Looking Back & Moving Forward
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind first 7 months, busy learning so many new skills, building relationships with suppliers and customers and finding out the best processes to help the business run smoothly. When we launched our website in June 2020, we hoped, maybe, we’d get a few orders and that people would like the products we had sourced and stocked. We were so excited when we received our first order - for a picnic blanket and some tea light holders; we packed them up safely and sent them on their way.
Initially we only brought small quantities of each product and thought we would slowly sell them and be able to restock as we went along, easing ourselves into our new venture. By July we were surprised that we needed to restock many of the products and quickly! The pandemic had impacted all of our lives and much of the UK was enjoying a “staycation” which allowed us to help fill the gap for outdoor dining products and accessories. It wasn’t long before we had sold out of picnic blankets, cooler bags and the traditional picnic hamper was making a bit of a comeback!
We replenished our stock and expanded some product ranges to offer more variety; in September 2020 we launched our lunch time range. We thought that when the winter months were upon us we would be able to regroup and reflect a bit, however we were thrilled by the demand, processing many orders in the run up to Christmas; it was amazing and such a great end to the year.
We have loved discovering the products which are popular (there have been a few surprises) and pleased to say that we’ve sold some of every product we’ve launched.
We did struggle to restock a few products due to the pandemic, various lockdowns, Brexit and shipping delays but we are lucky to work with amazing UK companies, who always keep us updated and let us know the latest product launches.
We look at the latest trends, colours and forecasts to see what may be big in the months to come, although at the moment none of us truly know what the future can hold. Once we are all able to mingle again we look forward to visiting trade shows in person, we have been attending them virtually which have been extremely useful and very well organised.
Moving into 2021, we will be introducing new collections and expanding our current product ranges offering more variety. When we investigate and choose new products we are constantly assessing their quality, design, practicality and how robust they are. We know many of our items will be packed up and taken into the great outdoors, helping creating memories and being part of adventures and journeys.
We all get involved in the whole business from deciding on the next products, writing their descriptions, photographs and video content and updating our social media to packaging and sending all orders. It’s a real family effort and something that has kept us together throughout these very strange times.
We look forward to continuing our journey, ringing our little bell every time we get an order! Who knows what the year ahead will hold for any of us, we can only take each day at a time and see what happens - here’s hoping we all have a successful 2021.
Tracy, Kevin, Beth & Erin Stratton
