Realizing the threatening toll that the pandemic would have on small-owned businesses and their brands, Bespoke Post established the Support Small Initiative in March 2020. As the leading subscription and e-commerce service, Bespoke Post seeks out high-quality, under-the-radar goods for promotion, making small businesses their top suppliers and accounting for 90% of the products they sell. The company was pleased to announce that over the course of the pandemic it had purchased over $50 million in product from small businesses and introduced over 1500 new brands.
While they now tout their over 300,000 subscribers across the U.S. and Canada, Bespoke Post actually began quite humbly in 2011. Co-founders Steve Szaronos and Rishi Prabhu would find products they personally loved and then promote them online. They felt great satisfaction in packing up the orders, and shipping ’em out by hand, as they tell it.
Their successful model, truly aligned with small-owned businesses, gave them a special understanding of how the pandemic was impacting the small business economy. With the pandemic receding, they are feeling better, particularly having heard from some of their small business partners who are moving forward as well.
“Prior to partnering with Bespoke Post, we were and are a tiny startup, and had only been in operation for three months when I got in touch,” said Nic Stephenson, Co-founder of oHHo CBD. “The partnership helped us reach new audiences and provides super elegant content for our growing business. It has also been key to our investor story that we partnered with Bespoke Post so early in our journey.”
oHHo CBD is one of the many brands Bespoke Post positively impacted during the pandemic. They tout the relationships they have established with other small-owned businesses such as Oxford Pennant, Daggerfish, Old Whaling Co., Servant Coffee, GUY FOX, Kyrgies and many more.
“Bespoke Post was founded with a mission centered-around product discovery, and we believe small businesses are the best vehicle to deliver that to our customers,” said Michelle Zara Evans, the Chief Merchandising Officer at Bespoke Post. “To us, small businesses are synonymous with quality, craftsmanship, and stories—all elements our customers look for.”
Szaronos and Prabhu are now looking at the opportunities emerging for their company that they feel will strengthen their engagement with their small-owned business suppliers and their thousands of customers.
“We place large purchase orders that help them scale their operations, while also marketing them to our engaged audience through our site, social channels, and email list, leading to an increase in brand recall and purchase intent for our partners. As we have grown, we have increasingly been able to buy in large-scale quantities, which creates a unique platform through which we can really help small makers grow and tell their story,” said Szaronos. “
