Kate's big adventure

Back in March we told you about our creative director Kate, and her trek across Everest in aid of the Myasthenia Gravis Association. Five months on and Kate and her father Tony, who joined her on the trip, are returned from their travels, and as of last week have raised a phenomenal £1585 for their efforts!

They both had an amazing time, despite some delays caused by a highly inconvenient volcano! They started their journey flying from Kathmandu to Lukla, and then endured 16 days of trekking in sub zero temperatures, across extreme mountainous terrain.

Myasthenia Gravis is an auto-immune disease which is characterized by fluctuating and sometimes fatal muscle weakness. The charity works to aid the development of improved diagnosis techniques and better treatment for Myasthenia Gravis, so it really is a very worthwile cause.

Before she left, we gave Kate a little gift to show our support and wish her luck on her trip. Kutuu created a beautiful personalised necklace, shown above against the magnificent Everest backdrop.

Well done Kate and Tony!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 25 August 2010

the new bunting

We love bunting with all our heart but we were excited to see this funky new take on it. Large bespoke blocks by ditto, hung on rope, hand-stencilled and hand-sanded, painted in eco-friendly paint. Super-stylish for adults and great fun for kids, you can choose any message you like and make it celebratory, romantic or personal for a special occasion, or hang it around your home with helpful messages such as ‘wash’ in the bathroom, ‘eat’ in the kitchen, or ‘zzz’ in the bedroom. The opportunities are endless but we need to decide because we want it, and we want it now!

Posted by jokite on 25 August 2010

Christmas comes early on our shoot

It’s somewhat disconcerting sitting next to a roaring fire in August, but it did help to warm up the studio early this morning and then create a Christmassy feel – until we all started feeling feverish and it was promptly turned off!

Today we shot most of the main images for our winter and Christmas gift guides, which was no mean feat. It was down to excellent organisation, a brilliant stylist, photographer extraordinaire, and all of the wonderful people in between – thank you to you all for making it a very smooth day with beautiful results!

We also had a lot of fun creating a Christmas tree with a difference… but you’ll have to wait for the catalogue to see the results!

Now, is it too soon to start Christmas shopping because I’ve seen lots of things I want to buy… the rest of you (normal people!) will be quite happy, I’m sure, to wait until the gift guide is ready in October. It is full of really wonderful things.

Posted by jokite on 16 August 2010

our new website has launched!

We are all so absolutely overly excited and joyously happy to announce that our gorgeous new website has launched, giving you a totally refreshed shopping experience with us.

So what has changed? You will notice immediately that the new site is bigger, and that the design and navigation have changed. The beautiful new design and larger size were natural progressions, and with over 35,000 products now selling on the site, it became time for a navigation overhaul! The mega drop-down menus may appear a little daunting at first, but they soon become really easy to use and make it much quicker to find your way around the site. The search facility is now more advanced, and includes a predictive element – this means that when you start to type in your search term, we guess what you might be searching for and show you the options. Just so clever. We have also created even more inspiration sections for you to discover, as we know what style-hunters you are. You will also soon see a new addition to the top navigation bar called ‘discover…’. This area will pull together all of the inspiration sections of the site, giving you a wonderful journey down discovery lane whenever you want. Whether you are seeking a gift, or something for yourself, this section will give you loads of gorgeous and original ideas.

Start looking around and you’ll see lots of other fabulous new features too, including a product summary zoom on product lists (just so slick) and a drop-down shopping basket showing you a little summary of everything in your basket when you hover over it – you don’t even need to click into it. In addition to all this, there is another brilliant feature that will transform your lives along with ours. You can now ‘view all’ on product pages (no trawling through 10 pages of products) – just keep scrolling and the products keep appearing! Now not very many sites can do that, you know. We know how precious your time is, and these little tricks save our customers all those unnecessary clicks.

We’ve also joined forces with a trusted independent feedback forum called Feefo so you will start seeing reviews being added to products. This will help guide you when making a purchase. You can now read reviews from customers and will be invited to write your own following a purchase. You can also see our overall service rating in real-time.

The website refresh team have been extremely dedicated in producing the best customer experience possible and have been working all hours researching, building, designing and fine-tuning the new website. We’ve consulted customers, usability experts and brand afficionados to make the site, in short, absolutely brilliant. A huge thank you to the team for doing a wondrous job, and to everyone who contributed along the way, including our customers!

Now have a play, and do tell us what you think.

Posted by jokite on 09 August 2010

Holly appears on Sky News

Holly is getting to be an expert at TV appearances! She was interviewed by Joel Hills on Sky News at 10.45am this morning to discuss the recent investment in notonthehighstreet.com by Index Ventures and Greylock Partners. They discussed the opportunity of funding from individual private companies compared to banks and the success of notonthehighstreet.com. See Holly’s interview on Sky News here.

Posted by jokite on 02 August 2010

Holly and Sophie reveal next stage funding as reported in The Sunday Times

Many of you will have seen Holly and Sophie on the front page of The Sunday Times’ business section this weekend. Hugely exciting news, the article announced an investment of £7.5 million led by Index Ventures, who were joined by Greylock Partners. This funding will enable us to expand the team, enhance the website and underlying technology and to invest in other initiatives to improve the offering to our sellers and customers.

Commenting on the transaction on behalf of the company, Holly Tucker, Executive Chairman, said: “We are delighted to have such experienced and successful internet investors as Index Ventures and Greylock join Venrex and SPARK as shareholders. With their support we will strive to offer our customers the very best personalised online shopping experience and support our small business partners every step of the way.”

Ben Holmes, Partner at Index who will join the board, commented: “Consumers are increasingly looking for unique and personalised items, which are ever harder to find in today’s retail market. Holly and Sophie and their dedicated and passionate team have succeeded where many others have failed in using the internet to transform the way small businesses can find customers and transact online.”

Laurel Bowden, Partner at Greylock Partners, added: “Notonthehighstreet.com is one of the most innovative and original e-commerce businesses to come out of the UK with the future capability to support thousands of small businesses in Britain and abroad.”

Watch this space for exciting developments!

Posted by jokite on 02 August 2010