Our History

Scotweb’s History

Scotweb Limited was founded in April 1995. Our aim from the start was to specialise in bringing the world the very best of Scottish goods and services over the web (even though hardly anyone knew about it yet!)

The Early Years

Scotweb was the first Scottish web company to register an SSL certificate to provide secure e-commerce services. We recognised the value of dependable and secure services not only long before online security became a widespread concern, but long before most people had even heard of the internet! We feel this shows how seriously we take such issues.

We also proudly boast to having been the first company in the world to put a full consumer book online simultaneously with its ‘hard copy’ publication. In 1996 we launched the Malt Whisky File as a fully searchable online guide to whiskies, in association with Canongate Books. This drove thousands of sales and proved our belief that online Content is King, long before that adage was coined.

By the turn of the Millennium the Scotweb network was one of the world’s leading Scottish resources, comprised of dozens of specialist sites offering information and services related to whisky, clan information, food and drink, language, literature, our famous Tartan Pages index to Scotland, and much more.

Our Annus Miserabilis

But 2001 was a disaster! The combined impact of the dot.com crash undermining consumer and business confidence; the Foot & Mouth disease epidemic in England hitting Scottish tourism hard; and finally 9/11 in the US meant Scotweb Limited’s income slumped dramatically.

The operating company had to close and, without our old staff, the huge archive of free information could no longer be maintained. But we could not let down the dozens of busineses whose sites we had built, many of whom now depended on us for their livelihoods. So, from the ashes was born Scotweb Marketing Ltd.

Reborn and Forward to the Future

Since 2001 Scotweb has focused exclusively on our expertise in developing highly effective secure e-commerce sites both with our partners and also, more recently, for our own direct retailing operations. Scotweb Store now forms the backbone of our activity. We work in uniquely close relationships with our suppliers, so our success is entwined with theirs.

Like many web pioneers our history has been turbulent and there have been times that we have been glad simply to have survived (unlike most of our peers). But in the process we have gained experience we believe is second to none in what really works online. So building on this track record, the future looks promising. If you’d like to share in our story, please get in touch.

Get In Touch!

Please contact us with any questions.