Making a Nest with furniture suppliers as they continue growth

FURNITURE suppliers Nest.co.uk have doubled their workforce in 18 months and are in line for further investment in jobs and facilties.

The firm has a workforce of 27 now, after expanding rapidly over and “really building momentum”, according to marketing and operations director of Nest.co.uk,Toni Sanderson.

Earlier this year, Nest.co.uk hired 6 staff and tripled its warehouse space, and its turnover for the year 2014/15 reached £3.4m.

They have exhibited at trade fairs in Milan, Stockholm, Paris, and Cologne, and the firm is set for further growth.

But the 14 year-old firm hasn’t always had a comfortable journey. Ms Sanderson said: “Recruitment is so time-consuming, we sometimes struggle with it. Some of the people that we headhunt are based in London, where many of our competitors are also located.

They have benefitted from a change in consumer trends over the past few years, as the country begins to move out of the post-recession period.

Ms Sanderson said: “I think there’s a lot more awareness around buying design, and buying furniture that lasts. We’re moving away from that “throw-away” culture, and investing things that have longevity.

“It helps that a lot more high streets have design collections, retailers like John Lewis, and this is helping educate and provide information on the use

Moving from a small showroom when Nest first started, Nest evolved with the times as managing director Christian Hawley developed the firm’s first website in 2002.

“People are getting used to, and trusting, online shopping.” said Ms Sanderson. “Our prices are high end, which gives a customer longevity in a beautiful piece, but people buy expensive clothes from sites like Net-A-Porter, and are more than happy to do so. It’s natural progression that we move to other items like furniture.

There is a sizeable trade side to the business, with more commercial businesses coming, and the teasm is focusing on big tenders at hotels and longer term projects as Nest.co.uk evolves.

“We still focus on B2C where our heart lies, and we’re still learning on the trade side of things”

Nest.co.uk is inversting a pop-up shop, a Design junction site in London. Ms Sanderson said it was a “big investment for the firm” and will help to build awareness of the brand, as a testbed for opportunities elsewhere.

The firm is also looking at looking at launching capsule collections to support new and emerging designers. “We support emerging and newly-graduated designers and many designers in Scandinavian countries because they have great ideas and products, but need boost to get to market, we can support and advise them and they help us build up product collections.”

The firm has moved four times in two years to accommodate growth, so their formula seems to be working.