In Conversation With: Kidcentral

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Julie Ann Mclean and Nicola Barnett first launched their business as a consumer website, selling products they loved, in 2014. Since then the company has evolved hugely and Kidcentral is now becoming a key distributor in the preschool space. PPS sits down with Nicola to find out how it all happened and what’s next.

Inset: Zoocchini was one of the first brands distributed by the company.

Seven years ago, Nicola and Julie Ann were living across the road from each other, both busy mums to young children, running their online retail business. But before long, they took on their first brand as a distributor – Aloka night lights – which ignited the diversification of their business.

Nicola explains: “We decided after taking on Aloka that we needed to find a few more brands to distribute. So then we found 3 Sprouts and the person who was manufacturing it, also manufactured Zoocchini, Lulujo and Juddlies. We said we really liked 3 Sprouts, can we bring it to the UK? And he said ‘yes that’s fine, but you need to take on my three other brands’.

“Then we had Bobo Buddies of Dragon’s Den fame. We were good friends with James Roupell, the owner and he was going through a torrid time and asked us to distribute for him. So we took that on too.”

So in quick succession, the company had evolved from retailing products, to taking on six brands for distribution. Some time later, due to a change in manufacturing, the duo lost the distribution for 3 Sprouts, but the Canadian owners of the three other brands kept them on and came to meet them.

Nicola remembers quickly setting up an office in Julie Ann’s house and bringing in friends to pose as team members in a bid to appear more credible. It obviously worked as the company asked Julie and Nicola to go into business with them. Unfortunately it wasn’t the right time for them to join with Kidcentral, but they continued to distribute the brands in the UK and work closely with the Canadian business. A few years later they decided to take Kidcentral up on the offer. Nicola explains: “It felt like a good time. The business was growing. We were distributing Fabelab as well, which is a Scandinavian brand, and when you’re a distributor, it requires a huge amount of cash investment to keep stock in place of so many lines. So Julie and I felt it was the right time to go into business with them.”

Above: Scandi is one of the key trends Kidcentral is seeing for the preschool market. Above right: The Moonie night light is ideal for the preschool industry and makes up part of a ‘compelling range’. Right: Ergopouch is one of the newest brands in the portfolio and stock of the key lines sold out quickly.

And Kidcentral UK was born. While the original company has merged, its foundations remain the same and its philosophy is very much aligned with its Canadian counterparts, which has been clear throughout the pandemic. Nicola looks back at the past year of business: “Lots of our customers were online customers anyway, so we were just checking in with them – are you okay? Can we help you? Do you need any stock? Do you want some new ideas?

“We just tried to make it really simple for people to buy, which was our ethos and was the same as the Kidcentral ethos. It’s about giving people great customer service and the opportunity to make it easy so you can order whatever you want. There’s no minimum orders particularly, we just ask you to pay £10 if you order under £250, but you order what you like. If it works, order more, if it doesn’t in six months, send it back and we’ll replace it with something that does.”

This approach clearly works, as the Kidcentral UK business is now distributing 14 brands to 350 retailers, largely made up of indies, but also comprising big names like Liberty, Kidly, JoJo Maman Bébé and Wayfair.

Kidcentral’s goals for the coming year are to continue to grow its customer base of independent retailers, expand its five-strong team and to welcome new brands to the portfolio. Nicola explains: “We’re always interested to see new brands. We’ve just taken on Kabode, a new nursery line, which is based in the UK. If anybody has a new idea and they want to

INSTA READY

get it to market and they're looking for a distributor, we'd love to hear from them.”

And nursery is now a key focus for the team. Many of their current customers are gift or concept stores, but: “Now we’ve got a compelling offering for the nursery industry. We’ve got the Moonie nightlight, Ergopouch, some beautiful newborn Fabelab products and the

Doddle and co soother, so we really need to get into the nursery market now, we’re ready to go with a really good offering for nursery clients.”

The company has not been without its struggles over the past year. Stock levels have been difficult to regulate with factory closures during the pandemic, but it’s clear they work hard to keep their retailers and their brands happy and provide a great service.

Inset: Toys like these, from Fabelab’s newborn range, are selling very well.

Marketing with a small team is a difficult task, but Kidcentral UK has found that Instagram is a great tool to promote both its brands and its customers.

Nicola enthuses: “Instagram is almost like a bit of a gift to our retailers. We like to go on and we like to see what they’re doing, thank them, engage with them, share some of the brands. We try to do as much as we can to support the retailers and by being active on Instagram is helping them. Brands like to see it, too, it’s like a circle of life.

“I suppose we are new kids on the block in terms of distribution, so we’re trying to make sure we are down with the kids.”