Picture the scene: December 2010, snow has fallen, roads are icy and all over the country little children are worrying if Father Christmas and his reindeer will be able to battle through the snow showers to deliver all the presents on Christmas Eve. Far away from the North Pole, in Devon to be precise, two friends and business partners are working away on a new business that seems a long way from coming to fruition.
Fast forward to December 2011 and the same two friends are exhausted but contented as the Christmas break is almost upon us. Earlier this year we launched WoodenToyShop.co.uk and within eight months we have gone from fledgling online store to seasoned online retailers sending parcels full of toys to all corners of the United Kingdom. Well, nearly.
This time last year we were trawling through dozens of catalogues and supplier websites in order to put together a comprehensive and (most importantly) attractive range of wooden toys to unleash on the British online consumer. This particular part of our business preparation was not a chore; it was more of a trip down memory lane as we all of a sudden came across toys that we had completely forgotten about. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a baby walker with wooden blocks which took me back to my little sister pushing her walker through our lounge and plonking herself down as she sorted through the coloured blocks. I also looked at the Melissa and Doug Pound a Peg with a certain amount of relish...what was remarkable to me was how similar these wooden toys were to the ones we played with in the 1970s. In fact a good number of our toys will be familiar to our parents who were young whippersnappers in the 1940s and 50s.
Well, that was the fun bit. As much as we enjoyed leafing through catalogues and browsing trade websites, finding the words to describe over 600 wooden toys in a fresh and witty manner was not so easy. We certainly got to know our stock during this exercise, but those long and dark days in February didn’t half drag!
As winter ebbed away and the first signs of spring were beginning to show in the garden, we laboured long into many nights on the ‘look and feel’ of the site. We were determined to design a site that was simple to use and very easy on the eye. We hope our customers find our site attractive and clear – our testers were pretty satisfied in the end! – but we are forever discussing how to make things better and this particular part of our business will always be a work in progress.
When we finally launched WoodenToyShop at the very end of March, we simply didn’t know what to expect. We wondered how soon people would find our site and how many of those that did would like it enough to buy some of our toys. Well, we needn’t have worried. Over the last few months thousands of people have ‘popped in’ to WoodenToyShop and have ordered toys for their children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces and for their friends’ children. We love working on WoodenToyShop because our business is associated with bringing joy to little children. It really does give us a warm glow when customers ring or email to let us know how much their presents have been appreciated. We relish our conversations – many of them silly, all of them fun – with our Facebook friends and like to keep up to date with our followers on Twitter. If you haven’t had a chance to visit our Facebook page, make sure you do soon. We’re always running daft competitions with fantastic prizes which would delight the little ones in your life.
Christmas 2011 is nearly with us and we’re looking forward to putting our feet up for a few days before we get back to our desks and await the next wave of WoodenToyShoppers who are looking for a present that will last, will be loved and will linger long in the memory of all of the family.
Happy Christmas to all our friends from Rob and Jon at WoodenToyShop.
