It has been a difficult few years for eCommerce, with the economic climate feeling like an ever-lasting battle. We have seen some of the UK’s favourite brands put together powerful initiatives to retain customers and a competitive edge. A significant aspect of companies' efforts to maintain customer loyalty is promoting key USPs, one of the most attractive being a commitment to eco-friendly values for today’s consumer. 

Katy Richmond, Operations Manager at PoleJunkie, a company that started in the owner’s bedroom, shares its success with IRX in being sustainable, resulting in a “60% returning customer rate.”

PoleJunkie was founded by two friends at university who were in the Pole Society. They both found that sourcing pole clothing to the UK was difficult, finding a gap in the market. PoleJunkie was born, allowing consumer’s the ability to mix and match clothing with other brands across the sector. PoleJunkie is now in its nineth year with 57 brands from all over the world. 

In an interview with Katy, she reveals PoleJunkie’s exciting future plans and how important it is for the eCommerce sector to remain as a community. “Our plan is to showcase the value of our brands and products. We plan on opening a pre-loved section of the site so people can sell amongst the community. Our main thing is, we want to build with the community and don’t want to be in the market alone. We want everyone to rise together, giving us the edge over the economy”. 

“What I want to get across is not to be scared of sustainability, be careful of green washing and see the benefits of your pocket. I want to show people how you can be sustainable whilst saving money and impacting the greater environment.”

Katy has been keeping PoleJunkie’s sustainability values at the forefront of her day-to-day role. Working closely with over 50 brands worldwide, she expresses how crucial it is to ensure brands are implementing the same values, with the aim of keeping the message consistent with the consumer. “We work with couriers to make sure we are using greener or the greenest processes. 90% of the brands we work with have recycled packaging and the fabrics are always sourced to the best of our ability. If we found out something wasn’t quite right, we would take action.”

Katy continues; “Our customer’s reviews always comment on our packaging and how eco-friendly it is. It is as important to them as it is to us, and we really listen to them when it comes to our packaging. Even as far as the tape, we only ever use paper tape”. 

With Katy now preparing for her upcoming session at IRX and eDX, she wants to show the audience how being sustainable can be a cost-reduction practice. Katy attended the show last year and explains why IRX is not one to miss. “IRX is so good for making those important connections, I still talk to people I met at last year's show and share tips with them. eCommerce is a community and it’s good to know we can rely on each other. In eCommerce it is different to other industries, we like to share and let people know top tips and what our next move is.”