Well, where do we start. 2016 has been an extremely busy and an exciting time for Direct2U. The last 12 months have gone in a blink of an eye, so enjoy this post as we look back on this eventful year.
This year’s first challenge…
We started the year by taking on a new challenge. Many of you had been for product catalogue and unfortunately, we didn’t have anything to hand, being solely a web based company for so many years. But you asked and we listened. We began in the early months to create our first ever Direct2U product catalogue.
And we hope that you are as pleased with the results as we are. You can now browse all our best selling products in one place. Once you’re ready call our friendly Sales Team or place your order online. We’ll be starting off the New Year by producing our second catalogue, which will hopefully be hitting your desks by spring. Here we are at our catalogue launch party…
The year was to bring uncertainty…
In Spring the Marketing Department grew a little, as we took on Barbara on an internship whilst she was in her final year at university. With Barbara’s help we we’re able to bring our next website to life: Shelving Direct2U. This website is totally dedicated to your storage needs from smaller bays of garage shelving to pallet racking and much more.
As we moved into summer the ‘B’ word loomed over us all. What would Brexit mean for us? Like everyone, we were concerned for our family and our business. But we have good news, unlike the news reports, business has been going from strength to strength. So, at Direct2U we saw off Brexit with another new website: Matting Direct2U. We decided to create a dedicated website just for our matting product offering. As always, we want our customer’s to be able to browse our products easily without distractions. So, you will be able to find the right product for the job quickly. We hope that you’ve found it useful and you like it as much as us!
Soon our attention was to be elsewhere. As our Marketing Manager Greg Higgitt tied the knot this summer. So, in true Direct2U style, we gave him a send-off that he couldn’t forget. And yes, we did clean up all the mess (but it was certainly worth it).
This year we’ve been working to raise money for our chosen charity Promise Dreams along with some others…
In September, a group from Direct2U decided to take on the Coast 2 Coast challenge for our chosen charity Promise Dreams and another charity close to our hearts 4Louis. The group consisted of our Managing Director Neil Higgitt, Sales Director Peter Hargreaves, Greg Higgitt, Paul Mainprice and Charlie Hargreaves. They raised £1500 for Promise Dreams and over £3500 for 4Louis!! Which, I think we all would agree, is an amazing amount of money for both charities. The money raised will go towards making very special memories for lots of families in the UK. Thank you for your support and well done guys!
We ended September with lots of CAKE! This year we held our first ever Macmillian coffee morning in the canteen. It was a great success. And the group raised £425 as a whole! Everyone bought in homemade cakes, we even had a locker and a golf course! What better way is there to raise money than enjoying a cup of coffee and a piece of cake with friends.
As the year came to a close we thought we needed one last challenge…
With the summer over and everyone back from holidays it was time to start planning for autumn and winter. And we hope we haven’t let you down! In the autumn came our launch of the revamped Euroslide Drawer Cabinets. This was a very exciting time for us. The Euroslide range has been a great success and we have had many customers say how pleased they are with the quality, and how it has changed how productive they are in their workplace. If you haven’t had chance to take a look at the range yet, download our Euroslide brochure here.
This wasn’t the only thing to be revamped… In November, the Marketing Department made the move into their new shiny office – which is very comfortable by the way! We now have plenty of room for our growing department. We’re all loving our height adjustable desks and enjoying sitting and standing, as well as our executive lockers and flat screen TV for our analytics. All we’re missing now if the office fish (perhaps we might get a belated Christmas presents!).
And finally, our talented Web Developer made all our dreams come true. Even if it’s not meant to be for us, our Winter Essentials website has had snow! This was a fantastic way to start the Christmas season. If you haven’t had change to see it yet, why not take a look at our website here. It won’t disappoint you!
So, here’s our Year in a Nutshell…
- No. new team members: 2
- No. weddings: 1
- No. charity cycle rides: 1
- No. cakes eaten: too many to even begin counting
- No. Jaffa cakes eaten: 1000+ (thanks Steve)
- No. cups of teas / coffees: 15,000+ (WOW!)
Well what a year. We hope that 2017 for Direct2U will be just as busy and successful.
It will certainly be a busy time for some of the team next year. We will see two more weddings in the Summer and Leah from the Marketing Department will be embarking on her next adventure to climb Everest base camp.
Now for the important bit.
Our offices will be closing for the Christmas period. We will be closing on Friday 23rd December at 12:30pm and we will re-open for business in the New Year on Tuesday 3rd January 2017 at 8:30am.
If you can’t wait until then, you will still be able to place orders through our website during this time. However, please bear in mind that any orders that we do receive will not be processed until our return on the 3rd January and deliveries will commence Wednesday 4th / Thursday 5th January 2017.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
the Direct2U family