One of the unique ways of building some trust in a business is knowing that they can be also proper consumers of their own products. NimNik is a family-run business founded in 2015 by a husband and a wife that had the idea of selling high-quality babies (and children) products.
I do love wooden toys, and I would prefer children to always enjoy them as well. I remember working with wooden alphabet blocks in my English classes for young children. It was always a hit. they love it.
As parents, they spent a lot of money on kids’ toys and accessories themselves. So, why share this expertise with other parents that also praise for quality and value of money?
As the couple stated: “We are certain that you’re going to love our products because we personally use them with our own children.” NimNik products can be found on the Amazon website
Midlands Traveller: Where and when did the inspiration to start NimNik come from?
Katie Green: In November 2014, we got blessed with our second daughter. We were very excited and the baby brought a lot of joy into our lives.
While we were still enjoying our new addition to the family, we also knew that it would change our lives completely. I was on maternity leave and was contemplating the idea of quitting my IT job and starting something on the side.
The benefits of staying at home with our daughter and the excitement of building something from scratch far outweighed the perks of going back to work. So, we decided to start our own range of baby products.
MT: What does the name NimNik mean?
KG: We named NimNik after the names of our 2 daughters, Nimi and Niki 🙂
MT: Tell me a little bit about your background in business and why did you choose kids and kitchen products?
KG: When we started we just had one product, the baby carrier. We thought that was the one thing that every mom would need. I certainly needed one. After scouring the products available on the market at that time, I was a bit frustrated that nothing that I was looking for would fit into my budget.
So, we did our due diligence and found out about the manufacturing and costs involved and if we could bring something to the UK market that would be affordable as well and of very high quality.
We started with baby products as that was the only thing we could think of while staying awake at night and changing nappies and feeding our new-born.
MT: What is your kind of clientele?
KG: Our target audience is parents. We are trying to provide every parent with something of value within our products. e.g. the baby sling is such a necessity these days especially if you want your hands free and be on the move. Our hip seat carrier aids anyone with a back problem to carry their baby without the pain.
Although we try to keep our prices affordable, we never compromise on the quality and service we provide to our customers.
MT: What are the challenges of a business like yours?
KG: The major challenge so far has been the cash flow. We are a small business and sometimes the demand is too high for us to manufacture our products quickly. Unlike bigger companies, we do not get credit from our manufacturers and have to pay them upfront.
The other challenge has been creating brand awareness. Again, this is tied to our financial constraints as we don’t have enough leverage to create brand awareness, but we are trying.
MT: What are the pros of having a business like NimNik?
KG: The pros are the feedback we get from our customers. Some of the feedback we have received from our customers has been phenomenal. They have been very supportive and have encouraged us to keep on doing the good work. The other one would be the time we get to spend with the kids.
MT: What is unique about your products?
KG: Our products are specifically designed to improve the experience of using the product compared to others in the market.
We are parents ourselves and we know what we would like in a product for it to be useful. We are trying to carve a niche for ourselves as the products with the most value.
MT: Do you export or think about exporting your products? For which countries?
KG: We are currently selling in the USA, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. We are trying to build an international brand.
MT: How are social media (and e-commerce) important to the success of your business?
KG: In today’s age, social media is critical to the success of any business. The exposure that some of these platforms can provide is phenomenal. We are still in the early stages of utilising the scope of social media and e-commerce, but that is certainly something we are focusing a lot on this year.
MT: What are the new plans for NimNik this year?
KG: The plans for NimNik for this year are to gain more market share and create brand awareness within the baby industry. We will be looking to add new products to our catalog and improve our products and service based on the feedback we receive from our customers.
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