Liz Pilgrim opened babye in 2004 in Ealing, West London, not far from Ealing Studios, after finding a niche in stylish maternity and baby products. The online shop was launched in August 2006 and is going from strength to strength. Nursery Industry finds out why Liz is leveraging her position as a successful business woman to bring about change in the local community...

How long have you been established and how has the industry changed in that time?

Baby UK has been established just over 2 years now; we were previously known as 4 Littleuns & Baby, until we acquired the name Baby UK Ltd in June 2009.  We moved location into a large and busy national retail park, trading alongside the likes of M&S, Tesco, Vodaphone, Mothercare, Game and O2.  In the short time we have been in the industry we have already seen a big change towards customers being happy to buy from the internet to save a few pounds. 

Most retailers start with premises and perhaps a content only site, before branching out into ecommerce. Babyworld however, has done all of this very successfully the other way round hasn’t it?

Babyworld was launched as a content and community website in 1998 and has gone through several ownerships. When we acquired it from Freeserve in 2003 the theory was that readers had a lot of trust in us and would be interested in shopping online with us, so we launched shop.babyworld.co.uk in summer 2004.

How long have you been established and how big is the team today?

My Grandparents first started the business shortly after the Second World War as a painting and decorating business. They moved to the current premises in 1957 which was already an existing retail store selling bikes, toys and nursery products. We became a limited company in 1963 and we currently employ 20 people.

It all started on a rainy day in January 2009. My partner and I were getting ready to head off to our respective jobs in different companies. We had known for a while that redundancy was on the cards because of the deep recession the world was diving into, but we didn't expect the postman to deliver both of our P45's on the same morning.

1. How long have you been established?

I have been running the nursery side of the business for three years.

As a retailer, you will no doubt have strong views on those that trade solely via the internet. However, it's worth keeping up to date with how they operate so that you can identify what they do well and what they do badly, reflecting on your own strengths and weaknesses in the process. Becci Knowles Investigates...

How long have you been established?

Mike - Little Treasures had been established for just over 3 years as a small independent baby shop with a 1000 sq ft showroom. In December last year we moved to a 5000 sq ft showroom on two floors. We are now the largest independent baby store in Wales, with the largest pushchair display of any. Jayne and I both have children. Jayne brings a mother's perspective to the store, while I bring a father's perspective. I also used to work in the industry for a large supplier of wheeled goods and nursery products as a regional sales manager, prior to opening the baby centre with Jayne.

How long have you been established?

I set up Tiny Tots over 30 years ago from my back bedroom. Today we are the oldest shop in the South and are very good at what we do - you won't beat us for service.

Babybase Wholesale has been looking after retailers big and small since 1998 and from the way the business has grown, it is obvious that they are doing something right. Originally Babybase opened 21 years ago as a retailer and it is in this role that Kate Shrubb learned all about the nursery trade. The retail shop finally closed in September 2007 but the product knowledge and customer awareness that it bred are still with the company. "We are always happy to give advice and help to our customers" says Kate. "We know a lot about the products we sell".