Gloucestershire-based thoughtful online gift company Don’t Buy Her Flowers has launched new venture DBHF Fulfilment, and they’re off to a flying start!
While retail across the UK is seeing an impact from suppressed consumer sentiment, the team at DBHF want to ensure they bolster the business by diversifying revenue, and brilliant fulfilment plays to their strengths.
Sister and brother team, founder Steph Douglas and Operational Director Chas Earley set up in Nailsworth in 2016, two years after Steph started the business which she had been fulfilling from her spare room. With a strong network of small business owners and suppliers, the pair have repeatedly heard about poor fulfilment experiences, with a lack of care and attention to detail that they see as fundamental, and absolutely critical to Don’t Buy Her Flowers’ success. They’ve also come across a number of businesses who haven’t made the leap to outsourcing their picking and packing, nervous of the cost and risk.
At the end of 2022, Steph and Chas decided to open up their warehouse and team and see if Fulfilment as a Service could be an additional revenue stream. The challenge of the previous three years really pushed their operation and gave them the skills they felt they needed to help others.
Chas said “We were extremely fortunate to have a business that boomed in Covid – our gifts were exactly what people were looking for, to connect with others when they were stuck at home – a thoughtful gift to cheer and let someone know they’re loved. We grew 600% by the end of 2020, going from around 1k orders a month to more than 6000. This was of course brilliant for us as a business but came with a huge operational challenge as we needed to scale fast. And one I’m pleased to say we absolutely rose to. We have a brilliant, hard-working team – it’s always been important to look after each other and that has built a culture we’re really proud of. As siblings, the business is personal. We also have childhood friends working with us. With nearly seven years working in Nailsworth, we have a brilliant and capable employment pool so we can scale up quickly as required to meet seasonal peaks.
“We’ve cloud based fulfilment software so we can manage other companies’ inventory and orders, and enabling them to track their orders and deliveries. We’ve two very different clients so far – one that involves careful gift wrap and great presentation, and one that is a B2B client and is about speed. We’re really excited about it, putting all we’ve learned over the years to good use supporting other SMEs and growing our business.”
Don’t Buy Her Flowers started in Steph’s spare room in 2014, initially as gifts for new mums. Each gift box is packed to order and while they offer ready-made options that the team have put together, 70% of customers opt to create a bespoke package, choosing from over 250 British products and putting together a tailor-made selection that is then beautifully gift wrapped with the message tag handwritten. There are now gifts for men and kids as well as women, for any occasion from birthday to bereavement. The business has also seen growth in B2B gifting, as companies look to engage better with employees and clients.
If you would like to speak to Chas or Steph about fulfilment, call 01453 297676 or fill out this form and they will get back to you.
DBHF Ltd, Unit 17 Nailsworth Mills Estate, Glos GL6 0BS
