 |
| Nicola and Louise, the co-founders of Thoroughly Modern Baby |
This week we are catching up with the founders of Thoroughly Modern Baby, an online baby boutique, to tell us how two lifelong friends became business partners.
Louise lives in Hackney
with her husband and daughter, Skye Daisy and Nicola lives in their home town
of Perth and has a grown-up son, Cain, who is now studying Art in Glasgow.
How does this make for an online baby business
you might ask?
Well, it started with an obsessional love for
Cuddledry's Apron towel. Lou has purchased dozens of these as newborn gifts and
as Skye started to grow, she found herself looking for more of these innovative
products that were popping up to help modern mums and babies - from the genius
ideas to the super-practical everyday items, the just-for-fun to the down right
beautiful. Lou soon realised that although there was plenty of fantastic ‘stuff’, she couldn't find
anywhere that you could buy all of these wonderful products together. One
basket, one click, one easy lunch hour transaction... or 10 minutes on the sofa
with a cuppa.
So she started researching and pulled in the
help of one of her oldest pals who, as luck would have it, just so happens to
be a digital-marketing professional… Enter Nic to the mix! The pair started planning and within one
lunch date they had a name, after a couple of dozen emails to T’Go Creative
Design they had a brand and following hundreds of hours of chat between
themselves and Anna at Atholl Road Design, they were ecstatic with the launch
of their prototype website.
All of this happened in time for their first
trip to Harrogate in March 2014.“We were so wet behind the ears. We had this
idea that suppliers would pay an admin fee to be part of our fabulous site.
That lasted about ten minutes! We were changing strategy as we walked – it was
hilarious. Thankfully, Nic and I are both used to working in industries that
change constantly and neither of us shy away from making quick decisions so we
just rolled with it!
We were focused on what we were looking to sell though and we didn’t really deviate from this. We had a vision of a beautiful website filled with innovative products that would make parents’ lives easier and baby's life happier. So it had to be clever or beautiful or both!”. The weeks that followed were immense; Nic headed to Hackney for a full-on week of copywriting, photo resizing and website uploading.
“We barely touched the sides of what needed
done. It was so labour intensive. Nic went back home to Scotland and we worked
until midnight every night for about a month. I include Anna the web developer
in that statement - she was amazing”
 |
| Louise with baby daughter Skye Daisy. |
“We’re both really pleased with everything we have on the site now; not just the products. We wanted to create an interesting platform for parents whether they’re buying products or not; it’s one of the reasons we decided to invest so much effort in our blogging section.
We’ve been thrilled at the experts who’ve agreed to chat
for us – Jo Swinson MP has talked about Shared Parental Leave; Andrea Grace,
the sleep expert, provided her top sleep tips for babies. We also invited our friend, Mrs M, to
document her pregnancy - a beautiful read!
When we realised how much parents enjoyed the ‘real
life’ stories from Lou, her husband Iain and our friends Muireann and
Louisa, we launched ‘Parent Reviews’ and that’s been another huge hit.
We’re
just so delighted that everyone seems to love the site as much as we do!”
They have just completed their second Harrogate
Nursery Fair; with almost a year under their belts they know what works and
what doesn’t. It was two confident and knowledgeable women that strode into
Hall H this year. “We were on fire! We had a list of items we knew
we wanted, an idea of gaps in our range and a real commitment to the quality
and integrity of the brand we’ve been building.
You need to be so sure with online because people can’t see or touch
before they buy; so when it hits their doorstep, they need to open the box and
be WOWed".
We know our customers trust us to have checked
every product for quality and feel-good factor - it’s important we get it
right. Thankfully we’re both super-fussy” The increase in web traffic, social engagement,
sales and blog readers isn’t the only thing to have put a smile on the faces of these old
friends this year. Lou and her husband Iain are expecting their second baby at
the start of June meaning ‘Dad-D and Skye’s Adventures’ are about to include a brand new little
character.
“People wonder how we do all this, hundreds of
miles apart and with families and other jobs to worry about. But the truth is,
regardless of where you live, what you do and how your family works, if you
believe in something you’ll find a way to do it. The feedback we’ve had on Thoroughly
Modern Baby and our product range is wonderful.
Sometimes when you’re a bit knackered and uploading pics or sorting the VAT return, an
email will ping in with a photograph of a lovely baby using our products it
makes it all worthwhile. We both love
our website and can’t wait to see what year two is going to bring.”
To receive your Thoroughly Modern Baby discount please click HERE
To browse through the gorgeous range click HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment