customers, from the manufacture of the surface and its installation to the provision of the necessary ancillary equipment. As a result, GTC Sports was formed in 1998 to provide the last piece of the jigsaw.

And the group is thriving. It was recently placed 19th in the top 100 growing private companies by the Sunday Times.

"There are a number of companies providing similar services to us in the provision of sports equipment, but we have the benefits of an in-house customer base through our larger group," said Colin.

"Now that we have the on-line ordering facility we are ahead of the game compared to most of our competitors. I can see the benefits of the website as an addition to our catalogue and our other publications, but not as a replacement. The great thing is we have established the website and developed it so that we are at the forefront in our sector. And we can develop it further to keep ahead of the opposition," said Colin. He is grateful for the help provided by Business Link. "We would have developed the site without them, but their involvement has enabled us to do more with the same investment. The financial grant enabled us to do more and the project has given us the discipline in terms of timetable.

"We developed the site along with accredited website design house, Hartley and Hartley of Nelson."