Nursery product suppliers have continued to offer their support following last night’s 8pm announcement that the UK will be entering a third national Covid lockdown, which is currently expected to run for at least six weeks, until 15 February 2021.
Non-essential retail -which currently includes nursery stores, despite an active petition calling for that decision to be reconsidered – will be closed from Tuesday 5 January until at least February half term, with the possibility of an extension to those dates.
The Baby Products Association (BPA) has also made direct contact with a minister for trade and business, with a request for nursery retail to be added to the essential retailer list.
“In both Germany and Italy nursery retailers are able to remain to remain open and are classed as essential,” explained Andy Crane, BabyStyle’s managing director and chair of the BPA. “We are simply asking for the UK industry to be given the same status.”
Coming just weeks after the second lockdown ended, the news is not entirely unexpected, although British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson has gone on record to say that it will still have a ‘severe’ effect on many retail businesses, following the news that 178,000 retail jobs were lost in 2020.
“Retailers have been playing their part to make stores safe, spending hundreds of millions of pounds on coronavirus safety measures, including implementing social distancing measures and increased cleaning procedures,” she commented. “Retailers want to trade their way to recovery but if they are forced to close then further financial support will be needed or many businesses will go bust and thousands of viable jobs will be lost.“
Many toy, nursery and preschool companies have been quick to ensure that retailers will be able to continue serving their customers either online or in other capacities (such as click-and-collect), offering a free drop-shipping service, which will deliver product direct to consumers.
The move allows retailers with the capacity to operate from a digital or other non-physical platfor to continue to take orders for toy, gift or nursery product, with suppliers sending product out directly to consumers via courier.
Preschool suppliers which are offering this service include:
ABC Design, Baby Jogger, BabyStyle, Bébécar UK, Bizzi Growin’, Bozz, BundleBean, Clever Clogs, Cocoon, Concord, Cosatto, Emmaljunga, Fur Coat No Nappies, Gaia Baby, Happy Mummy, Hauck, Jané, JUNIORJONES, Mee-go, MerryGoRound, Muslinz, Noordi, Roma Prams, Silver Cross, Tidy Books and Vennici.
As one of the suppliers offering a drop-ship service, BabyStyle’s Andy was also quick to highlight other services the brand is offering at the moment. “As you can imagine, we are doing everything we can to support our nursery retailers during this really difficult time. We are also investing in more explainer videos to enable parents to be able to get information and virtual demonstrations of our products.”
Mee-go and Emmaljunga are also offering free drop shipping in support of all their retailers and consumers, as managing director Paul Roberts explained. “We are trying our best to keep stock moving as much as possible, wherever possible. We have invested in stock so have lines readily available in the UK.”
“Emmaljunga is produced and sourced in Sweden so stock is available,” he continued. “Products from the Far East will see longer delivery times as freight prices have increased dramatically, but we are working tirelessly to make sure we can deliver the services and goods from our award-winning brands.”
Fiona Suffield, country manager UK and Ireland for ABC Design, also commented on the situation, saying: “It is so important for us as a brand to support retailers in this third lockdown. We worked closely with all of our retailers in the last two and offered the dropship option free of charge then also. It is so difficult for everyone in the industry to promote and sell their products in times like this and I feel if we pull together and offer this support it encourages the retailers to also keep on going. Something I am sure is hard when you get knock back after knock back. This isn’t just about offering an extra service free of charge, it is about being there for one another in the bad as well as the good times.”
“It’s a challenging time indeed for all retailers!” added Donna McCullough from Johnston Prams. “At JANE UK, soon to be Johnston Prams (the name change is due to many new brands coming onboard) we are, as ever, happy to take orders and facilitate drop ship! For more information, or to find out more about our new brands, get in touch.”
“Here at Venicci our main goal is to support our independents through these challenging times,” stated UK director Tomasz Janik. “We all now need to move out of our comfort zones and stretch ourselves as best as possible. Lockdown is extremely tough for everyone personally and work wise, why would we not support you?”
He continued: “We want your sales to increase and maintain your reputation of good customer service, so we have listened to your feedback, frustrations and we have delivered. We will be offering FOC drop shipping to all our existing and new independents from now until 15 February. We have also invested in three regional sales managers who will continue adapting their roles to support all independents to the best of their abilities. So we are keeping positive to ensure we can react quickly and remain effective during the Baby Boom in 2021!”
Caroline Taylor, ceo of Merrygoround UK also commented, saying: “We are aiming to continue stocking our retailers who have adapted to online sales and will aid any retailer who does not have this facility with drop shipping. I feel that due to previous lock downs many retailers have adapted well to keep their businesses going.”
If you would like to be added to this list, please contact the PreschoolNews.net team here.
