At Brightpearl, we have the pleasure of working with and speaking to over 1,400 successful businesses. And following these conversations, we have a variety of inspiring stories that we feel we must share.
To kick things off, here are 10 retail and wholesale success stories you must read…
1. Roccbox Inspire with Incredible Crowdfunding Success
When Roccbox were ready to bring their exciting new portable stone floor oven, the Roccbox to market, the team found themselves in a difficult position.
They knew they had a fantastic product design that customers would love, but found themselves without the capital to fund the first productions of the Roccbox.
But knowing just how popular their new product would be, the team quickly decided that crowdfunding would allow them to raise the necessary funds much faster than other methods.
Using Indiegogo for their crowdfunding campaign, the team aimed to raise $100,000 in 30 days. Far exceeding expectations, this goal was hit in less than 9 hours! The team were clearly looking at a truly successful crowdfunding campaign, seeing them raise $1,000,000 by the time the 30 days were up.
Do you want to find out just why this campaign was so successful? Be sure to read their advice on crowdfunding.
2. Natural Baby Shower Become Global in Just a Few Short Years
Founded back in 2007 by Victoria and Clifton, Natural Baby Shower were originally packing orders on top of their kitchen table. Fast forward just a few short years and we now see Natural Baby Shower selling globally across a number of sales channels, including via their own warehouse, boutique, Shopify webstore and a variety of online marketplaces.
From starting with just two founders, Victoria and Clifton now have a team of over 25 passionate employees to help them fulfill customer demand for their ethically made baby products.
Over the years, Natural Baby Shower have also impressed experts in the industry, seeing them nominated for the 2011 Telegraph Independent Shop Awards and reaching the finals of the Progressive Preschool Awards in 2016 for Best Independent Nursery Retailer.
And we know the team won’t stop there!
We’re excited to see what the future holds in store for this inspiring company. To hear how the team has reached this level of growth, you should watch this inspiring video:
3. Alex Monroe Storm the Fashion Jewelry Industry
Celebrating 30 years of impressing the fashion jewelry industry last year, Alex Monroe has continued to storm the market.
Those 30 years of business has seen Alex Monroe partner with multiple prestigious clientele and companies, including: Buckingham Palace, Kew Gardens, The Victoria and Albert Museum and Disney.
Alongside this, the team are also proud to have been winners of several coveted awards, including:
- ‘Designer of the Year’ at the UK Jewelry Awards in 2008
- ‘UKFT Accessories Award Winner’ at the 2014 UK and Fashion Textiles Awards
- Shortlisted to win the ‘25th Retail Jeweller Awards’ in 2017 within the ‘Bridal Collection of the Year’ category
This incredible success has been alongside the sheer growth that the company has seen over the years. They now employ a team of over 30 staff and sell their jewelry worldwide via their London-based flagship store, website and via multiple stockists of all sizes.
But perhaps what is most inspiring of all is that the team has never once lost sight of the core value of their pieces – that they are handmade in England.
To hear more about how Alex Monroe has grown and get some advice for your own omnichannel growth, check out their story here.
4. Spikeball Has Big Plans to Build the Next Great American Sport
Spikeball, leading manufacturer, distributor and online retailer of the next great American sport has a very inspiring background.
In 2008, Chris Ruder decided to reinvigorate the game that he had missed playing so much in the 1980s. The revived game, now referred to as Spikeball, has over 350,000 players in the US and more than 1,000 nationally ranked teams competing in tournaments.
And since then, the team has been featured on Shark Tank, Esquire, ESPN 2, The Wall Street Journal and Comcast SportsNet, showing that the team has really shone in the media’s spotlight.
On the cards for the future is the plan to make Spikeball a world-renowned sport. One way the team plan on doing this is by launching a mobile app so that ‘Spikeballers’ can find each other to play with. The second is by dreaming that their game might one day become an Olympic sport.
We can’t wait to find out how the business grows from here. Want to learn more? Read all about Spikeball’s journey now.
5. The Little Green Sheep Remind Us All to Follow Our True Passions
Founded in 2006 based on a true passion for organic and natural baby products, University friends Mark Nicholls and Paul Maurice had big hopes for their new business venture: The Little Green Sheep.
Mark once told us: “We both wanted to do our own thing and do something we were passionate about. Even though we were only 22, we wanted to start our own brand and grow.”
Since following their dreams, the team has had great success in winning numerous awards, including Yeo Valley’s Best British Business of the Month Award, as well as the prestigious Mother & Baby Awards.
Paul and Mark’s story is a lesson to us all: seek your true passions in life, love what you do and achieve success!
For more inspiration, take a look at their story here.
6. DUDE Products Become the ‘Go-to’ Brand for Male Hygiene Products in the US
Originally established as a company selling branded butt wipes for men, DUDE Products has grown so successfully over the years that they are now dubbed as the ‘go-to’ brand for many male hygiene products in the US.
Not only are the team of four college friends (Sean Riley, Brian Wilkin, Jeff Klimkowsi and Ryan Meegan) impressing their target market, but they are also impressing experts throughout the industry. This has seen them receive an award in 2013 for the most innovative consumer product of the year at the Visionary Awards, as well as an appearance on Shark Tank in 2015 where they secured investment to expand the business even further.
In the 2016-2017 retail year, they stormed the male hygiene market with a 100% revenue growth rate, and we now see them selling their products via their Shopify website, on Amazon and to over 7,000 retail stores.
From here, we’re keeping poised on what further successes DUDE Products will see – we can bet they will be vast! Don’t forget to read their detailed success story here.
7. Casey’s Distributing: From Baseball Cards to Over 40,000 Different Products
Founded over 25 years ago, the original focus for sports memorabilia distributor, Casey’s Distributing, was on baseball cards.
Retailers selling their products began to ask for more and more products over the years, which led to Casey’s becoming one of the largest distributors of licensed sports memorabilia in the United States, selling over 40,000 different products.
Their product catalog now contains branded goods for all the major U.S. leagues including the NFL, NBA, NCAA, MLB, NHL and MLS, and the team work with over 2,000 retailers to sell them.
This is very impressive growth over the years and we’re delighted to be working with Casey’s Distributing in their endeavors. If you want to find out more about their journey, take a look at their customer story now.
8. Open 24 Seven Overcome Fires to Become a Multi-Million Pound Business
If pushed to think about what would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to your business, it’s likely that disasters such as fires in your warehouse would certainly be up there. We all wish that nothing of the sort could ever happen, but sadly, Lee Adams, Founder of Open 24 Seven had to endure this.
On the day of March 5, 2013, Lee received a call to advise that his new warehouse was on fire. Feeling like they had lost everything overnight, this was quite clearly one of the biggest challenges to face the business.
Yet despite this, Open 24 Seven rose from the ashes to continue to grow and become a multi-million pound omnichannel business. Lee says that the cloud-based systems he had in place at the time, like Brightpearl, helped them recover and remain calm in order to make a plan and move forward.
Take a look at the video below to find out what advice Lee has for when catastrophe hits. Or you can read more about their retail journey here.
9. Growers House Named Inc. 5000’s 20th Fastest Growing Retail Company in America After Just 5 Years
With a combined 70 years worth of experience between them, Paul Lipton and David Keith, from Growers House definitely know a thing or two about rapidly growing a business.
Starting out in 2011 with a small team, Growers House are now up to a headcount of over 35 employees and at the rate they’re growing, this number is likely to increase even further!
Within just 5 years of its inception, the company were named as Inc. 5000’s 313th fastest growing privately held company in America. And in the retail segment, they ranked as the 20th fastest growing company. Not only that, but the team also took the place of 6th fastest growing company in Arizona due to their 3-year growth rate of 1,233%!
This is a phenomenal amount of growth in just a few short years, resulting in David Keith himself once saying that his favorite thing about the company is: “The fact that we’re growing at the rate we are and we can’t keep up with ourselves. It’s a good problem to have!”
Want to learn more about how Growers House experienced this level of growth? Read more here.
10. Oaklandish: From Public Art Project to Fortune Magazine’s Inner City 100 List
Born out of a public art project in 2000, Oaklandish evolved into an apparel and retail company six years after that. The aim was to reflect Oakland’s identity while celebrating “local love and original Oakland charm.”
Since then, the team have found themselves on Fortune Magazine’s Inner City 100 list, praised for their business model “in the service of the local community or the company’s employees.”
Alongside this successful omnichannel journey, Oaklandish are growing at a rate of 25-35% per year, through a combination of brick and mortar stores, pop-up shops, mobile events, a truck, wholesale operations and a Magento website. Fortune Magazine also claim that “Oaklandish was the first company in the US to do mobile retail, transforming large campers into novel shoppers.”
And by partnering with local nonprofits and donating 10% of their proceeds to local community projects and grassroots initiatives, Oaklandish have never once lost sight of their own roots.
You can find out more about this unique business and its social responsibility in their customer story here.
We love speaking to our customers about their retail and wholesale successes. We find them all so inspiring and we hope you do too! And if you’d like to find out how Brightpearl can help you with your own business growth, get in touch with us now.
