Preschool suppliers have been quick to offer their support following last Saturday’s announcement that the UK will be entering a second national Covid lockdown, for at least four weeks.
Non-essential retail (which currently includes nursery stores, despite an exemption for baby supplies during the recent two-week Welsh firebreak lockdown) will be closing from Thursday 5 November until at least Wednesday 2 December, with the possibility of an extension to those dates.
This second lockdown comes as retail gears up for its busiest time of the year, as consumers begin looking forward to and preparing for Christmas, a sentiment echoed by British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson.
“[The lockdown] will cause untold damage to the high street in the run up to Christmas, cost countless jobs, and permanently set back the recovery of the wider economy with only a minimal effect on the transmission of the virus,” she said, pointing out that retailers have already spent hundreds of millions of pounds making their stores Covid-safe.
“The announced closure will have a significant economic impact on the viability of thousands of shops and hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country,” she continued. “The previous lockdown cost non-essential shops £1.6 billion a week in lost sales; now that we are entering the all-important Christmas shopping period, these losses are certain to be much bigger.”
Following on from the impressive level of help offered by toy, nursery and preschool suppliers during the first national lockdown earlier this year, many companies have been quick to ensure that retailers looking to continue offering their services online or in other capacities (such as click-and-collect) will be able to take advantage of a free drop-shipping service, delivering product direct to consumers.
The move allows retailers with the capacity to operate from a digital platform 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, Jané, JUNIORJONES, Mee-go, MerryGoRound, Muslinz, Noordi, Roma Prams, Silver Cross, and Tidy Books.
“Entering a second lockdown is very sad for so many but it needs to be done,” commented Emma Charlesworth, director at Roma Prams. “We are every lucky, as our warehouse will still be running and we can offer drop ship, so our stockists and customers will not lose out. We do close our showroom, for the protection of our team and customers, but I do think there are some baby products that should be listed as ‘essential items’ – such as car seats. We hope everyone stays safe!”
Caroline Taylor is the managing director at Merrygoround UK, and is also aiming to continue through lockdown with measures in place to keep the team safe in both offices and warehouses.
“As a manufacturer and wholesaler we are very fortunate that we run our own warehouse in rural Oxfordshire,” she explained. “We want to support retailers that do not have the option to continue through lockdown. It is a blow to the industry as most retailers had only just got back to trading again. We will do all we can to help through lockdown so we can all come back stronger in 2021.”
Fiona Suffield, country manager UK and Ireland for ABC Design, also commented on the situation, saying: “My aim with ABC Design is to give our customers full support and help at all times. During testing times like the second lockdown this is even more important. I will be available 100% for everyone, and offering the drop-shipping service I think really does help stores of all sizes to maintain a great service. We are all in this together and they support me with sales and I support them back.”
If you would like to be added to the drop-shipping list, please contact the PreschoolNews.net team here.
