In this month’s piece, Abi Weeds, Odylique's co-founder, discusses why she believes Christmas is a time for family, not just shopping.
I’m the very proud owner of a group of organic and natural brands that sell online. E-Commerce is the heart of what we do. Along with my incredible team, we create products that we’re proud of, all year round.
Like all businesses, Christmas is a crucial point in our retail calendar, driving large volumes of sales and ensuring we balance the books enough to see another year. Success during the festive season is pretty critical to what our subsequent year’s budgets look like, so it’s all hands to the pump..
But. From the minute my mother Margaret and I founded Essential Care, as Odylique was then known, I also knew that I wanted that sales drive to be balanced and responsible.
For me that meant:
- Not just selling as much as possible, whether it was needed or not
- Not forcing staff to work through holiday periods at the cost of their family relationships
- Not exhausting everyone so much through December that they were too exhausted to even enjoy Christmas.
That sounds dramatic, but anyone who works in retail will tell you it’s a very real prospect. The question for me has always been, how do I sustainably grow our company, with ethics and compassion front and centre?
It’s not an easy question to answer. In the 20 odd years since we founded, E-Commerce has exploded, and along with it, consumer expectations.
As marketers have pushed for more sales, Christmas Day or even Christmas Eve are now ‘prime’ commercial spots with Boxing Day sales being announced extra early to take advantage of revellers slumped on the sofa.
I know there are opportunities for us to make more money there and believe me, it’s not that I don’t want it, but when people buy those products, we often forget the challenge behind it.
It’s not as simple as going to a website, buying a few bargains and then enjoying them a few days later.
To meet that expectation, we need to have:
- Someone watching the website to make sure everything is working
- Someone watching social media and customer care emails in case help is needed
- Someone picking and packing items to ship in a reasonable timeframe
If it’s busy, that is more than one someone.
I know Amazon has trained us to expect immediacy, but as much as I’m the biggest advocate for our wonderful products, I don’t want to ask my team to give up precious family time they’ll never get back for the sake of additional sales this year.
So, I don’t.
We operate at a skeleton level between Christmas and New Year, to allow my incredibly hard working team time to play Boggle, eat turkey (or nut roast depending on their persuasion) and enjoy a break after all the phenomenal efforts they give throughout the year.
This year, we close on the 23rd, and won’t resume full action until the New Year. We will run some (fantastic!) offers (from Boxing Day only!), and if something urgent happens I will pick it up.
In the meantime, we, like you, will hopefully be enjoying our families, eating far too much chocolate and watching It’s a Wonderful Life. I rather love the Nordic tradition of Romjul, where lights, cosiness and self-care are prioritised over endless busy work.
I urge you to consider the same. It is lovely to buy nice things, and if you’re going to, please consider us, but it’s also lovely to take some time off. To reflect on the year, to breathe in some nature if the weather allows and to put down the technology.
This Christmas, for one day, maybe don’t buy anything. Instead give. Give your time, attention and focus to those in your real world. If you can’t, or if you’re alone, the wonderful Sarah Milican runs #JoinIn. It’s a Twitter chat for those who need company on Christmas Day.
Finally, thank you so much from me and the team for all your wonderful support this and every year. We’re so appreciative and wish you all the healthiest, happiest 2023.