Tag: shop small

What Makes The Smile Parcel Different?

So, what makes us different? – This is an important question for businesses, especially small businesses and especially, at the moment.

So, I wanted to tell you a little more about us, what we’re all about, and what does make us different.

We don’t offer continuous subscriptions…

We decided when we created The Smile Parcel, that we wouldn’t offer a continuous subscription, as we know it can be off-putting to feel trapped in a long term subscription, so instead we offer just 3, or 6 month subscriptions (or one-off parcels) which naturally expire after your last parcel payment is taken, it’s then completely up to you, if you want to re-order again (lots of you do, thank you!)

We don’t have many offers or sales…

You may of noticed that we don’t have a lot of sales, discounts or offers at The Smile Parcel, as we wanted to ensure our customers knew they were receiving value for money, always.

We do occasionally have a one-off discount, to celebrate our birthday or an anniversary, for example, as we want to treat our lovely customers from time to time, but otherwise, our prices are what you see.

We don’t bombard you with emails!

We routinely send just 2 emails a month, one to let those of you who have placed an order, know when they are on their way, so you know when to receive them, and one as a little update, or maybe to share a mental health tip, to those of you struggling.

When you place an order, you’ll receive an email as a thank you and confirmation, but this will be a personal email, not an automated one, and if you decide to cancel your subscription, we won’t send you emails begging you to come back, as we understand there could be lots of reasons for doing this.

We have amazingly loyal customers!

Now, this may be controversial, but I’m going to say it anyway, I’m pretty certain that The Smile Parcel has the best customers in the whole world!

We have such fabulously loyal customers, some of which have received every single monthly parcel.

We’re fortunate to have a very low cancellation rate, I can count on one hand how many customers have cancelled their subscription early over the last 3 years, and one of those sent a lovely email to apologise and explain why she needed to cancel! (of course, she didn’t need to do this!)

Basically, you lot are amazing!!

We’re not all about growth and expansion…

This is a difficult one, as we are a huge supporter of small business, and growth and expansion are important to run a successful business. But, for us, we’ve worked hard over the last few years to build The Smile Parcel into where we are today, and it’s where we want to stay.

The next stage could be to hand over our packing to a fulfilment centre, or give the reigns of customer service to an agency, but this isn’t for us.

We want to keep all our packing in-house, so we know exactly what’s going inside your parcels, and I know I may sound a little odd in saying this, but talking to our customers is my favourite part of the job!

Our ambition now is to continue where we are, keep sending smiles, providing great customer service and of course, wrapping parcels!

Karen x

We’ve Got A Facebook Shop!

This is going to be a short and sweet blog post this week, as I wanted to quickly let you know that I’ve successfully (hopefully successfully!) created a Facebook shop!

This means you can now order our parcels directly from our Facebook page – the monthly instalment subscriptions will still link you through to the correct page on this website, to set up your payments, but all the one-off purchase ‘Select’ range, and lump-sum subscription payments, can now be ordered through Facebook messenger, followed by a direct PayPal link, so there’s not even any invoices involved, but you are still fully covered by PayPal’s payment security.

I’ve separated the parcels into categories, so it’s easy to see the available ready-to-go parcels (‘Select’ range), and the subscription options.

We wanted to offer this as an alternative, as we have an amazingly supportive community of customers and followers over on Facebook, so adding a quick and simple way to order, or re-order, without having to leave Facebook, seemed to make sense.

You can find our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TheSmileParcel

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new ‘Shop’, or anything you would like to see added and/or changed.

Karen x

Mindfulness & Christmas Cards!

It’s time to give another big shout out to two lovely crafters who have contributed their fabulous products to our parcels!

We are lucky to work with amazingly talented crafters and handmade businesses, so today, I’m going to showcase a couple more of them – this time it’s the turn of “Claire Craft at Little Gestures” and “Kirsty’s Kreative Krafts”.

We asked the business owners to write a short description telling us a little about why they started their small business, and what it means to them.

Claire Holstead from “Claire Craft at Little Gestures” –

“Claire Craft at Little Gestures is absolutely delighted that the wonderful Smile Parcel have used my cards with one of my poems.

I have been creating little items with poems for several years now. The very first item I sold, was on eBay, and was a Rolo in a box, with a little poem.

I had to leave a full-time job after having a breakdown, and then after my husband had some cardiac issues, I decided to try and create a Facebook page to bring in a little extra cash.

I love trying to come up with unique items that can’t be bought from the High Street. Whatever time of the day (or night), an idea comes to me, it HAS to be tried there and then!

Fortunately, I have a very patient husband who is happy enough to take over the housework, while I sit ‘playing’ with my craft bits!”

You can find Claire’s products here: https://www.facebook.com/Littlegestures/

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Kirsty Trathen from “Kirsty’s Kreative Krafts” –

“Hi everyone, I’m Kirsty from Kirsty’s Kreative Krafts, I’m 21 and I live in Cornwall.

I have been crafting for 5 to 6 years and I first found my passion for papercrafts, when I did Fundraising for my school, and it all blossomed from there.

A few years later, I was diagnosed with Autism, and I also have dyslexia and learning difficulties, which means I can never have a full-time job. Crafting is my creative outlet and what makes me happy, and puts a smile on my face every day.

I love to be able to create and set myself new challenges to broaden my horizon.

Flower pencils are my most popular item I have sold, I make a variety of items from cards, sticky tape floral shoes, gift bags and many other things. I’m now experimenting with vinyl, which is very exciting for me.

I would like to build my business up, this is happening slowly thanks to the people supporting me and sharing my page on social media.”

You can find Kirsty’s products here: https://www.facebook.com/kirstyskreativekrafts/

Karen x