Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - September/October 2020

85 COMPANY PROFILE A friend indeed Gift supplier stalwart Joe Davies talks surviving the COVID-19 storm, and how, with service at the heart of its business, its working to support customers during the tricky times What was the inspiration behind the launch of Joe Davies? The inspiration for the business was Joe Davies himself, after returning from the First World War he found his original job no longer existed. Joe signed a distribution agreement for Parkes Hearth Furniture selling to retailers in the North of England, and the rest is history. What have been your defining moments as a company? With such a long history there have been a few defining moments. Visiting the Far East and starting to import directly from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea in the early 1980’s was revolutionary for the company. How have you overcome the challenge that COVID-19 has presented to the industry? Like many non-essential businesses, we shut down at the end of March and re- opened to support our customers as they started to trade again in May and June. Luckily many of our new collections had already shipped from the Far East and we have good stocks available. It’s super to be back up running again and great to have customers visiting the showrooms. We have implemented everything you would expect and the showroom is very spacious, making social distancing easy. Tell us about your current product offering. The current range is full of countryside themes and sentiment lines have been selling well, on everything from ceramics to photo frames and sentiment jewellery. With over 10,000 lines there really is something for every kind of retail environment and our product offer is ideal for retailers looking to consolidate supply. Have there been any positives to come out of the pandemic for the company? There is nothing positive we can say about coronavirus with regards to our company, apart from all of our staff and families have remained safe and well. Wider it’s been good to see the country rally round and show their appreciation for our NHS and see many acts of human kindness. Are you active on social media? How is this important for the business? Social media is a great way to engage with our customers, whilst as a supplier it’s not our main method of communication it is lovely to see what our customers are up to. Do you have any advice for new businesses starting out in the world of gift? Do your research for lines that you think may be right for your customer base, and try to buy commercially, not just what you like. A great place to start is to always ask your potential suppliers what their best sellers are. What can we expect in the future from Joe Davies? Service is at the heart of everything we do, and we are committed to independent retailers. We’ll be working as hard as ever to support our customers in any way we can. Our trademark ‘Little & Often’ order system has never been more important and, even with the travel restrictions to the Far East, we have not stopped developing our product range. JOE DAVIES +44 (0)161 975 6300 www.joedavies.co.uk