I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I’m kicking off Monday morning with a new Behind the Biz interview.
Behind the Biz is a weekly interview series here on PGT. I chat to the founders of interesting and new businesses that I stumble across on my travels. The aim is to find out about their business journey, learn more about what they do and hopefully, inspire you to follow your dreams.
scooms was launched back in September 2017 by husband and wife team Jonathan and Emily Attwood. Their plan was to radically change duvet buying by creating the perfect duvet. They make one all-natural Hungarian goose down duvet that’s perfect for almost everyone. They also make ‘perfect’ pillows and are introducing a range of ‘perfect’ bed linen from September 2018.
I’m delighted to be chatting Jonathan the co-founder of scooms today.
Where did the inspiration for scooms come from?
From personal experience we found duvet shopping to be overly complicated and extremely frustrating. It felt as though we needed to become bedding experts just to buy ourselves a new duvet! We thought that if we found duvet shopping so stressful, nearly everyone else must feel the same. We decided that there must be a better, simpler and easier way to find the ideal duvet. So we set out to create the perfect duvet and a great shopping experience. We spent lots of time researching materials, exploring construction techniques, examining sleeping preferences and just talking to people – and in time scooms was born!
We’ve focused on making sure shopping with scooms really is simple and stress-free. Delivery is free and next day and we offer customers a 60 night trial to snooze with their duvet to make sure that it’s right for them. Our duvets arrive in a lovely green reusable material bag, in a scooms cardboard box without any unnecessary plastic wrapping or paper inserts.
How did you decide upon the name of your brand?
We looked at a lot of different names, many of them too long and complicated for the simplicity that is key to the scooms brand. We wanted something short and punchy that would stand out and be different to other brand names. ‘scooms’ seemed to have the right balance and sense of individuality.
What did you do before starting scooms?
We worked together previously at an online rewards programme. Then in 2010, I was asked to lead a new venture in Silicon Valley and Emily and I headed off with our two young boys to California. After a whirlwind couple of years, we decided that the lure of home was too much and we set up home again in Guildford. I’ve had an interesting time over the last six years working in both online retail and B2B, but we always felt the pull to set up our own business.
Did you always plan to be self-employed?
Yes, it’s always seemed very natural for me and Emily to run our own business together!
Please share a business high and low with us.
High – A great moment for scooms was when the first online duvet reviewer we sent our duvet to not only voted it his favourite all seasons duvet but said he sleeps under it himself – This is the duvet I personally sleep under and it is incredibly comfortable, breathable and lightweight yet snuggly.
Low – We never seem to have enough time! And always feel we’re moving too slowly but running your own business is a journey and you only learn the best way to do things through trial and error.
What role does social media play for your business and do you have a favourite social platform?
Customer reviews and feedback are really important to our business so all social platforms are great for sharing the scooms brand and listening to feedback.
Personally, I really enjoy finding my inner creative on Instagram. I have lots of fun taking pictures of duvets outdoors! scooms duvets are made from all natural materials and it feels right to take photos outside in nature.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Go for it! And keep believing in what you are doing.
Data is also key. Collect as much as you can handle, analyse it and made decisions that are driven by what the data is telling you.
Where do you hope to take your business in 2018?
We want to continue making sleep beautifully simple, one product at a time. In September we’re launching a range of perfect Egyptian cotton bed linen. After that, we aim to continue to expand our bedding and to look at other products where buying options are overly confusing.W e’ve built scooms to reflect our dreams and desires: the best quality duvets, a great shopping experience and a good night’s sleep for all!
You can find out more about scooms and their 60 night trial on their website. support them over on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
I want to say a massive thank you to Jonathan for taking the time to be involved with Behind the Biz. I really enjoyed learning more about scooms and his business journey. Emily and Jonathan have a clear passion for their business and I can’t wait to see it grow over the years.