ARTICLE by Charlotte Gelstharp

A Look Back at 2020

 |  Reading time: 6 minutes
B_for_Blog | Natural Baby Shower

What a year! It was one no one saw coming and it is hard to find the words to truly describe it. We’ve heard them all before; tough, unprecedented, crazy, scary, extraordinary. However you describe your 2020, it’s been one that has effected all of us and it’s been a hard year for many.

But even with extreme lows, there have also been some special highs that have come out of this year too. We try to remember that only in the darkness can you see the stars and want to take a minute to highlight some of the good things that have also come out of this year that we are so grateful for.

A look back at 2020

We all came together

We believe one positive that has come out of this craziness is the sense of togetherness and community we all started to show. Everyone looking out for each other, caring for our neighbours, and coming together to bring everyone’s hopes up. It was so special to see and one huge positive that we are hoping will continue well into 2021 and beyond.

We wanted to use our platform to create a sense of hope and community for our followers; all those parents-to-be, parents with children in lockdown and families worried about their loves ones. We worked hard to ensure, where possible, we continued to be well stocked of those important baby essentials, as well as welcoming new home entertainment toys and games to keep little ones busy during lockdown. 

We also used our social media and blog to stay in contact and create a positive space for our followers, as well as posting inspiring and creative activities children can do at home during lockdown. We created “Little Tasks for Little Ones" which is bursting full of free downloadable fun art and crafts activities to keep little ones entertained. 

A look back at 2020 

13th Birthday

Natural Baby Shower officially became a teenager as we celebrated our 13th Birthday. What started from a kitchen table as one passionate mum’s simple idea and wish to bring parents planet friendly parenting solutions, has grown into a leading independent retailer loved and trusted by many.

Find out more about the NBS journey here. 

 A look back at 2020

New website

We kicked off the year with a bang. In Feb, after months of hard work, we launched our new website and branding. It was time to give NBS a refresh and offer our customers a better shopping experience on our website. We re-designed the whole website with improved mobile shopping features, functionality, filtering, plus more information about the Natural Baby Shower story and our mission to help protect our amazing planet. The new website also allowed us to put a bigger emphasis on product information and our parent testing program to help customers shop with confidence.

Take a look at our new and improved website.

A look back at 2020

We gave back

Christmas is a special time, but for some this years festivities are going to be very different due to the negative effects of COVID. When Jenny Woods reached out to us to share her tragic story of loss, it touched our hearts. Jenny lost her husband in September whilst he was waiting for a liver transplant which was delayed due to the the pandemic. Jenny is now raising their three young children. We wanted to help to add a little sparkle to a difficult Christmas for the family so wanted to gift the little ones some special Christmas gifts. We donated 2 Little Bird Told Me rocking horse and the top selling Christmas gift a Tonies audio box and 2 characters. 

Read more about the Wood's story and how you can help here. 

A look back

A look back

2020 has been tough for many. Now more than ever, charities are facing unprecedented challenges and threats to their own future as they continue to support those who find themselves in unique circumstances because of the pandemic, lockdowns and Tier restrictions. Back when the pandemic started we listened to many touching and inspiring stories of hardship and we knew we wanted to help. We partnered with 3 amazing and special charities; Shooting Star Children's Hospice, Women’s Aid and Stripey Stork. We are proud to announce, since March, we have donated a total of £12,000 to these amazing charities.

You can learn more about our charity work, our amazing charity partners and how you can get involved too here.

A look back at 2020

Our team grew

We have been lucky enough to be able to welcome some brilliant new talent and 31 new members of the team across all departments. Each and every new member has big ideas and have been a brilliant addition to the NBS team.

Natural Baby Shower babies

As well as welcoming many new team members, we were also thrilled to welcome a mini tribe of 5 new NBS babies too. 2020 saw the arrival of little Henry, Alyssa, Blake, Luca, Oscar and Nur to the NBS family.

A look back at 2020

New brands

We are always on the hunt for new and exciting products and brands that offer our customers something different and to help make eco parenting choices easier. This year we welcome so many amazing new brands, 21 to be exact. Some of our highlights are;

See all our amazing NBS brands here.

A look back at 2020

Awards

2020 has been an amazing year for us on the awards front with a total of 5 special awards being presented to us. These include winning "Best Online Retailer" for the second year running at the Baby Awards. As well as 2 Golds (For the Best Medium-sized retailer + Gold in Best Community Retailer Award) and 1 Silver (for Digital Excellence) at the Online Nursery Awards. We also picked up bronze at the Weaning Week Awards for "Best Online Retailer".

Read more about our awards here.

A look back at 2020

Buying Guides & Catalogues

It is our mission to help make shopping for your family easier, so this year we have made it our focus to offer our customers more information and advice to help buying all of those big essentials simpler. We want to cut through the mass of information out there and bring you the important things you need to know. So we put our years of experience and training into creating our helpful and informative buying guides. These go through all the top important products you will need to help answer all those big questions you have to help you make those decisions.

We also created our seasonal and parenting catalogues for inspiration; Summer, Winter, Christmas and Newborn essentials.

You can see all our buying guides and catalogues here.

A look back at 2020

New YouTube

Together with our aim of helping to make shopping easier for our customers, we also re-launched our YouTube channel. With shops closed and people struggling to get hands on with those large important products before purchasing, we wanted to offer you a demo experience from the comfort of your own home. Our YouTube channel is now bursting full of useful and detailed demo videos of some of our most popular products.

Watch them all here.

A look back at 2020

2021

Whilst the news at the moment is showing that the challenges might not be over yet, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and are optimistic for better days to come soon. Whatever 2021 has in store for us, we will continue to offer our customers support, advice and those all-important parenting essentials that are best for baby, best for parents and also best for the environment.

We are so excited to see where the next year will take us and feel so lucky to have all our amazing customers come along for the ride. We’ve got big plans and can’t wait to share them all with you.