7 minute read
Phil Atherton, commercial director of Enesco, discusses products, plans and projections for the giftware company
What’s your background?
I started in the drinks trade in a very junior sales role (calling on the tiny customers throughout the UK that the reps didn’t feel were important enough for them to call on), moving through to lead national accounts teams looking after the grocery trade.
After 10 years in the drinks industry, I moved to textiles for 13 years as a sales and marketing director, followed by eight years in ceramics as the group sales and marketing director with a global remit and a seat on the plc board. I made the move to Enesco nearly two-and-a-half years ago. independent shops, and online retailers in UK and European markets, as well as South Africa, Russia, The Middle East and Australasia.
We currently have 124 members of staff, many of whom are now home workers, after we successfully managed a hybrid model of home- and office-based staff during Covid.
What is your company ethos?
We are focused on bringing joy every day to consumers through developing, manufacturing and distributing high-quality giftware. We work hard and believe in celebrating our successes as a team.
Tell us about Enesco.
Established over 25 years ago, Enesco Limited is based in Carlisle and is a part of a worldwide group, with headquarters in the US town of Itasca in Illinois.
Serving more than 3,000 customers from our warehouse in Carlisle, we manufacture and distribute giftware to a wide variety of specialty card and gift retailers, home décor Describe your range.
We are all about branded giftware. Everything we sell is exclusive to Enesco, with the majority being licensed. Our collection includes many very unique artist collaborations.
For example, world-renowned Heartwood Creek artist Jim Shore has just launched a brand-new Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory collection. This sits alongside his Disney, Peanuts, Beatrix Potter, Looney Tunes, Wizard of Oz and Grinch offering. Jim is such a talented artist - he can bring his own unique charm to anything.
Willow Tree really is a once-in-a-lifetime gift collection; we feel so fortunate to have this in our line and to work with artist Susan Lordi and her family. The collection continues to grow globally with the best-selling items having been in the collection for 22 years.
After over 30 years as a Beatrix Potter licensor, we continue to develop award-winning product. Our brand-new soft toy and home collections both won awards in 2022 and the soft toys are also shortlisted in the 2023 Gift of The Year Awards - we are thrilled.
For this year, we have a brand-new signing. Etta Vee is a global collection, designed collaboratively with our US team. We will also be showing our complete Scion Living Collection at the Spring Fair. Baby, Pet, and Home collections will all be on show.
Many of our licences are artist-driven, and we are delighted to welcome both Lolita - the icon behind the Lolita Glasses Collection - and Michelle Allen, who founded Allen Designs (which was acquired by Enesco in 2021), to Spring Fair. We believe it’s so important for our retailers to be able to tell the brand stories when they sell our product. What better way than meeting the artist in person?
What’s the inspiration for your products?
We are inspired every day. We watch trends closely and work with the best vendors, so we have access to new materials, formats, and designs daily.
It’s our mission to reduce our carbon footprint, and that is a huge part of our thought process when designing new product. Even small changes to the packaging make a difference.
Working with such a huge portfolio of talent allows us to work collaboratively. Having global ‘blue sky sessions’ regularly results in product that works in many geographies but also allows us to develop products locally for specific licences and products.
Who is your core customer base?
Independent retailers. These include gift shops, garden centres, homeware shops, department stores, novelty stores, museums, and visitor attractions. We do also supply many of the major retailers, mainly in strong brick-and-mortar markets, such as jewellers, garden centres, and the pharmacy chain Boots.
What sets you apart from your competitors?
We like to listen to the consumer before we launch into a new category. This helps us understand how we should position the brands, what functionality the product requires, and what the USPs [Unique Selling Points] are. We can then use the research outputs in our selling tools to the trade. Our sales team has strong relationships and is continually feeding back customer changes/new requirements internally.
We also believe in a strong customer service capability, and our teams are dedicated to supporting trade customers and working with them to continually improve our offer.
Our customer service team has very good relationships with all our customers, and works tirelessly to make sure customers are supported as much as possible.
Our service is second to none and our delivery capability is good with high service levels to the trade, giving them the confidence to work with Enesco and build their business with us. Retailers can order products through our
B2B site, directly with the business, or contact one of our salespeople who will be happy to arrange a visit to meet with them.
Will you be exhibiting at any trade shows this year?
This month we will be exhibiting at Spring Fair in Birmingham (Hall 4, Stand C61 & C60/ D61), Ambiente in Frankfurt (Hall 6.2, Stand B10), and INDX Homewares at Cranmore Park in the West Midlands.
Other shows we will be at this year include Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival in Harrogate in July, and ShowUP in The Netherlands and Kind + Jugend in Cologne - which are both in September.
How are you finding the current trading climate?
It’s tough out there, and consumers are focused on the cost-of-living crisis and impending utility rises that will hit us again in April. I think 2023 will be a very tough year once again, and we are doing all we can to support our customers through these difficult times.
How do you see the gift industry shaping up over the next five years?
We’ve had a challenging five years in the industry and I suspect the next five will throw just as many challenges at the trade. I believe that strong brands and strongly managed businesses will continue to survive and, in many cases, thrive.
Retail stores will still play an important part of our futures as gift-giving is very personal, and people like the tactile element of gifting.
Online will remain as a major route to market and to helping customers filter down their choice of gift. However, I think that the current model of 3pl [third party logistics] and the price fighting that it creates will not continue too far into the future, as it’s clearly a brand destroyer rather than a brand builder.
While there will be challenges, there will also be opportunities for companies that are prepared to remain flexible and are able to pivot to new ideas and ways of working.
What do you think is the biggest myth about the gift industry - and what’s the reality?
That consumers will stop buying gifts in a recession. People will always continue to buy gifts - for birthdays, weddings, new babies… However, what they buy might change. We focus on quality, thoughtful and well-priced product to suit the economic climate.
What’s been your proudest business moment?
Seeing members of the team develop and evolve into leaders and grow with the business through their own efforts and learning.
We believe in internal development at Enesco, and there are many examples of people throughout the business that have progressed and developed, making real changes to their lives and to the success of Enesco as a business. Whenever I see this under my watch, I feel very proud and happy to have been a small part of that person’s success.
