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The Good Retail Awards 2022 Winners Announced

Good Retail Awards 2022 winners

It is time to reveal the Good Retail Awards 2022 winners.

The Good Retail Awards 2022 has been another great success, showcasing those in the industry who have embraced innovation and shown great creativity in spite of the challenges they have faced.

Following on from last year’s virtual awards ceremony, this year saw entries from far and wide, sharing inspirational stories and outstanding approaches to retail. A new award was also introduced; the Power of One Award, designed to recognise retailers that have made one small change in their business, which has had a significant impact.

With an incredible number of entries, the judging panel had a challenging job ahead of them, poring over the shortlisted entries to determine the Good Retail Awards 2022 winners. Taking place on the Inspiring Retail Stage as part of Spring Fair, the winners were announced to the live audience, as well as being live-streamed to those watching at home.

Announcing the Good Retail Awards 2022 winners

The Good Retail Awards 2022 winners

The Good Retail Awards 2022 winners are as follows:

Sustainability Initiative Award – Mattress Online

Mattress Online has introduced a number of sustainability initiatives to save old mattresses from going to landfill and moving away from plastic as much as possible.

Their work has seen Mattress Online introduce a mattress collection and non-profit recycling service, with a third of all customers choosing to recycle. Saving more than 100,000 mattresses going to landfill, they also look to use non-harmful materials wherever possible, with 20% of their mattresses being chemical-free, 13% including recycled materials and 23% being vegan-friendly. Mattress Online minimises its use of plastic, making sure its polythene mattress bags are made from 100% recycled content and are 100% recyclable, as well as using thinner grades of this plastic to protect mattresses.

Mattress Online has committed to sustainability at every level, seeing to reduce packaging, promote eco ranges, improve efficiency, support cycle to work schemes for employees and even sourcing a new staff uniform made from recycled material.

Rob Gamage, Managing Director of Modern Retail, said: “As always, it’s inspiring to see so many fantastic entries in this category and it was hard work for the judges to pick a winner. But Mattress Online thoroughly impressed us with their dedicated effort to run a more sustainable business. They have set up a truly end-to-end process that will continue to reduce their impact on the environment in the future.”

The Good Retail Awards 2022 winners - Mattress Online

Instore Creativity Award – Postmark

Postmark introduced a new addition to their Wimbledon shop, adding an element of drama to their instore design which has tied in perfectly with the products that they sell.

Adding a cherry blossom tree at the centre of their store, Postmark created a focal point that draws customers instore, as well as helping them to practically display their Jellycat toys. Postmark also created a writing snug, a neon-lit, comfortable and quiet corner, just beyond the cherry blossom tree, for customers to be able to sit and write their cards. This space is regularly used by those in a hurry to write a card before they head off to a party, or ones that they wish to be sent by Postmark’s in-house postal service.

Their innovative instore design has created more of an experience for customers, helping creativity to flow instore and creating a memorable visit for everybody that enters the Wimbledon store.

Catherine Erdly, Founder of The Resilient Retail Club, commented:I just LOVE this cherry tree! What a fabulous idea.  I particularly like how they have created one of those special moments you can only get in physical stores, so important in this age of ecommerce.  The writing snug is another special touch – all in all, a fabulous concept.”

Postmark

Community Award – The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café

The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café is part of national mental health charity, Richmond Fellowship. Reinvesting all profits into supporting the recovery of local people living with mental ill-health, they have continued their life-changing work throughout the pandemic and despite a devastating fire. Their work has seen them welcome 31 new service users and introduce new opportunities to make it a record-breaking year.

Managing the site with skeleton staff throughout lockdowns, The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café was able to support clients when it wasn’t safe for them to come in, putting new technology to the test to maintain communication through phone calls, emails, WhatsApp and Zoom. Despite being able to reopen, the team chose to remain closed to the public so they would continue their core function of supporting those with mental ill-health and enable them to attend the centre for in-person support. A devastating fire closed the site for a significant period of time, destroying the café office, toilets and part of the wooden roof. Working tirelessly to complete the repairs as quickly as possible, the team took the opportunity to work closely with service users, providing things like extra training in cake-baking, which could then be sold when it was able to re-open.

Turning challenges into positives, The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café used the fire as an opportunity to remodel part of the café, review and relaunch the menu. Upcoming projects include securing grant funding to restore their Grade II listed barn and convert it into a farm shop and events space, as well as an additional trainer for two years, which is expected to allow them to support 10-15 more people living with mental ill-health at any one time.

Rob Gamage, Managing Director of Modern Retail, said: “The Old Moat continue to show that they put their community first. They have adapted and made sure that despite significant challenges (not just the pandemic, but also a fire on their premises) they continue to offer outstanding support for those in need.”

Bricks ‘n’ Clicks Award – Healthy Pet Store

Healthy Pet Store provides excellent customer service by creating fun social media and instore initiatives to inform, advise and educate customers. Their impressive omnichannel presence has enabled Health Pet Store to take their vision of becoming the UK’s largest single retailer of frozen fresh foods for meat-eating pets and turn it into a £1m reality.

To provide a seamless customer experience across all channels, the team at Healthy Pet Store found innovative ways to engage with customers and suppliers alike. Running monthly advice clinics on social media, the #AskAnnika hashtag allows followers to ask questions to a canine nutrition certified member of staff, giving customers access to expert advice, as well as being able to get quick responses to any other questions they have. Healthy Pet Store’s creativity was demonstrated with their red carpet fashion ‘catwalk’ for dogs, to showcase its new arrival of the autumn/winter Pomppa doggy jackets. This fantastic campaign gained local and national attention, impressing passersby as well as appearing in national and local press.

Healthy Pet Store has achieved continuous growth, setting the bar high for omnichannel retail to engage with new customers. As well as achieving their goal of becoming a £1m business, they are growing at a rapid rate, delivering to customers around the country, as well as keeping their store open until 8pm to keep up with demand.

Holly Worthington, Content Editor at Modern Retail, said: “Healthy Pet Store is the perfect example of a retailer that has set ambitious goals and made a plan to achieve exactly what they set out to do. Their work to share their knowledge while informing and engaging customers and suppliers means they can provide an incredible experience both online and instore.”

Healthy Pet Store

Digital Impact Award – MandM Direct

MandM Direct set out to impress new and existing customers, redesigning its approach to provide visitors with the right products and forge deep and long-lasting customer relationships.

MandM Direct introduced an improved product recommendation strategy, combining customer data, including intent and design tools to drive revenue, conversion rates and customer lifetime value while reducing abandonment. Committing to making a memorable impression from the moment a person visits their homepage, MandM Direct improved the relevance of products, increased their click-through rate and harnessed real-time deep learning to make personalised product suggestions and upsell.

Rob Gamage, Managing Director of Modern Retail, said: “MandM Direct’s entry stood out as their digital initiative was wholly centred around making the online experience better for their customers. And of course, the success of their product-recommendation improvements then led to a significant increase in sales as a result.”

Retail District Award – Watford BID

Watford BID represents over 350 businesses in the town centre, supporting a culturally diverse culture within Watford’s population of 90,000.

Their goal in 2021 was to support businesses and their employees, alongside developing a sense of community in Watford. Watford BID looked to create an environment where managers were supported and employees wanted to stay in Watford, despite the challenges associated with COVID which made it an incredibly difficult time for businesses. The launch of Watford LinkUp enabled businesses and their employees to network, sharing offers, news, vacancies, events, training courses and sparking discussion. Watford BID produced and sent out weekly updates to businesses, encouraging managers to undertake mental health awareness training, as well as hosting a Wellness Week which saw more than 40 businesses join in. Other initiatives included the launch of the Watford Gift Card and organising a grant workshop for businesses, inviting grant providers to share information and producing a booklet that was distributed to every business in the town.

Watford BID has successfully grown the sense of community and positively impacted local businesses despite the challenges associated with COVID.

Catherine Erdly, Founder of the Resilient Retail Club, commented: “What I particularly like about this entry is how widespread the types of support for retailers were – from focusing on health and fitness, to looking at practical elements like advertising vacancies.  It’s clear that there is a strong sense of community in Watford and great to see how this type of support also helped drive footfall.”

Watford BID

Power of One Award – Whitfords

Whitfords decided to offer customers a sustainable, multi-purpose alternative to packaging, making sure the option would still protect products during shipping, as well as being usable after delivery.

With the goal to create a sustainable solution to packaging, Whitfords created FibrePods. To do this, they utilised loofah as the material as it is unprocessed, natural and can be hand-pressed into moulds before air-drying it into the perfect shape to house products. Once a customer receives their product in one of Whitfords’ FibrePods, they can use it as a body or kitchen scrub for weeks, at which point it can be used to germinate seeds instead of plastic pots. After this, it can be put in a compost bin or be planted in the garden with a seedling, decomposing in around 30 days.

Whitfords are in the process of rolling out FibrePods to house their entire range of products, solving the problems associated with single-use plastics and creating a reusable, sustainable and innovative alternative to traditional packaging.

Holly Worthington, Content Editor of Modern Retail said: “Whitfords have thought about every stage of the customer journey and made it as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible. Their FibrePods have replaced traditional types of packaging, bringing benefits to customers and the planet simultaneously.”

The Full Good Retail Awards 2022 shortlist is below…

The judges found it challenging to decide the Good Retail Awards 2022 winners, with so many brilliant entries and shortlistees. The full Good Retail Awards 2022 shortlist is below.

Sustainability Award

Mattress Online
UpCircle Beauty
Seedlings Cards & Gifts
Montezuma’s
Pantee
EcoSlurps

Instore Creativity Award

Agha Home 
Postmark
Healthy Pet Store
Form Lifestyle Store

Community Award

Mattress Online
Agha Home
The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café
Nemi Teas Ltd
Small Stuff

Bricks ‘N’ Clicks Award

The Baby Barn Pram & Nursery Centre
Healthy Pet Store 
Seedlings Cards & Gifts Limited

The Baby Barn Pram & Nursery Store

Digital Impact Award

Number 1 Plates
Raja Workplace
The Wide Welly Company
Harts of Stur
MandM Direct

Retail District Award

Wimborne BID
Watford BID
Blackburn BID
CuparNow

Power Of One Award

Wrapuccino
Inland Sea
The English Soap Company
Booheads
Whitfords

Mattress Online clapping the Good Retail Awards winners

Congratulations again to all of the Good Retail Awards 2022 winners and shortlistees. For the latest information on the Good Retail Awards, click here.

To view the 2021 Good Retail Awards winners, click here.

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