68 A perfect partnership What sets you apart from your competitors? Our employee share-ownership makes us unique in the UK packaging sector and this shared goal to succeed seeps into every area of the business’s running. By having shares within the company, each employee has a vested interest in its growth and is thus motivated to provide an excellent service, whatever department they work in. This results in a true partnership between ourselves and all of our customers to make sure that their needs are met. How do you view the future of independent retail post-pandemic? At Kite, we have had the pleasure of supplying a plethora of new businesses who have made use of our expert knowledge to set up their packaging operations. Therefore, we have observed a lot of optimism for independent retail; lockdowns and furloughs appear to have inspired people to set up businesses or take existing shops online to meet the ecommerce audience. Now that the plentiful benefits of online commerce have gained exposure through the pandemic, even more shoppers are ecommerce converts than before. This means that the internet hosts a growing marketplace that businesses will want to meet their customers at. Are you active on social media? How is this important for the business? We actively interact with our customers on LinkedIn and Instagram. LinkedIn helps us to reach our larger industrial companies while Instagram is a varied hub of small to medium sized businesses. Naturally, we want our customers’ businesses to thrive, so we consider it a crucial part of our operation to like, comment and share their updates. An example of our collaborative approach to social media is seen with our International Women’s Day 2022 post when we spoke to four small female business owners who use our packaging. Each woman shared a few words about their business followed by a piece of advice they would give to other female entrepreneurs. This acted as shared marketing for ourselves and each of these featured businesses while simultaneously celebrating inspiring individuals. By tagging @kitepackaging or using our #PackWithKite hashtag for any relevant content, weare able to see your posts, stories and reels in order to stay closely connected with the network of businesses who love using our packaging. Do you have any advice for new businesses starting out in the world of gifts? As a packaging company, we simply urge you to take as much care when shipping your products as you do when curating your ranges! Ultimately, any beauty, functionality or other appeal your gifts may have is shattered if the items arrive broken. Breakages can be costly both in terms of replacing the physical objects and in regards to maintaining the customer satisfaction necessary for repeat sales. It’s an important thing to get right. What can we expect in the future from the company? This is a very exciting period of growth for Kite, so we will continue expanding our colour ranges of popular product lines while furthering our work to integrate ecofriendly options into every category. To facilitate our rapid progress, we will be moving into a new site this year. This sophisticated new building will house a significantly enlarged warehouse operation alongside expansive office spaces. Our creativity will be uncapped with the increased storage space for new products and enhanced ability to collaborate as a team. We can’t state any specifics, but can guarantee that Kite Packaging will continue to innovate and evolve in order to suit the developing needs of businesses across the UK. KITE PACKAGING www.kitepackaging.co.uk In the second part of our interview with Kite Packaging, Marketing Lead, Adam Summers, looks at the company’s recipe for success and shares advice to new businesses
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