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Modern Retail Interview: Purple Giraffe Store

Purple Giraffe Store

Company Name: Purple Giraffe Store

Interview Contact Name and Job Title: Nicola Rees & James Hooley (Co-owners)

Website URL: www.purplegiraffestore.co.uk

Social Media Links:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Number of outlets: Online store plus eBay and Amazon shops

Location(s): Caerphilly, South Wales

Market(s): Family and pet health, fashion merchandise

Modern Retail talks to Purple Giraffe Store where you’ll be able to keep everyone in your household healthy and clothed, including your 4 legged family members! CEO Finn dog is an inspiration behind the brand’s ethos of enjoying all the good things in life (he even has his own Instagram page too! @finniusdawg).

MR: Why should people shop with you?

NR: The Purple Giraffe Store is a family run business so we strive to put you and your family (including the household pet) at the very heart of what we do, so if you’re happy we are and if you’re not we always do our best to put things right. This means we put our love, care and attention into every aspect of the customer experience and believe in good, old-fashioned customer service. This, along with the quality, natural products we feel provide the all-round customer care package and we even welcome your views when developing some of our products. For example – our clothing range is ever-expanding, but if you as a customer want a certain design, colour, size that isn’t available from us, you can just get in touch with us telling us your requirements and we’ll do our very best to try and accommodate. Our customers and their satisfaction is our main priority and we want this to show, which is why we also offer a loyalty scheme which gives a free product after every 10 purchases.

MR: How do you use technology/media/eCommerce to improve your offering?

NR: We use eCommerce to get our products available to the general public, as well as having them accessible in our eBay and Amazon stores. Social media plays a big part in our brand, especially Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where we do promotions, post about new products or lines and post pictures of our activities. Our dog Finn has even got his own Instagram which helps to promote the company as he is ‘Purple Giraffe’s CEO’. We also use Twitter to connect with like-minded companies and like to collaborate on certain projects that we are passionate about.

MR: What do you love about your work/business/brand?

NR: We love our brand because it stands for everything we love. It was born out of a love for animals and wanting to better their health, this then quickly expanded into wanting to supplement the family’s health as a whole. As a family run business, our family’s and pet’s health are extremely important and we just wanted that to be reflected in what we do. At the very heart of our business and what we stand for is our Chihuahua Finn, he was our starting block!

MR: What are your growth aims for the next 12 months?

NR: The Purple Giraffe Store growth aims for the next 12 months are mainly based on brand awareness and building a loyal customer base. So our main priority from the very start has always been to give excellent customer service and to gain positive reviews from the quality products and an end to end experience we provide. This, in turn, will hopefully keep our customers coming back to us. For the brand awareness aspect, the customer experience falls under this too and will hopefully generate a positive brand image – which is our main priority. We will also be driving forward our marketing efforts, mainly though our social media and advertising to give the brand more exposure.

MR: What advice would you give to a new retail start-up based on your experience?

NR: Be brave! If you have a vision or passion that you really want to pursue, go for it. We know things like lack of capital and not knowing what the outcome of your venture will be, can be like an unclimbable brick wall, but don’t let them stop you. We started with a very small amount of capital, and are still growing little by little. If you have that vision or passion and are willing to put in some hard work to achieve your goal, anything is possible.

 

Scurri