AN Internet business offering the facility to order greetings cards, gift wrap and other stationery, including postage stamps, from the comfort of home has been launched by graduate Caroline Nixon from Billinge.

The company, www.cardkingdom.co.uk, was set up by Caroline with the help of St Helens Chamber's new KickStart initiative and the Prince's Trust on Merseyside and offers a nationwide service that will be particularly of benefit to people with mobility difficulties.

Apart from being able to choose from a wide range of individual and high-quality greeting cards and other items, customers can also register to be reminded of special dates to eliminate the embarrassing problem of forgetting that all-important anniversary or birthday.

The website is designed to be 'user friendly' and has a strict security programme, Worldpay, to protect customers' confidentiality and credit card details.

Caroline graduated with a BA Hons in Cultural Studies from Sheffield Hallam University, where she gained a particular interest in graphic design and desktop publishing. She decided to set up the company after approaching St Helens Chamber and attending one of its Network Evenings and a seminar on starting your own business.

Already she is receiving orders from as far afield as London, Leeds, Sheffield and Norwich -- as well as locally -- and guarantees items ordered before 2pm will be dispatched the same day.

Anyone wanting to browse the site can do so by logging on to www.cardkingdom.co.uk for more information.

Although the major funding for the company came from the Prince's Trust, the grant from KickStart was particularly helpful in covering many of the last-minute costs involved in getting a business up and running.

The chamber's business start-up adviser, Steve Mather, said: "To help companies set up we are able to offer grants ranging from £500 to a maximum of £4,000 and also provide the new companies with free access to business advisers and consultants for their first two years of trading."