Back Our Businesses: How has online business My 1st Years coped with the cost of living crisis?

This week’s Back Our Businesses campaign spotlight is My 1st Years, a personalised children’s gift company operating solely online.

We have heard a lot about how shops and businesses that thrive off in-person sales are navigating this difficult period, but what is it really like for an online business during the cost of living crisis?

My 1st Years, which has a base located in Grange Park, has built a large following, with more than 360,000 followers keeping up with their latest personalised children’s gifts on Instagram alone.

But what did CEO and co-founder Jonny Sitton have to say about the future of the business?

Talking to Chronicle & Echo, he said: “Running a business has been challenging during this time, but the most important thing to me is creating a stable working environment to ensure our employees’ jobs are secure – and for them to know that.

“We openly speak about our profits to those who work for us as people are scared. If the business is secure, our staff have nothing to worry about.”

Despite being in a stable financial position, like all businesses My 1st Years has been hit hard by increases in stock and utility prices, which has led them to “focus on what they need and not what they want” for now.

However, to cut costs where possible, Jonny has been moving staff offshore and working with a number of agencies. “It saves costs dramatically and many CEOs are scared to do this, but it is great when you find the right agencies,” said Jonny, who has many business owners come to him for advice on making this move.

My 1st Years goes by the motto that “everyone is in this together” and the more profitable the business is, the more he and his fellow co-founder Daniel Price can give back to their employees.

“We are aware of the challenges ahead and I strongly believe there will be a 15 percent increase in inflation next year,” said Jonny. “But we are as transparent as possible with the team and have implemented cost saving initiatives to try and give back to staff through pay rises – but there is a big stress on the word try.”

Jonny also spoke to Chronicle & Echo about how the challenges differ between My 1st Years as an online business, versus those who operate in-person and have shops. He said: “I believe our logistics costs are bigger as we have bigger factory operations and the premise of our business is personalisations. Something that all retailers currently face is the difficulty in getting good quality staff to work for a fair salary.”

With a combined following of more than 700,000 across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, My 1st Years recognises the importance of its customer base in its growing success and financial stability – particularly following its head office and distribution centre, in Caswell Road, going up in flames in May 2021.

Jonny said: “Our customers are everything and we know how loyal they are. We try to reduce prices and give back to them and despite the more affordable price, the quality remains the same.”

For any CEOs looking to move staff offshore and work with agencies, you can contact Jonny Sitton through his LinkedIn here for any help and advice.