Ideal Shopping Direct craft channel grows

SALES at Create and Craft TV, part of Ideal Shopping Direct, grew by seven per cent last year to £76.3 million and new customers grew by more than 19 per cent.

This resulted in the creation of 50 new jobs in Peterborough, taking the total number employed in the city to 398.

The UK craft market is valued at £3.5bn and is growing. The profile of crafting is high with a renewed interest thanks to BBC television shows like The Great British Bake Off and The Great Sewing Bee.

CEO of Ideal Shopping Direct, Mike Hancox, said, “Creating jobs and increasing sales is always good news. We are well positioned in a growing market and have made the most of the opportunity, which is reflected in our solid performance and growth. A huge part of this is down to the talent and hard work of the team here in Peterborough. They delivered outstanding growth, improved customer satisfaction and and helped to attract thousands of new customers. Our customers are clearly enjoying watching, shopping and crafting with us, which is in turn good for our suppliers, many of who are small and medium sized UK based companies. We have lots more vacancies in the pipeline for talented creative people in Peterborough.”

Martyn Moore, director of NorthLight Media, one of Peterborough’s longest-established video producers, said, “These results are phenomenal. Create and Craft TV has hundreds of fascinating videos online and its financial performance proves how compelling online video really is.

“We have been creating ‘how-to’ and product demo films for more than five years in Peterborough and we have seen demand grow very fast. People seeking information online would far rather click ‘play’ and watch a professionally produced film than wade through lines and lines of text.

“It’s great that Ideal Shopping Direct is recruiting, too. Peterborough is able to offer great opportunities to people who want to make video content and the many businesses who want to use it to reach out to customers.”

For more information about online video and how it can help businesses, visit Videopeterborough.co.uk