A phone refurbishment business which is now topping £8m in online-generated revenue has made the move to open a bricks and mortar Norwich store.

Ultimo Electronics, which was founded seven years ago and is based in Vulcan Way, has made the move to satisfy demand from customers who wished to see the products before purchasing.

But in an increasingly competitive market managing director Joshua Hannan is keen for his offering to stand out - by pitching it as a higher-end operation.

He said: "Our online presence is big and we've always wanted to diversify in some way to have a physical offering. This is because we know some consumers want to see and handle the products before they buy them, and so having identified that gap in the market we were keen to cater to that need."

The shop will open on the Sweet Briar Retail Park in the coming weeks.

He added: "We originally started looking at opening a shop during summer when the situation with the virus was looking a bit better. It's an interesting time to be looking at opening a shop and in the short term it will just be click and collect.

"But this has been an aim of the business for a long time and I suspect it will only make up about a tenth of what we bring in from online business. Depending on how this store goes I can see us opening two or maybe three more this year, perhaps another in Norwich and one in Cambridge."

The business - which employs 25 people at its main base of operations - invested £40,000 into the new store which will sell recycled mobile phones, iPads and laptops.

"We want to attract the sort of customer who would buy a handset at John Lewis or Curry's and would want a refurbishment they feel like they can trust. I think we've been ahead of our competitors because we offer warranties which a lot of places don't," ahe said.

"There's a couple of reasons this sector has got so big - and I believe will continue to grow. The first is that consumers now want to be more sustainable and buy second-hand handsets, and the other is that it's so expensive now they'd rather cut the cost than pay £60 a month for the latest iPhone."