Bare Kind taps Brightpearl by Sage technology as it reports sales success for eco-friendly footwear
UK-based Bare Kind reports that sales jumped from £200,000 to £540,000 last year and are expected to hit £750,000 this year as more retailers stock its eco-friendly animal themed socks which help to support 25 conservation and rescue charities.
Founder Lucy Jeffrey, 28, who gave up a role with HSBC to start the company five years ago, says the key to sales success was the growth of wholesale and Bare Kind socks are now sold in more than 600 retailers around the world.
She comments: “We are in a mix of stores including gift shops, clothing boutiques and a massive one for us has been podiatrists - because our socks are made from bamboo they are really good for your feet.”
Jeffrey talks about sustainability and her business success on the recently launched Retales podcast from Brightpearl by Sage.
60% of sales come in November and December. The cliche about buying socks as a present for Christmas is what drives so much of the aforementioned growth.
While 55% of sales are in men’s larger sizes, most of the purchasers are women - buying up to 20 pairs as gifts.
Jeffrey says: “We are an easy gifting product - covering not just dad but friends and other relatives of both sexes and people such as a child’s teacher. We need to get more socks out in the ground to build sales outside of peak trading because we are a great impulse buy.”
Father’s Day is another big seller and Bare Kind make money out of animal themed days throughout the year such as National Otter Day in May.
Jeffrey runs the company with her partner Andy Kemp, another former HSBC employee who also quit the banking giant because he wanted to run his own business.
Bare Kind’s retailers currently are largely independents and charity shops on behalf of the animals they are supporting. But Jeffrey says she is now looking to work with some of the big retailers such as John Lewis.
She says: “You don’t think about socks being the next green thing but we can learn to be more sustainable in all aspects of our lives.”
Each pair of socks is themed on a different animal which has a dedicated charity it supports. The current best seller is the puffin socks which support Scottish Seabird Centre. Other charities supported include The Turtle Foundation, Rainforest Trust UK and Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital.
Last year, the donations from the turtle socks alone were able to build a turtle hatchery, giving thousands of baby turtles a safe place to start their lives.
Speaking on the Retales podcast, Jeffrey says that managing Bare Kind’s inventory is a ‘massive challenge’.
She comments: “We are a lean operation and we keep our costs low. The biggest challenge we have faced is stock control. With the vast majority of our sales in the build up to Christmas, we need to keep a close eye on stock so that we are not left with excess stock in January.”
“We have used stock control software to really keep a close eye on stock and make sure we don’t over order on less popular lines. We have also renegotiated our minimum order with our supplier so we are not left with too much stock in less popular lines and we have taken on a merchandiser to improve our buying.”
“We have also launched a new mystery box with eight lines which has best sellers but is also good for surplus stock.”
Jeffrey adds that Shopify is a ‘great e-commerce platform’. “Everything revolves around that and we can add different apps because there are so many integrations with Shopify.”
She also recommends Clavio for email marketing. She says that paid for ads on Google are “really hard for us to achieve attribution on, and everyone is seeing that across the industry”.
Next stop could be socks themed around reptiles and even creepy crawlies. Jeffrey states: “They have their own corner of the market. There are definitely people out there who will want them.”
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