Europe’s largest pet grooming supplier Christies Direct, based in Ballymoney, announced today that it had been named as winner of the Outstanding Agility in Response to Covid-19 award at the 2021 Direct Commerce Awards.
This is the 4th award the company have scooped at these esteemed retailing industry awards, having been previous 2 time Annual Sales – B2B winners in 2018 and 2019, and winner of Best Digital Performance – B2B in 2018.
Despite the various, and ongoing challenges of a global pandemic, Christies Direct saw traffic to the ecommerce website grow by 59%, with all orders dispatched each month from their warehouse in Ballymoney. The company also successfully pivoted to support a new customer cohort, pet owners, while the core customer group, professional groomers, were forced to close during lockdown.
“Christies Direct are delighted win the award for Outstanding Agility in Response to Covid-19. 2020 was not our average year, but one where the Christies Direct Team successfully navigated a global pandemic, furlough, working from home, and the closure of groomers.” Said Colin Christie, CEO.
“The creativity, agility and dedication of staff across all departments allowed us to quickly and successfully pivot and maximise on the pet owner market when professional groomers were closed and ensured that orders were dispatched to customers in over 90 countries, even when we had 58% of staff on furlough.
“This award is a fantastic recognition of all this hard work. Our customer-centric approach to business ensured our customers new and old felt fully supported during challenging times, and has resulted in the company not only surviving the pandemic but also experiencing significant growth in all areas.”
The Direct Commerce awards are in their 22nd year and recognise excellence in B2B and B2C, direct and multichannel retailing. Other shortlisted businesses included Cox and Cox, Iceland Food, Fruugo and Fairfax and Favor.
The judges said the award was “richly deserved” and that the Christies Direct application shared an “innovative, engaging and beautiful story”.
Christies Direct are animal grooming experts with over 29 years’ experience in the professional pet grooming industry, selling to professional groomers in over 90 countries. Their brand, Groom Professional is Europe’s fastest growing pet grooming range with over 800 lines providing everything professional groomers need for their salons.
