Life Behind The Box – News & Exciting Times
13th May 2022Posted by Alice Ewens on 13th May 2022
Things have been pretty hectic behind the scenes around here, as the Furniturebox family and brand grows, so we thought it was high time for a bit of an update.
A new HQ and state-of-the-art warehouse, winning awards, presenting at trade shows, big days out, making headlines... it's all go round here.
Jump to:
- Our New HQ & Warehouse
- Winning Business of the Year at the Wiltshire Life Awards
- Out & About - The January Furniture & Grand Designs Shows
- Presenting at IRX
- Fastest Growing Company in the South West - Brightpearl Lightning 50
- Making the European Forbes 30 Under 30 2022 list
Furniturebox Is Moving House - Our New HQ & Warehouse
We're gearing up to move into our shiny, state-of-the art Warehouse and new headquarters at St. Modwen Park, Chippenham. We've been working closely with St. Modwen Logistics, who've been handling the build, to get everything shipshape and ready to house the majority of our stock.
The new warehouse and offices sit on an 88,000 square metre plot, and will be 15m tall, giving us room to grow and expand our product line. It also means we'll be able to keep more lines in stock and available for customers, and offer a later cut off from 1pm to 8pm for next day delivery.
State Of The Art
Our new HQ will also be a step forward for our sustainability goals, with plans to cover the whole roof in solar panels, 9 electric car charging points, staff sustainable travel initiatives including signing up to the Government's cycle to work scheme, and reduced impact on the public from our courier vehicles due to the site's close proximity to Junction 17 of the M4.
Furniturebox's Head of Ecommerce, James Ewens, says:
"Our unit at St. Modwen Park has been purpose-built for us. We came up with the concept for our innovative 5-floor pick tower ourselves to massively increase efficiency. We brought in SSI Schaeffer to consult and supply the racking, who agreed with our pick tower concept and then provided the schematics for the building. We've also got ourselves a snazzy new Warehouse Management System via Peoplevox which will control the movement of stock around the warehouse and allow our operatives to pick, pack and ship items. It's been a huge project and seeing it all come together has been amazing."
A Big Milestone for Furniturebox
With a move-in date scheduled for summer 2022 and the roof now officially on, things are ramping up, and we met with St. Modwen for a site tour in late April (the cupcakes went down a treat!).
Founder Monty George says:
"A lot of thought's been put into the wider site layout, with lots of green space, so our staff can take walks during their lunch, eat outside, and socialise with other companies on the site, which will all enhance the overall wellbeing for Furniturebox staff based there. It's a big focus for us."
L-R: founder Dan Beckles, Head of Marketing Kayla Wilson, Customer Service Advisor Pete Fletcher, Systems Administrator Jenny Bracey, founder Monty George and Warehouse Operations Manager Rob Dean
Furniturebox Wins Business Of The Year at Wiltshire Life Awards
We are incredibly proud to have won a joint first place with our soon-to-be neighbours Chippenham Pittstop!
We grew our business from nothing here in Wiltshire and strive to give back locally. Our home turf means a lot to us and this is a lovely way to recognise all our hard work over the last few years.
Furniturebox Out And About!
We attended the January Furniture Fair at the NEC in Birmingham to get some fabulous new ideas and scope out potential suppliers for new lines.
We were also represented by UFurnish at the Grand Designs show in April, where one of our dining sets was up for grabs as a prize.
Furniturebox Presenting At IRX
We were invited to present at the Internet Retailing Expo (IRX), at the NEC earlier in May, as a fast-growing and successful business at the forefront of eCommerce in the UK. Our Head of eCommerce James closed the day - headline slot! - and spoke about how Furniturebox has used our tech stack to power omnichannel and multichannel growth.
Furniturebox Is The Fastest-Growing Business In The South West!
We were also thrilled to be named at the South West's Fastest Growing Company in the Brightpearl Lightning 50.
James says: "The Lightning 50 ranking is like a point of validation that we’ve done the right things, from signing up with Brightpearl as our operating system to expanding our sales channels, we’ve made some key decisions that have played a huge role in our success."
Forbes "30 Under 30" List
And lastly, our founders Dan and Monty made it onto the Forbes European 30 under 30 2022 list! We're all extremely proud of them, as this shows their hard work and dedication to the Furniturebox brand, and in supporting our ongoing growth!
Wow, What A Year! And It's Only May...
Stay tuned to keep up to date with everything that's moving and shaking behind the Box, since it's gearing up to be a big one...