Nursery Today caught up with Babymoov’s UK Business Unit Director, Simon Winskill, to find out how they coped during lockdown and business moving forward.
How have you found business during lockdown?
Initially it was very tough for us, and we had a disastrous March and early April because our European warehouse was forced to shut due to the lockdown restrictions in France making any form of trade in Europe impossible for a 3 week period.
Eventually we were permitted to re-open with a smaller team and new health & safety measures introduced. Since then we have had a record breaking Q2 and our biggest trading month ever in June, both in the UK and as a group.
What has been your largest challenge?
The biggest challenge was having to adapt to new ways of working. We had two key new office team members start the week we went into lockdown so we had to quickly learn how to do training and communicate well remotely!
Are you prepared with stores now having opened their doors for supply of product? Absolutely, we are well stocked and ready to support our retail partners!
Do you envisage any stock issues on the horizon that retailers should be aware of?
No, there were some temporary delays in the spring with certain products that are manufactured in China as many factories did not re-open after CNY due to COVID-19 but the situation quickly improved.
In line with our Greener Planet measures we have also taken steps to relocate the manufacturing of many key products to Europe where possible.
How are you assisting your stockists moving forward?
Throughout June we have supported key stockists with a promotion which has had incredible results.
We are also supporting social media collaborations with competitions and we have continued with our extensive new product development plans to launch new and exciting products in the coming months.
Have you altered the way you manage your business?
Very much so, we continue to work from home where possible and are conducting team meetings via video conferencing as well as meetings with our retail stockists.
