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News & Ideas
3 ways to make your e-commerce site more accessible and disability-friendly - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026
In 2023, there is no excuse for an e-commerce site that alienates or isolates its visitors. With roughly one in five consumers identifying as disabled, an inaccessible website is not only deeply frustrating for those aff
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Behind The Brand
Gift wrap has a dirty secret. Most of it is plastic-coated, which means it cannot be recycled and is destined for landfill. It was this realisation, brought home by a viral video, that led to the founding of Eco-Wrap in
Retail
Behind The Brand
A wellness and lifestyle brand built around aromatherapy, Clarity Blend creates essential oil blends formulated to meet different wellbeing needs. Its range is designed to help people clear their mind, lift their energy,
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BEHIND THE BRAND
A stationery brand built on recycled materials and a social mission
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Behind The Brand
A studio in Cambridgeshire, a hot-foil machine and a lifelong habit of making cards
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Behind the Brand
A lifelong love of animals runs through everything Jane Haigh paints. She grew up surrounded by them, always drawn to the runt of the litter and first on the scene with a bandage when one was hurt. As a teenager she nurs
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BEHIND THE BRAND
The Original Wooden Duck Company, better known as DCUK, has been making handcrafted wooden characters since 2004. Each duck or feathered friend is a genuine one-off: hand-carved and individually painted, then raised from
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Behind the Brand
A home fragrance brand built on a love of vintage homeware is preparing to bring its winter collection to Harrogate for the first time.
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Behind the Brand
Lori Whinn describes herself as an accidental chocolate maker. She did not begin making chocolate until she was 50. At the time, she was running a not-for-profit horse rescue and rehoming centre and knew a number of smal
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BEHIND THE BRAND
A British bath and body brand drawing on the botanical heritage of the British Isles marked its tenth anniversary in 2022, having built a collection around locally grown extracts and a strong belief in the emotive power
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Behind The Brand
Roger la Borde has been putting charming, eclectic and genuinely lovely things onto paper since 1985. Founded by sisters Alison and Jenni, the company began with a simple plan hatched by two recent graduates: to work tog
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Behind the Brand
A Cornwall-based designer reflects on nearly two decades of turning sketches into stitched products, and explains what she'll be bringing to this year's trade show.
News & Ideas
Behind The Brand
A soft toy company that began with a single sheep at UK shows has grown into an established name stocked by gift shops, toy shops and boutiques across the UK and Europe, while still selling directly to the public.
News & Ideas
Behind The Brand
Miss Milly launched in autumn 2012 and has been exhibiting at the Home & Gift trade show since 2013. Based in rural Worcestershire, the British brand offers colourful jewellery alongside co-ordinating scarves, purses and
News & Ideas
Delight your customers in all that you do: How to create brilliant online customer service experiences - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026
Customer service is not a single inbox or a polite reply. For an online shop, it runs through every page, email and parcel that a customer encounters. Getting it right means fewer chased orders, more repeat purchases and
News & Ideas
Embrace Customisation: A Vibrant Opportunity for Future Product Design
In a market saturated with choice, shoppers are increasingly drawn to products that feel like theirs alone. For retailers, that shift opens up a clear opening: customisable goods that let customers put their own stamp on
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Exhilarating Window Display Ideas for Your Retail Space
A shop window is often the first point of contact between a brand and a potential customer. It offers a glimpse of your design vision and sets the tone for what lies inside.
News & Ideas
Exhilarating Window Display Ideas for Your Retail Space
As the world shifts towards more environmentally aware ways of living and working, retailers are under growing pressure to examine their own impact. Sustainability is no longer a niche concern – it is becoming a baseline
News & Ideas
Expanding Your Gift Shop Inventory: A Step-by-Step Guide
Expanding a gift shop's inventory is rarely about one big buying spree. It is a gradual process of reading the market, understanding what already sells, and introducing new lines without alienating the customers who keep
News & Ideas
First-Time Attendee at Home & Gift? Make It a Groovy Experience with These 5 Tips
Preparing for a first visit to a major trade show can feel daunting, especially when the event promises to be as lively and expansive as this one. For retail buyers and store owners heading to Harrogate for the summer ed
News & Ideas
Groovy Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Products for Retailers
Retailers are responding to growing customer demand for products that are kinder to the planet. Sourcing sustainable goods is no longer a niche concern: it is a way to build trust with shoppers, differentiate a store and
News & Ideas
Home and Gift Harrogate: Unforgettable Retail Networking Experience
The Home and Gift Buyers' Festival returns to Harrogate from 16 to 19 July 2023, welcoming more than 8,000 retailers from across the UK and Ireland. Set against the town's spa-town backdrop, the event combines a relaxed
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If you're a craft maker, you'll want to consider wholesale retail in 2023 - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026
For makers and creators, selling directly to customers will always have its place. But exploring wholesale opportunities could take a business to a different level.
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Meet Modern Psychedelic: Home & Gift's new look and feel - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026
The home and gift sector's flagship trade show has adopted a bold new visual identity, drawing on the resurgence of psychedelic art and culture for its creative direction.
News & Ideas
Next Christmas’s Gifting Bestsellers Crowned At Gift Of The Year Awards - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026
The 2023 Gift of the Year Awards were presented at a black-tie ceremony held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in central London, bringing together retailers, suppliers and industry figures to recognise the year's standout gi
News & Ideas
Retail Strategy Revival: Embrace the Power of In-Person Trade Shows
In-person trade shows still matter in retail, even as digital sourcing grows. Face-to-face contact retains a pull that screens cannot match, and for many buyers and suppliers it remains the most effective way to build la
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Retail Trend Inspiration Events
Retail is a sector that rarely stands still, and for buyers and shop owners the challenge is constant: how do you spot the next big thing before your competitors do? Trade events built around trend forecasting have becom
Retail
REVEAL
Retail Revealed is a digital platform built for people who care about products — the buyers and brands that make up the retail community. It offers a place to browse the latest lines, keep track of emerging trends, and f
News & Ideas
Serene Sustainability: Embracing Eco-Conscious Practices in Retail
As the world shifts towards more environmentally responsible ways of living, retailers face growing pressure to rethink how they operate. Sustainability is no longer a niche concern but a central part of how brands are j
News & Ideas
Top Tips for Finding the Perfect Products at Wholesale Gift Trade Shows
Trade shows remain one of the most effective ways for independent retailers to source stock, meet suppliers and get a feel for where the gift market is heading. With hundreds of brands exhibiting under one roof, a well-p
News & Ideas
What is Recesioncore and why are we hearing so much about it? - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026
As its name suggests, Recessioncore is a trend shaped by economic gloom. It marks a move away from the maximalism and excess that customers embraced immediately after lockdown: as financial uncertainty takes hold, pared-