From interns to income: Eric Lyons and WMG
Wednesday 6th May 2026
From interns to income: how Eric Lyons generated over £10k through digital marketing
Award-winning family butchers Eric Lyons wanted to enhance its digital marketing and social media, collaborating with WMG’s SME Group to place two interns to help boost sales in the run-up to Christmas.
Scaling digital for peak demand
Founded in the 1800s, Eric Lyons is now run by fourth and fifth generations of the Lyons family. David and his sons, Nick and Dan manage three butchery and fine foods stores and run a nationwide delivery service.
Looking to improve its marketing and social media strategy to boost festive sales, the business sought support via WMG’s Internship Programme in collaboration with Made Smarter West Midlands.
“We didn’t have a full-time website manager, but we knew we needed to provide more content for our website and social media channels, particularly with a new store opening and Christmas being on the horizon which is our busiest time of the year.”
- Nick Lyons, Director, Eric Lyons.
"We didn’t have a full-time website manager, but we knew we needed to provide more content for our website and social media channels, particularly with a new store opening and Christmas being on the horizon which is our busiest time of the year."
- Nick Lyons, Director, Eric Lyons.
Understanding the importance of quality marketing, the SME manufacturer wanted to increase its digital engagement and reach but needed support on best practices to optimise the website and create impactful content for its social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok etc.).
Jack Davis and Jasmine Agrawal from WMG’s SME Group visited Eric Lyons and created a personalised digital roadmap of Eric Lyons’ operations. They identified improvements and focus areas to help the business enhance its marketing capabilities and found that two interns, fully supported by Jack and Jasmine, would benefit the business to deliver its key digital transformation requirements.
Utilising interns’ fresh expertise to grow digital presence
Taking advantage of WMG’s unique position, bridging the gap between industry needs and fresh academic expertise, Eric Lyons partnered with WMG to recruit two customer communication strategy interns via WMG’s Internship Programme.
University of Warwick alumni, Chandrika and Kunal, joined the business in October 2025 and made an immediate impact. Nick spent the first week onboarding the interns into the business before giving them the freedom to explore new ideas to improve their website, data and social media to grow sales and increase visibility for Eric Lyons.
Under Nick’s guidance, the interns created short-form videos to boost the brand online and performed a website audit, to review and update over 300 product listings, finding outdated pricing information, which was costing the business valuable revenue.
They also introduced an AI chatbot, named ‘Grandma Pat’, named after Nick and Dan’s grandmother, with her own tone and voice, keeping the personal aspect of the family-business when communicating with customers.
"We had been looking at AI chatbots and following Kunal’s research whether to buy an off-the-shelf product or create our own, Chandrika took on the project and implemented the chatbot’s data."
- Nick Lyons, Director, Eric Lyons.
“It has been really useful in terms of passing on business critical information such as Christmas opening times at our different stores, which frees up our office staff. The interns also suggested we changed our telephone answering message with the same information at each store.” - Nick Lyons, Director, Eric Lyons.
From fresh ideas to real revenue
From working with WMG and Made Smarter West Midlands via WMG’s Internship Programme, Eric Lyons unlocked many invaluable outcomes:
- £10,500 extra revenue via a single email campaign.
- 68% of enquiries resolved by AI Chatbot, enabling staff to focus on higher-value tasks.
- Integrated marketing strategy accounted for 8% of total Christmas revenue.
- Tracked QR codes on flyers provided greater oversight of sales data.
- New social content grew the business’ online presence and audience.
- Search engine-optimised web listings increased sales and boosted interaction.
- AI-driven image creation saved expenses on professional photography which could cost £3,500-£5000 for a set of lifestyle images.
“We identified that interns would be beneficial and we helped shortlist and interview the candidates. Throughout the internship, we had regular communication with Chandrika and Kunal to ensure they were fully supported in their role.” - Jack Davis, Innovation Manager, WMG.
“Their internship has worked out really well for both the business and the interns because they gained real work experience and delivered tangible impact for the business.”- Jack Davis, Innovation Manager, WMG.
The interns generated such impressive results, that Chandrika accepted a permanent role with the business, and Kunal was offered a role through the University of Warwick.
“Chandrika and Kunal have been exceptional. They have brought new energy to this side of the business, and it has been refreshing, we have really benefited.”
- Nick Lyons, Director, Eric Lyons.
Since the project, Chandrika who is now E-commerce and Marketing Manager at Eric Lyons, has created a marketing strategy for the business for 2026 as it looks to expand into wholesale this year, building on the strong foundation the interns provided to its nationwide online sales.
“The internship has changed my thinking in terms of the impact it can bring, and everyone was really supportive. There are some great opportunities out there and something for everyone in different industries.” - Chandrika Chauhan, E-commerce and Marketing Manager, Eric Lyons.
Want to know how an intern could help boost your revenue? Get in touch with our friendly team today.