NEWS
BOXING
CLEVER
Boxed off - Paul and Virginia Spencer ( centre ) of BOXED2ME have won investment from Mike Racz and Laura Tarran .
F
Rebrand
rom selling a few electrical products on Amazon to sales of 1,000 products a day through various channels – including a brand-new website – Stockton-based BOXED2ME . co . uk is going places .
Husband and wife team Paul and Virginia Spencer launched the highly successful business 14 years ago , originally as Express Processing ( Ex-Pro ), with one of the first commercial Amazon accounts in the UK and on Amazon . com .
“ We were one of the first multichannel e-commerce companies in the country , if not the world ,” said Paul .
“ Now we want to establish the BOXED2ME brand and focus on selling our own Ex-Pro branded products from our own website .
“ We sell up to 1,000 products a day and in pretty much every household you would probably find something that has been bought from us .”
The Ex-Pro brand is predominantly for photographic equipment – everything from a tripod through to a battery charger and batteries – but the company does venture into other electricals .
“ Nobody sells more batteries than us in the camera market and the only competitors we have are small ,” Paul said .
“ Most photographic shops and photographers have a piece of and investment aims to power company to next level
equipment from us .”
Over the years , Ex-Pro got bigger and bigger and eventually got to a point where outside assistance was needed for the company to reach its full potential .
That ’ s when Paul and Virginia joined forces with Mike Racz and Laura Tarran of the Racz Group and the rebrand to BOXED2ME was completed .
Mike said : “ As friends , we talked about business a lot and we decided that the Racz Group , Laura and I , the team , should be able to add some value and grow the business – here we are 10 months down the line .”
Now the company , which “ originally started life in a bedroom ” in what was a partnership between Paul and his brother , is looking to add to its branded range , servicing current trends in kitchen equipment including pancake and waffle makers .
Paul says the secrets to the company ’ s success have been to follow market trends and never to borrow money or get credit on stock .
“ From a financial point of view we have had no assistance , we have done this from the ground up across the last 14 years ,” Paul said .
“ We are one of the few companies that has never taken credit with our suppliers – the stock is ours , the product on the shelf is ours .
WORDS : SARAH WALKER PICTURE : MARTIN WALKER
“ We have trodden very carefully for the last 14 years .”
In recent months BOXED2ME has been taking advantage of the huge demand for patio heaters – and the fact that people have “ gone back to photography ” as a hobby during Covid .
The company has also recently ventured into internal lighting and garden lighting products .
“ As a company , we have always followed trends ,” said Paul . “ During Covid , it was all about keeping occupied .
“ People went back to photography – they were doing things like putting photo albums together and trends like converting vintage film roll to digital were popular .”
Because of its focus on current trends , BOXED2ME . co . uk – which launched in November – has grown up to 500 per cent in the last six months .
The company ’ s current focus is on trying to create a well-established brand with its new website and to develop its own strong customer base .
“ We want to be small enough to look after every customer but big enough to be able to afford sophisticated systems ,” Paul said .
“ We have always stayed quiet and small – just mulling away in the background – and now it is time to come out and show people what we can do .”
118 | Tees Business