A giftware supplier is using an innovative approach to help customers view its products online.

Sting in the Tail, based on the Bardsea Business Park, manufactures and supplies giftware to trade customers in the UK and beyond.

It also owns a shop, Squirrel, on Market Street, in Ulverston.

The business usually attracts large amounts of wholesale business by attending trade shows such as the Home and Gift Buyers Festival, in Harrogate, or the Autumn Fair at Birmingham's NEC.

However, as Covid-19 has seen events cancelled, the business used Furness 360 Media - also in Ulverston - to create a virtual trade stall.

Photographer John Karl Hannah, of Furness 360 Media, used a computer programme to take multiple pictures which were then stitched together to form an immersive 3D picture.

Sting in the Tail has used the image to allow customers to view its products laid out on display and then zoom in to look at them in more detail. Customers can be guided through the process by a member of its team.

Owner Katie Holmes said: "We can walk them around the stand on a video call and then take them through an order."

She said the approach was much more interactive than an online catalogue.

"We find we really need to talk to our customers," she said.

"I think people are being bombarded by emails from suppliers and it gives people an extra nudge to have a look at our products."

John, who has also made 360 images for firms such as Stollers Furniture World, in Barrow, believed the technique could be useful to lots of businesses.

"I could see a lot of them using it, especially due to the lockdown," he said.