Who Are Christies Direct?
There is always something refreshing about New Year, the chance to start out with a clear head after the festive break. As we say goodbye to a challenging year, we are stepping confidently into 2021 excited to share with you all our plans for this year – new products, new content, a new Brand Ambassador, and new ways to connect with you, all while we continue to offer the widest range of products and excellent customer support.
We are recognised as a one-stop shop for everything you need for your grooming business and as we start this new year, we want to highlight some of the reasons why you should shop with Christies Direct.
1. Manage Your Money – We understand how important cash flow is to you as business owners, so we partnered with Klarna to help you spread the cost of your grooming supplies and equipment. For those larger items, you might want to split the cost into 3 monthly payments. Or if you find you need something straight away you can purchase now with no interest and no fees, then pay in 30 days.
2. Content is Key – Our award-winning Marketing Team creates all the imagery, videos, and messages you see on social media, our website, in magazines, and beyond. A key focus is creating entertaining and educational content to help you improve your product knowledge, learn new skills, and keep up-to-date with the latest news. You will recognise Tori, our Social & Multimedia Executive from Instagram stories and our YouTube channel. Tori is a passionate and exciting content creator, and we look forward to sharing her 2021 videos with you.
3. Rewarding Your Loyalty – In 2020 our Paw Points had a complete restyle as we launched Pawsh Perks. Our 4 tier customer loyalty scheme rewards customers with perks based on the Paws Points they’ve earned in the previous calendar year. The more points you earn the more perks up for grabs, such as limited edition products, free gifts, discounts on all orders, and early access to sales. Students can also sign up to be Pupstars to save while they learn. Learn more about Pawsh Perks.
4. Efficiency – Our Warehouse Team works hard to ensure your order is picked, packed, and on its way to you as soon as possible. Philip, our Warehouse Project Manager makes sure that all our processes are efficient so that your order goes from our warehouse floor to your front door quickly and carefully.
5. Pay With Paw Points - Every time you shop with us you earn Paw Points which can be redeemed against your wish list items. If you would like to treat yourself with your points have a look at our Points Spend catalogue on the website.
6. Christies Cares – Excellent customer service is something we pride ourselves on and our Customer Care Manager Amber makes sure her team have all the knowledge and training they need to make sure every interaction you have with us is a good one. Whether you want to place an order, have a query, need a recommendation, or have an issue with a product, Amber and her team will respond with a resolution as soon as possible. You might not know but Amber is our resident Francophile. After a year living in France as part of her university degree, she is ready and willing to help any of our French-speaking customers with their queries!
7. Independent Customer Reviews – We encourage our customers to review their experience via Trustpilot, an independent review site. We take all reviews, bad and good under consideration and use your feedback to improve and grow. This ensures an excellent customer experience every time you connect with us and we are delighted that our rating is 4.8 out of 5 with 90% of our reviews rated ‘Excellent’ – Thank you! We also share customer reviews on our product pages, and this can help you when shopping for something new – don’t forget our team on live chat and on the telephone are happy to help with any product queries you have.
8. Knowledge is Power - If you’ve spoken with any of our Sales Team on the telephone or on live chat you will find that they are not only a delight to talk to, but they also know our product catalogue inside out, so you can be sure they will give the best recommendations for your grooming needs. Sales Executive Steffan is full of personality and is a real self-starter. When he joined us, he got stuck straight into learning as much as he could in order to help you when placing your orders. You might have chatted to Steffan on the phone or live chat, or been lucky enough to meet him at an event like Crufts. We know you love chatting to Steffan as much as we do!
9. Innovative Products – Our product development team is working to fill gaps in the market for innovative quality products that will work hard in your salon to help you make a profit. We work with industry experts to gain valuable feedback on new products and listen to your comments to ensure we develop products to suit your needs and make your businesses more efficient.
10. Smooth Online Shopping – Jonathan is part of our Ecommerce Team. These guys work to understand how you shop so they can keep our website up-to-date and continually improve the functionality so that you can have not only a seamless shopping experience but also an enjoyable one. For Jonathan, working hard to help you get the most out of shopping with us is important. He has worked hard in 2021 to improve our Pawsh Perks information and he helped set up the function to spend your Paw Points online!
11. A One-stop-Shop – We stock one of the widest ranges of professional grooming products around and stand behind every product with 100% guarantee! Our purchasing team is experts in seeking out the best products at the best prices to suit all your specialities. The team are continually reviewing what we offer so you have access to all the professional pet grooming products you need for an exceptional finish for every groom.
12. A Friendly Voice - Another member of our Customer Care team is Hannah. Not only is she a friendly voice on the phone but she is the warm smile that greets you when you step onto our stand at a show. Hannah is a great listener and always makes sure to fully understand any questions or queries you have so she can respond quickly. Hannah loves chatting and getting to know our customers.
13. Speedy International Delivery – We ship to over 90 countries around the world and our 41,000 square foot warehouse houses our whole catalogue of products so that you aren’t left waiting. We aim to either dispatch your order on the same day or the next working day – every order is a priority.
14. Precision and Care – Darren works in our warehouse, and without him and all our pickers and packers we wouldn’t be able to dispatch so many orders each day. The warehouse processes ensure every order is picked correctly, nothing is missed, and every order reaches you as quickly as possible, regardless of where in the world you are grooming.
15. Easy Return Policy – We understand that sometimes things might go wrong but in this unlikely event if you need to return an item our simple returns procedure makes sorting out any issues hassle-free. Each member of staff works hard to ensure the number of returns is low. From our purchasing staff selecting only the best products, to our sales team making recommendations, and our warehouse staff picking and carefully packing orders so they aren’t damaged in transit. We offer 100% satisfaction on your purchase or your money back.
16. It is easy to get in Touch – We are available on multiple channels, so there are loads of ways to reach us. From live chat to telephone, email to Facebook. We guarantee a reply within 1 working day, so you won’t be kept waiting long. We are always here to help support you and your business as you grow from Pupstar to Top Dog!
17. Educational Content – Education is important to us and while we continue to learn all we can about our products to ensure the best-unbiased recommendations, we also want to inspire our customers to continue their learning. Every day can be a school day. So, whether you’re just starting out and have joined us a Pupstar or you’re a seasoned groomer with qualifications and experience by the bag full, we continue to share up to date information on products, tools and techniques. We work with groomers around the world and our Brand Ambassador to ensure we share helpful hints and tips for both groomers and pet owners alike. We cover a range of topics on our blog, and on our YouTube channel, including advice on managing your business, looking after your mental health, animal welfare, and caring for your equipment - on top of technical grooming advice! If there is a topic you’d like us to cover, please get in touch.
18. We Love Meeting You! – Throughout the year we aim to attend as many events as we can across the world. We enjoy chatting face to face with our customers, and we know our customers love getting to see our equipment in action, smell our shampoos, conditioners, and colognes and to get hands-on with our scissor range. We also dedicate time to arranging our own events with weekend-long Groom Expos and in our Ballymoney showroom, we host a CPD accredited Groomer Development Programme giving our customers structured educational seminars led by top international speakers. In 2020 many of our usual events didn’t happen, but our forwarding thinking Marketing Team arranged our first webinar with 2020 Brand Ambassador, Michael Shiels. This allowed us to reach customers who maybe wouldn’t have been able to attend our Northern Ireland based seminars
19. Competitions – We love to be able to run fantastic competitions and giveaways for our customers. We work closely with our brands to bring opportunities for you to win big through our Facebook page. In 2020 we ran great competitions to win a Heiniger Opal Clipper and a fantastic Lintbells bundle. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more competitions in 2021.
20. Award-Winning and Trusted by the Best – We’ve been fortunate to work alongside some of the industry’s top professionals, many of whom still shop regularly with us, and attend our educational events to share their experience, their love of our products, and their knowledge with you. Not only has our company received awards for business but our brands and products are award winners for innovation as well.
21. We Act Responsibly – We recognise our responsibility to our local community and the environment and so take time to ensure that our business practices have a positive impact. As a company, we are continually looking at ways to reduce our waste. This is an important part of our company culture and something we instil in our staff as well. It is important to us that we work with suppliers and customers whose ethical values match with our own, on issues such as human rights, animal welfare, and environmental issues. We engage with both our local community and the grooming community worldwide to share knowledge and expertise and dedicate time and resources to raising funds for both local and global charities. In 2020 we donated over £300 worth of products to help a local animal welfare facility, donated items to our local food bank, and raised over £3500 for various charities.
