Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - July/August 2020

81 QUARANTINE STORIES THREE BOYS ROCK, WWW.THREEBOYSROCK.COM Online retailer Three Boys Rocks Founder Polly says now is the time for businesses to engage with customers to reap future rewards. Can you tell us a bit about your company? I started Three Boys Rock in late 2014 with the aim of offering a single site to find original and fun gifts, games and gadgets for ages 7 to 14. So, whether you’re looking for something for a sporty, techy, creative or other kind of kid, we aim to have the perfect solution for this awkward age group! How are you finding lockdown? Sales are up on last year generally. We are offering free gift wrapping, which has been really popular as so many people can’t be with nephews and nieces, godchildren and family friends for their birthdays. Lots of customers are also sending wrapped gifts just to say “hello!” Parents have been buying more games and science kits to occupy the children while they are at home. We also have a number of mindfulness and positive affirmation products that have been popular. What are your business plans during and after COVID-19? I am setting up a website for 40 other independent online retailers that I know from the charity fair circuit. We are hosting a summer festival of fabulousness in June and have already lined up a three-month Christmas event. The websites are being built at the moment – the summer one is called www. onlinesummerfair.com or @onlinesummerfair on Instagram and Facebook.I have done a lot of work on SEO and CRO to ensure I maximise online sales as I’m not sure how many face-to-face events will happen in 2020. What are you most looking forward to when life returns to normal? Seeing my mum, my sister and my friends! Do you have a top tip on how businesses can weather this temporary storm? Work hard at exploring all avenues for developing your business differently – the general population has more free time than normal and are surfing the internet. This is a great time to flag your business to them and gather email and contact details for sales now and into the future. CHOCOLATE GENIE, WWW.CHOCOLATEGENIE.CO.UK Gift company Chocolate Genie offers a realistic view of the struggles of lockdown, however, while still creating orders for Christmas gifting, there is an air of positivity. Can you tell us a bit about your company? We specialise in handmade Belgian chocolate novelties for the gift market. We aim to be quirky, fun and make people smile where possible. We can achieve that through our in-house design team, which is responsible for the ideas and creating the moulds. How are you finding lockdown? It was fun to start off with because of the weather. We were therefore able to catch up on all those jobs at home. However, we’ve nearly done that now, so it’s becoming tedious with nothing to look forward to in the way of events to attend at present. However, it’s not all doom and gloom as we picked up an enquiry from our local NHS Trust asking if we could develop the NHS Rainbow into a chocolate gift, for them to send out. So, we’ve been working on that and hope they love our ideas. What are your business plans during and after lockdown? As we make chocolate gifts, at this time of the year we are planning a range of products for Christmas, so that is as normal. As we supply into retail outlets nationwide we will be attending Spring Fair in January in order to meet our present customers and to find new ones. The team at Spring Fair tells me that its customers still find these events highly valuable as they love to meet the people behind the products. What are you looking forward to once life returns to normal? Everything – just having our freedom back to do what we want when we want. Do you have a top tip for businesses weathering this temporary storm? You’ve just got to keep going and believe it will pass. It’s truly difficult and I am struggling on occasions, but you’ve just got to take each day as it comes and value the time. You can’t press the “back button” on life, so don’t waste the present!