The Northampton couple behind a natural skincare brand are gearing up for a bumper sales period following a special visit to the Amazon fulfilment centre in Rugeley.
Holly-Anna Coulton, with the help of her partner Andy, run The Ilex Wood, a company that creates natural beauty and skin care products for all genders in a collection of herbal salves, balms and creams.
The Ilex Wood, which has been running since June 2018, was born from Holly’s lifelong love of nature. Like many people, Holly found herself purchasing beauty products with a long list of ingredients and additives and she grew tired of using obscure chemicals on her skin.
Not satisfied with the natural products already on offer, she created The Ilex Wood to help people take care of their skin in a natural way.
Demand for the company’s products soon soared and Holly decided to make her natural cosmetics available to customers locally and internationally by listing them on Amazon. Andy started using Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), where Amazon helps the business by stocking, picking, packing and shipping The Ilex Wood products to customers around the world.
FBA is a solution that enables SMEs reach more customers with benefits like fast Prime delivery and easier selling across Europe. SMEs send their products to Amazon, and the company takes care of storage, delivery to customers, customer service and returns handling.
Selling on Amazon has helped The Ilex Wood to reach customers in new markets, spurring the natural cosmetics company to increase its revenue and profits.
To see how products like theirs are fulfilled, Holly and Andy made a special visit to Amazon’s Rugeley fulfilment centre this week for a private tour of the site ahead of Amazon Prime Day. During the visit, the couple met some of the team responsible for helping small businesses like theirs to grow in the UK and across the globe.
“It’s been great to meet the team who help companies like ours grow,” said Holly. “We love making the natural creams, salves and balms and by selling our products on Amazon and using programmes like Fulfilment by Amazon, we’re afforded more time to do what we love – developing high quality natural skin care products for our customers here in the UK and around the world.”
Andy added: “Selling The Ilex Wood products online is a no-brainer. It helps us reach more customers in multiple markets and it’s something we’d encourage SMEs of all shapes and sizes to embrace as it really does help fuel growth.”
Holly and Andy’s visit to Amazon comes during the annual Prime Day sales event, which this year aims to support small businesses. This has been a challenging year for many small businesses but selling in Amazon’s stores has enabled hundreds of thousands of smaller companies around the world to sustain and even grow their businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amazon is increasing its commitment to small business by designing Prime Day to support them with its biggest small business promotion yet. This Prime Day, and throughout the festive season, Amazon will spend more than £75 million on promotional activities to help small businesses around the world increase their sales and reach new customers.
Prime members who spend £10 with select small businesses selling in Amazon’s store now through to Monday 12th October will earn £10 to spend on Prime Day.
“After a tough six months for everyone, we’re committed to making this the most successful Prime Day ever for small businesses like The Ilex Wood, and excited for members to discover the very best from artisans and entrepreneurs in the UK, whilst saving big on everything they need and love from the comfort of their homes.” Doug Gurr, Amazon UK Country Manager.
To learn more, visit: https://blog.aboutamazon.co.uk/