The Edwards & Co brand and its fleet of popular strollers was born eight years ago. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand stroller brand Edwards & Co hopes to triple its sales over the next year following a supply deal it has signed with Australia's largest baby goods retailer.
Silverdale-based Edwards & Co will over the next couple of weeks be stocked across the Tasman in all 65 Baby Bunting stores throughout Australia.
The juggernaut baby goods retailer last year clocked more than half a billion dollars in sales, and in August opened its first New Zealand store on Auckland's North Shore.
Edwards & Co chief executive Ben Whitley said the stroller and car capsule brand was in expansion mode despite New Zealand's birth rate continuing its trend of stagnant growth.
The business has begun turning to offshore markets to grow its sales, with Australia, Britain and Europe on the cards for upcoming export opportunities.
"For us to find new consumers we need to look for international markets," Whitley told the Herald.
"Moving into Baby Bunting in Australia will revolutionise what we're doing in international markets and with that deal we will almost see a tripling of our business overnight. It is really exciting for us to be part of a national retailer in Australia, and it gives us credibility when looking at new international markets as well.
"A lot of opportunities can be born out of this ranging."
Over the past eight years Edwards & Co has built up a loyal following among Kiwi mothers and fathers, driven by its presence at Baby Expos across the country.
It has experienced significant growth in New Zealand and Australia in recent years, and last year won a Fast 50 award at the Deloitte Top 200.
Eight years ago Edwards & Co founder Mark Edwards returned to New Zealand with his husband and joined the family business in a sales role.
The brand was born after he watched a grandmother on the side of the road, with a screaming grandchild, struggling to fold down a big pram into the boot of her car. She later abandoned the pram.
Witnessing that inspired Edwards to create a brand of strollers that looked good and were easy to use.
Prior to that the Edwards family had been importing and supplying baby and nursery goods to retailers in New Zealand for over 30 years, including bassinets and cots through its distribution agreement with British brand Snuz.
The business makes sales of between $10-$20 million each year. As a private company its exact figures are undisclosed.
At this stage Edwards & Co had no plans to open its own retail stores, and at present, it is stocked in independent New Zealand retailers Baby on the Move and Global Baby.
"In Australia we have been seeing our business doubling, if not tripling, year-on-year and for New Zealand we are a more mature market and we're seeing revenue growth in the high double digits," said Whitley.
Various members of the Edwards family work across the business in different roles and founder Mark Edwards remains active within the business as head of product and design.
Whitley said Edwards & Co was a small family business with big aspirations.
Being stocked in Baby Bunting would significantly boost sales, and open the doors for more large-scale retail supply deals, he said.
Edwards & Co spent eight months working towards the deal with Baby Bunting to make sure it has enough stock, and has so far sent thousands of strollers across the Tasman.
Each year the company produces close to 10,000 strollers, manufactured under license in China, and it expects to be doubling that number by the end of next year.
Edwards & Co has been showing at a baby show at Harrogate, in England, and has talks scheduled to discuss future supply deals with retailers there about its planned launch into that market mid-2023.
It is also working with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to identify export opportunity markets.
"Certainly after the UK we feel that the EU and western European countries are attractive for future expansion markets for us, as well as Ireland," Whitley said.
Edwards & Co has a small office in Melbourne and is based north of Auckland, in Silverdale.