Member Article

Major £100,000 investment at Craft Company

County Durham-based Crafter’s Companion has commenced a significant outlay into its infrastructure as the company gears up for further expansion into Europe.

The craft supplies business is to invest over £100,000 this year to improve its packing and distribution facility in Coundon to enable its expansion plans over the next five years.

The announcement comes just weeks after the company, which designs, manufactures and supplies craft-related products to enthusiasts across the world, opened its first operation on mainland Europe after it recruited two new sales executives in Holland.

Crafter’s Companion is run by award-winning entrepreneur Sara Davies who founded the company from her bedroom at university in 2005. A global star in the craft sector, she regularly features on TV channels Ideal World and Create & Craft and is the current board chair at the Craft Hobby Association UK.

She said: “We now deal with thousands of product lines on a daily basis so phase one of our investment is about doubling our warehousing space. This will allow us to improve our packing, storage and distribution operation to ensure we always have products in stock and can get them to our customers as quickly as possible.

“As a huge proportion of our revenue is generated online directly through web platforms, the second phase will see major spend on our technical systems to streamline processes and ensure they are easy to use for our loyal end customers.

“Given we have taken on many new staff over the last few months, the final phase of the investment will go on our most important asset, our people.”

Aside from online, Crafter’s Companion’s products are sold through retail outlets and TV shopping channels around the world. Earlier this year, the company added six new industry experts to form its own dedicated retail distribution division with the aim of boosting sales with trade customers.

The main focus of the business is on the crafting tools it manufactures along with its own brand products. The company also distributes an array of third party brands and develops products with licensing partners such as Beatrix Potter and the Snowman.

Its new European arm joins the company’s US facility in California and its export sales are anticipated to hit £1m this year.

For further information, visit www.crafterscompaniontrade.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jodie Balmer .