7 minute read
Green Sheep Group
Loved by parents
Nursery Today had the pleasure to catch up with the Green Sheep Group’s Operations Director, Rosie Pritchard as she celebrates 10 years with this innovative company. Here we take a look at how the business has grown from a fledgling company to become one of the leading nursery brands that has been loved by parents since 2006.
Congratulations on celebrating your tenth anniversary at Green Sheep Group, can you tell us about when you first joined the business?
Joining the team (Mark and Paul were the team), I joined people with true entrepreneurial mindsets, 1000 ideas and not enough time!
It was in my first year that SnüzPod really came to life, driving up and down the country meeting all the independent retailers. Doing this with a product no one knew they needed, I had to very quickly learn what was important to retailers, who are the experts.
We very quickly recognised the success SnüzPod was going to have with the backing of the industry. From then on, we haven’t stopped learning, investing, designing and recruiting, with an ever-growing team of 50 today. Being involved in many aspects of the business, you were the first internally promoted team member to make Directorship in 2015. Having overseen £millions in turnover growth as Commercial Director and more recently overseeing new Industry leading standards of warehousing as Operations director. What did this mean to you and what are you looking forward to in the future?
It was an incredibly proud moment being promoted to Director, I’ve been on such an incredible journey with Green Sheep Group. Over my 10 years I’ve spent time in different disciplines of the business, overseeing many different projects. No matter the department everyone in our team has the same focus and desire to drive for success which underpinned our growth.
The future looks very exciting, the vision of where we want to be in the next 10 years is clear and it sees the business going to the next level… but I can’t give away too much!
To help us achieve our goals we’ve recently strengthened our sales management team both in the UK and internationally as we continue to expand our geographical reach. We also have three very exciting new product launches that we can’t wait for the world to see.
What do you feel has been the businesses largest achievement since starting back in 2012?
premium baby nursery business. This has been our ambition and goal from the start. Now, when I read reports naming GSG as one of the most investable companies, or among the fastest growth companies within industry, it makes me stop for a second!
Taking a minute to look at the established names in the industry we now sit alongside creates a huge depth of pride and achievement. When we see both The Little Green Sheep and Snüz listed with some of the most prestigious retailers in Europe, it’s truly remarkable to see how far we have come since my first day.
Over the years, what has been your personal highlight?
Green Sheep Group’s Operations Director, Rosie Pritchard celebrates 10 years with the company.
first Harrogate Nursery Show, to experiencing Kind und Jugend… and very quickly learning the industry likes to party!
In my early days I loved doing consumer shows and meeting first hand the parents buying and engaging in our products. These moments are invaluable for helping us gain insights into the questions customers are asking and ensuring we innovate in the right direction for the future.
When we look at innovation within nursery products, which category do you feel has seen the greatest level of change in the last decade?
It has to be bedside cribs. The category changed the way babies sleep with safety at the forefront. Snüz was the first brand to bring these to the masses and its testament to the SnüzPod that it still stands strong after all these years - albeit now in its fourth generation!
Both The Little Green Sheep and Snüz are known for their quality and eco-credentials. How important is the environmental factor to you?
Customers are placing more and more importance on the environmental factor; it is now down to all businesses, not just big corporates, to have a drive to carbon net zero and doing as much as we can to reduce our impact.
The social aspect is also just as important, looking after our employees, working with local communities and charities. Everyone can implement small incentives that go a long way. One of my aims for the end of the year is to set up charitable days for all employees, allowing them a day off to commit to a local charity to make a difference to our community. This is a topic I could talk about all day.
Again, both brands are also known as leaders in the field of baby bedtime – how has this been achieved since the company first launched in 2006?
The business has always had one driving purpose at its heart - Quality for Parents. We see a lot of gimmicky
products in the market, but our key focus on quality and improving parent’s lives remains at the forefront of how we build the brands. It’s also how we work with our partners, and it’s the mindset we look for when hiring our teams.
When you have purpose driving the business, you’ll do the right things and the culture around that will only continue to help us thrive.
Has social media played a crucial role for the business to drive awareness and trust in the product ranges in the last ten years?
Social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have enabled us to connect with our customers, improve brand awareness and gain valuable insight into what our audience cares about. Over the past 10 years, Snüz and The Little Green Sheep have built a substantial following and customer loyalty that continues to grow.
We have seen the importance of actively engaging with our followers in order to build a closer relationship with them. We take pride in being transparent with our followers to not only gain their trust, but to also provide them with all the information they need so they don’t have to go searching for it.
Now this one might be tricky to answer, but do you have a personal favourite product within the product ranges?
A favourite of mine is of course the SnüzPod, as this represents one of the first new products launched after I joined the business, it almost feels like my own baby and I’ve watched both the product and the business grow up over the years, with many of our best days stemming from the launch of this vital product.
Can we expect to see more product launches from either The Little Green Sheep or Snüz on the horizon?
we truely know we have something new parents are going to love and will make a difference. We have three key new launches this summer which move us into new categories and allow for a different marketing approach.
We have just launched our innovative new pregnancy pillow, that has been developed with key health experts, from Midwives to Physiotherapists, we want to continue improving sleep for new parents and support their bodies while they go through such incredible changes.
Later this year, we have our first product launch made using 100% recycled materials. This is very exciting and continues to push us on our path to be more sustainable.
Finally, how will you be celebrating your achievements and tenth anniversary with the business?
We recently had a garden party to celebrate a successful quarter, integrate our new team members and raise a glass to the pending launches that everyone has worked so hard on. We had sunshine, marquees, live music, food and drink allowing everyone to let their hair down.
During the day Paul and Roger did a speech which was very emotional, followed by lots of embarrassing photos of me over the last 10 years!
