Bespoke tea brand Blossom Blends has successfully made the jump from online retail to wholesale after sell-out appearance at Reed Gift Fairs Sydney September.
The label also took home the best new product award with the judges highlighting the standout packaging and branding.
Founder Anne McWilliam made the move into wholesaling because she discovered many of her wholesale customers were buying it as gifts.
“It was all very organic to be quite honest, it wasn’t a strategic thing it was just a natural extension of what to do ‘cause it looked like it [was] going to be very well received in the gift market,” she says.
The most popular products in the range were the gift packs for English Breakfast/Earl Grey and A Little Pick Me Up/Time Out. McWilliam believes this is because these blends have broad appeal and are therefore easy gifts to give.
While Blossom Blends picked up many new stockists the best part of the fair for the brand was the learning experience it offered. Taking advantage of the First In Show initiative, McWilliam was able to test the market with a small stand.
“It’s different because at the end of the day I know what the end consumer wants – who I deal with currently online – but having the retailer in the middle and supporting them to be able to promote Blossom Blends to the end consumer that has been the trick and that’s where the difference is. All these extra things like the samples and the support and the education about the teas, I think that’s where all of that comes in.”
Retailers were not only impressed by the product’s packaging and branding but the quality as well. McWilliam is strict on quality and will actually send stock back if it’s not up to standard.
Blossom Blends will continue to grow the wholesale arm of the business while also developing brand extensions and new blends including a potential apple pie mix. However, the focus will always be on tea.
“Blossom Blends will never be the McDonald’s of teas,” she adds. “You will never see 200 plus teas from us because we really are pedantic about the quality of each tea. Having a broad range of teas you just really can’t ensure that so what we’ll be doing is we’ll be switching out some of the flavoured teas and coming up with new teas… limited edition teas.”
