Just Bathroom Accessories

We've taken a radical decision...
Ziggiziggi is changing to become purely a  bathroom accessories business.
We'll be concentrating on bathroom, cloakrooms, washrooms and shower for high end homes and commercial (hotels, restaurants, projects).
You can see the upgrade here: Ziggiziggi - Just bathroom accessories

A new site for our group

We've just launched our companies latest website Hart Plumbing Spares
Built using a combination of Wordpress and Woocommerce, it allows us to hit the low price point spares market which our current sites are not set up to do, compete with Amazon and just as importantly assess the potential for wp/woocommerce micro sites.

Ziggiziggi

Our plans for Ziggiziggi are evolving. At Hart Home Interiors we  have decided to concentrate our efforts on Notjusttaps and Lime which means there will be more product crossover and as a result will be marketing Ziggiziggi in a different 'low key' manner to avoid clashes.

Our Sister Website

A selection of our bathroom and kitchen products are now available on our sister website Lime Kitchen & Bathroom.
It's part of our corporate strategy but more of that to follow as time progresses!

Christmas is coming

We're nearly in November so once again we've switched on Ziggis' Christmas gifts.
There are 5 categories available (gifts for him, gifts for her, kids, the home and something for under £10).
Whilst products range from scented gifts through to practical home accessories, the one thing they all have in common is the feeling of quality and being  'special' , something that we feel differentiates Ziggiziggi from many other retailers.

Core Products

We recognise that Ziggi faces challenges and it isn't working as is so we're changing the direction of the business, reducing product ranges and concentrating on a few core areas: Shower curtains (where we probably have the largest range offered by any independent retailer) Bath mats (again probably the biggest range on offer from an independent retailer), Home accessories (where we will concentrate on kitchen colours together select luxury items) and Luxury bathroom accessories (quality and service over price)

Our Cheapest Towel Rack Yet

We've just added the Jive Towel Rack, a hotel style wall mounted towel rack and our cheapest one yet.
Made by (or more accurately supplied by) Blue Canyon, it is another towel rack available to our customers but aimed at the price/value end to suit anyone looking for towel storage whilst paying the minimum they can get away with.

Urgent Delivery Service

For customers needing an urgent delivery, we now offer a guaranteed next morning delivery (before 12.00am) for an additional cost of £12.50.
Details of this service together with all other delivery info can be found here: http://www.ziggiziggi.com/template1.aspx?PageID=33

Subtle Change To Bathroom Accessories Category

I'd be surprised if anyone can spot the change to our Bathroom Accessories Category.
If you can't, I have just moved the suction bathroom accessories range up a level so that you find it as soon as you get to the bathroom accessories.
We used to sell a lot more suction accessories than we do now so the plan is by making them more prominent we should see the sales pick up a lot.
If it works the we can apply this to a few other 'wayward' categories.

Ziggiziggi Homepage Updated

We've changed Ziggiziggis' rotating homepage to lifestyle banners that reflect our main categories - Bathroom accessories, Kitchen accessories and Dining products.
This is a change away from previous banners which linked to featured products.

Got to shout more!

Being honest, Ziggiziggi has been slipping.
We've been guilty of tinkering around the edges with narrow attempts on the site.
If you do the same things nothing will change so we've done a number of things both on and offsite.
On site, we've relisted the Wipe-It Magic Sponges and also relaunched our Tableware category.
Offsite, using various People Per Hour, we've tried  a number of different experts to boost Facebook followers, improve the useful links to us and to promote the site through other SEM methods.
My hope is that if we see improvements in Ziggiziggis' rankings and a corresponding increase in visitors/orders, that will give us the impetus and confidence to really kickstart Ziggiziggi again.
It will be interesting to see my thoughts in a months time.

New from Beau & Elliott

We've some lovely new additions from Beau & Elliott. Now in stock are a range of lovely embossed ceramic oven dishes (as pictured above).
Plain white ceramics have always been a difficult thing to sell but these have a lovely embossed design that really stands out.

Getting Our Mojo Back

It seems like we took our eye off the ball but we're starting to get our mojo back.
Pamela's finding some great new products, we're up to the Spring Fair next week and we're really working on the social media and PR fronts.
The latest new product we have introduced are the Darwin hammered copper bathroom accessories by Spirella of Switzerland.
Made from stoneware but with a metallic copper finish, they are the ideal match for either ultra modern bathrooms or (if you've won the lottery) one that features a copper bath

Back on the coffee cup path

If we're honest with ourselves, we've let a number of categories run without any input and they've been floundering a bit.
One of these has been our coffee cup category. This week has seen it change with the introduction of loads of new coffee and cappuccino cups by PPD designs that come in brilliant gift packaging that's almost as nice as the product itself.
To help restart the coffee cup category, we've made it a main home page category instead of being hidden in kitchen accessories.

A Couple Of New Novelty Toilet Seats

We've added a couple of fun toilet seats from Wenko to add even more colour to our Novelty Toilet Seat range (as if it wasn't colourful enough already!)
The latest seats feature a multi coloured Lips design and a pink furry Monster design. Both seats are fitted with stainless steel (rust free) hinges.
We reckon they'll be especially popular in kids bathrooms although we hope they'll appeal to anyone young at heart.

Narrow Towel Racks

It's been mentioned that our towel racks have been too wide for some customers.
This has been proven when some have been returned with the customer stating they're too wide, didn't fit etc.
Well hopefully the introduction of Narrow towel racks by Bathroom Origins that are approx. 45cm wide will not only fill a gap (a small gap that is) but also add good sterling value as they are at a  premium price level .
These racks are 45cm wide - that's about 15cm narrower than most so will cut the space required by up to 25%.

Hotellerie Division

We're planning to expand the multi pack options aimed at the hotel industry.
The latest offering is a pack of 3 extra wide shower curtains.
The pack price equates to a cost of under £8 per curtain (including VAT) and in addition to being an extra wide 240cm curtain, these are made from pvc so are totally waterproof and easy to keep clean.
Typical customers will be small hotels, guest houses and some bed & breakfast hotels.

Trade Packs

I guess that many customers who buy single items are individual consumers but the great majority of customers who buy more than one are trade users of some sort - anything from a hotel cum B&B through to developers or property managers.
To appeal to these customers, we are going to be introducing trade packs giving big discounts on additional products.
Our first offer is a trade pack of extra long shower curtains. It contains 2 curtains where the second costs only £6 which is less than half the singles cost.
The problem that I have to deal with is how to sell it as it is bland and doesn't stand out from regular products.
Something for Martin tomorrow!

2014 Plans For Ziggiziggi

Our plans for ziggiziggi during 2014 are evolving...we will be cutting  back on peripheral product areas such as kids & home products to concentrate on bathrooms and kitchens (although not exclusively).
Part of this concentration will see much more expensive, aspirational products such as the Swarovski crystal range mentioned a few weeks ago.
The thought process behind this is to create a brand which customers want to be part of - Even if they can't afford the most expensive offerings, they'll want to buy into the style &  design that Ziggiziggi offers.

A Very Romantic Shower Curtain

Our new Amour shower curtain by Ridder is definitely one for romantics.
With love written all over it in 3 different languages (literally) and then dotted with little red hearts, it gives a lovely look (or is that a lovers look) to your shower with a colour scheme particularly suited to either red or white bathroom themes.
And of course coming from Ridder it is a quality product made from 100% polyester and is generously sized to suit both standard and slightly larger showers or bathrooms.