In 2010, two friends living in Exeter realised that web design agencies were too jargonised and complicated, with many recommending outdated solutions that left clients ill-prepared for the ecommerce revolution (that was, at that point, yet to come). The market was missing an agency that could support ecommerce managers with tools perfectly suited for the digital era. They wanted to help fellow entrepreneurs by taking over the time-consuming work of ecommerce design and strategy, so they started Swanky!
The online world is cut-throat; fast decision making, adaptability and a strategic as well as commercial mindset are key components for online survival. Choosing the wrong tools can be detrimental. As one of the first agencies in Europe to partner with Shopify Plus to build sustainable, flexible and powerful enterprise-size websites, Swanky became the perfect agency for the competitive era of ecommerce.
Over the past 8 years, we have not only helped local businesses but also global brands such as Itsu, Saltrock and Knomo Bags to unlock their full digital potential – with some Swanky-built online stores turning over £100m annually. How did we do it? By coming up with innovative solutions to solve our clients’ problems, carefully guiding them through all elements of their unique web design and growth strategy.
After creating his first website at around 15 years old, Dan was subsequently contracted as a technical writer, graphic designer and game designer before co-founding Swanky in 2010.
Dan loves to work with ambitious entrepreneurial brands. His favourite part of being Swanky’s director is the different conversations he gets to have with his team about design, marketing and technical solutions, which allow him to become a bridge between team members in different roles in order to facilitate creative and effective solutions to clients’ problems.
Starting out as a musician, Matt developed a real talent for design when working for several years as a print designer and web freelancer before joining Swanky in 2010.
Matt is passionate about crafting beautiful and effective websites and is especially interested in working with entrepreneurs who have something really fresh and innovative to offer. He is also motivated by seeing clients realise their goals, as he himself has experienced Swanky’s transition from a small entrepreneurial startup to an organisation at the forefront of ecommerce design and development.
We aspire to unlock our clients’ full ecommerce potential by consulting on the best tools and strategies; transforming them into industry leaders with beautiful and commercially optimised websites.
We hope that pursuing our mission will result in our customers becoming industry leaders in their field! By following our consultation, customers will constantly grow, innovate and use the best possible mix of tools to establish market share.
Our core values stem from 4 traits that we encourage; creativity, strategy, trustworthiness and ambition. Our aim is to ignite industry trends and inspire change with data-backed, creative leadership approach to our work. We let long-term thinking guide our decisions, whilst always keeping a commercially strategic mindset. We always ensure to build and maintain customer trust – which we believe to be the most essential component in the digital era. Through telling aspirational stories, we encourage an ambition to grow and unlocking one’s full potential.
Dan McIvor and Andrew McSweeney, a then PhD student, created SwankyApple with the aim of building a jargon-free, client-focussed web design agency which delivered ecommerce websites that not only looked stunning but also drove conversions.
We built our first Shopify store for national toy distributor, Golden Bear Toys, ready for them to sell their exclusive London 2012 Olympic games mascots direct to consumers. It was a big project including a full migration from Magento with a B2B trade site, too. We loved building on Shopify and recognised it was going to be a popular platform. Little did we know…
We completed several more projects on Shopify and were soon recognised by Shopify themselves as ‘Shopify Experts’. We were soon delivering tens, than hundreds of projects a year for our clients around the world.
SwankyApple was 1 of the first 3 agencies in Europe awarded the Shopify Plus Experts accreditation, recognised as equipped to serve enterprise-scale businesses. Our clients included several of the fastest growing Shopify stores in Europe.
SwankyApple decided to go completely Swanky! After listening to our customers’ feedback, we launched a full rebrand in April 2018, complete with a (slight) name change and a vibrant new website. Swanky’s passion for creating beautiful, compelling ecommerce websites and our full commitment to our clients is now stronger than ever.
From digital agencies to tech startups and the media, Dave brings 15 years of experience from the tech industry. For many of these years, Dave has been working directly with Shopify and has enjoyed witnessing the platform thrive and expand while growing his own knowledge and experience alongside it. His favourite task is creating shipping code, as he finds that whether he’s launching a new feature or introducing an app improvement, nothing beats getting the code out of the door.
With extensive experience in the world of ecommerce, both as a marketer and store-owner, Sean brings a wealth of knowledge to the role of Head of Optimisation. He’s also heading up Swanky’s expansion into Australia, overseeing our launch in Toowoomba, near Brisbane. Sean’s favourite part of his role at Swanky is connecting with new clients who are eager to learn and collaborate. He is happiest when taking his dog for a walk, camping, hiking or people-watching from a café or bar in a foreign city.
From a young age, Jen loved digital content. She wrote her first line of code at 8 and began designing websites at 12! Since her move to the UK in 2012, she has graduated from the University of Exeter, started her own graphic design business and worked at Microsoft, where her creative and strategic talent helped her to take charge of several marketing campaigns. In 2017, Jen’s strong creative drive and deep interest in web design guided her from London to Devon to become Swanky’s Head of Marketing.
For as long as he can remember, Ben has been passionate about processes and systems and how they can make businesses more efficient and scalable. Before joining Swanky, he worked as a qualified Mechanical Engineer in the UK and Germany and then spent 4 years working as Head of Operations for a local Exeter charity. Ben’s favourite part of his role is getting the best out of his colleagues to deliver outstanding results.
As a natural linguist, Anna is passionate about using language to communicate ideas perfectly and loves being able to use her writing to help serve business owners who are passionate about what they do. After earning her Master’s degree in Translation, Anna kickstarted her journey in creative marketing by working as a Copywriter and then went on to specialise in the intricacies of search engine optimisation.
Esther is a final year English and Spanish student at the University of Exeter. Before starting her placement at Swanky, Esther completed Marketing and Journalism internships both in Spain and in the UK. In her role as Marketing Manager & Copywriter at Swanky, she loves writing engaging articles, sharing interesting updates on Swanky’s social media and being part of a friendly and positive work environment.
With her strong organisation skills, sociable personality and the knowledge gained from completing several computer, accounting and bookkeeping courses, becoming Swanky’s Office Administrator in mid-2018 was a natural move for Cherry. Cherry is excited to be learning more every day about Shopify and the world of online retail. She also feels motivated by the encouraging and enthusiastic atmosphere in the Swanky office.
As one of Swanky’s resident Designers, Sam brings years of creative experience to the table. After graduating with a degree in Graphic Design from the Cambridge School of Art, Sam went on to work for an established web design company before starting up his own company. He then chose to join Swanky in order to get back into the roots of design itself, rather than getting caught up in the details of managing his own business. Outside of the office, Sam adores motorsports and music festivals and is also a keen traveller.
After earning her Master’s degree in English Literature, Sarah began using her passion for writing by becoming a copywriter for a range of different businesses. In her role as Swanky’s SEO & Content Strategist, Sarah enjoys working with a wide variety of clients; becoming an expert in their particular niche and thinking creatively about how to reach their unique audiences in fresh, exciting ways. She also loves seeing the positive results of good content and finds watching her clients’ search rankings and website traffic rise extremely rewarding.
Whilst working as a primary school teacher, tech-savvy Jake realised that his true passion lay outside of the classroom in a much more technical role. Motivated by solving tricky problems and making processes more efficient, Jake’s role as a Swanky Project Manager sees him using a creative, methodical approach to deliver outstanding results for a variety of ecommerce clients. In his spare time, you’ll find Jake enjoying local and international rugby matches, playing cricket, or giving back to the local community as a volunteer team leader at Exeter Foodbank.
A coding-whizz, James brings years of development experience to the table. After earning a Computing degree from Plymouth University, he went on to work at South Devon College as a Web Developer. Now, as a key member of Swanky’s development team, he uses his technical expertise to create innovative and effective solutions for clients. James’ favourite thing about his role as a developer is putting code together and seeing it come to fruition on a live site. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his fiancé and two sons, and playing his guitar.
Before joining the Swanky team full-time, Hannah used her passion for writing to create unique and interesting content for some of our local clients. With a Psychology degree behind her, Hannah has always been curious as to the factors that drive consumer behaviour. Now, as Swanky’s Content Manager, she enjoys working alongside our partners to research the exciting world of ecommerce and craft engaging content for our marketing campaigns. Outside of the office, Hannah can be found captaining her local netball team or out exploring new parts of Devon.
With a Computer Science degree under her belt, Zoe brings a wealth of knowledge to her role as a Quality Assessment Web Tester at Swanky. Driven by the challenge of identifying and fixing site bugs, quality is the name of her game. She enjoys using her technical expertise to ensure our clients’ stores run as smoothly as possible, and strives to deliver exceptional results with every project. Away from the office, Zoe enjoys volunteering as a Beaver and Cub Scout Leader, practicing karate or teaching people to ski at the local dry slope.
After earning a first class Business degree from the University of Plymouth, Stephen went on to work within the crowdfunding and tech industries, with a focus on B2B marketing. At Swanky, he enjoys blending creativity with analytics to develop effective digital marketing solutions for our clients. He loves working with ambitious entrepreneurs, and thrives on seeing the positive results of his PPC and paid search campaigns. In his free time, Stephen can be found immersed in the latest video games, listening to music or testing new recipes in the kitchen.
With her background in marketing, maths and psychology, University of Exeter alumna Nichola has the perfect mix of skills for a role in Digital Product Management. As a key member of Swanky’s Tech team, she helps our clients get the most out of the Shopify platform by matching their needs to the right products and apps. Nichola enjoys refining processes and is driven by finding unique, creative solutions for problems. When she’s not in the office, you can find Nichola enjoying the great outdoors, exploring new places, or getting creative in the kitchen.
Next up, we have digital marketing enthusiast and Master of Psychology, Athena. As Data Insights Analyst, she spends her days gathering, analysing and interpreting data, as well as creating effective PPC campaigns to optimise different brands’ KPIs. Her favourite thing about her role is that she gets to test things out and ultimately make more money for our clients. Outside of the office, Athena enjoys going to the gym, hiking and sightseeing. She also plays and coaches tennis professionally. And all whilst trying to make her cat Instagram famous!
If you have a project in mind, feel free to contact us for a friendly chat.