For a lot of small companies, promoting a product isn’t merely about making a revenue, however quite fulfilling a better mission. For Pipermoon, a Pacific Northwest-based blanket firm, that mission is to “present hugs one blanket at a time.”
And since launching its ecommerce retailer on BigCommerce three years in the past, Pipermoon is barely getting began.
Impressed by the nostalgia of child blankets, Pipermoon provides teen- and adult-size blankets made out of a stretchy, weighted cloth. Whether or not a buyer goes via a tough season, staying within the hospital or scuffling with insomnia, Pipermoon Blankets supply a supply of security and luxury for anybody who wants it.
A Blanket #LikeaHug
In line with Kimberly Cannon, Founding father of Pipermoon Blankets, the enterprise obtained its begin for a distinct motive.
Residing in a rural city, Cannon’s youngsters typically had lengthy, late-night bus rides getting back from highschool basketball video games on faculty nights. When she found that her daughter and her teammates had been sleeping on the ground of the bus, Cannon instantly noticed a necessity.
She got here up with the thought of an adult-sized, simply washable blanket that would simply match within the youngsters’ duffle luggage whereas touring — and so turned Pipermoon Blankets.
However when the pandemic hit, the imaginative and prescient for Pipermoon took a distinct path. Amid the uncertainty and concern of the pandemic, lots of Pipermoon’s clients turned to their blankets as a supply of consolation, so Cannon and her workforce took the thought and ran with it.
“Particularly when COVID-19 hit and everybody was social distancing, clients would ship our blankets to their family members saying, ‘I can’t hug you in particular person, so I’m gifting you my favourite blanket that’s identical to a hug,’” Cannon stated. “That truly turned our hashtag — #LikeaHug — as a result of our clients directed us that method.”
However this mission of consolation doesn’t cease with Pipermoon’s clients. Cannon herself aspires to dwell out Pipermoon’s mission within the little moments of her day-to-day life.
“I’m at all times go go go,” Cannon stated. “So I’ve not too long ago been attempting to create rituals in my life like placing a blanket round me sitting on the porch, watching the sundown or with a cup of tea — simply attempting to be current and observe a little bit bit extra self care.”
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Giving Again — One Blanket at a Time
From the day Pipermoon was born, Cannon knew she wished to make use of her enterprise as a method to give again.
“Once I was in school on the College of Utah, I used to be volunteering on the Major Kids’s Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis,” Cannon stated, “and I seen every day that there are such a lot of actions, presents and applications for the youngsters which can be in long-term stays, however not fairly as many for youngsters.”
For greater than 20 years, this problem caught in Cannon’s thoughts, and was later rekindled when a detailed household good friend underwent therapy for mind most cancers. As a 14-year-old, he was capable of affirm precisely what Cannon had noticed in school — that whereas there have been actions and presents out there for the youngsters, they had been primarily designed for youthful kids.
Understanding how a lot consolation their blankets had introduced different clients, Cannon knew that Pipermoon was the right alternative to unravel the issue she had contemplated on for therefore a few years. At present, Pipermoon Blankets donates a proportion of its blankets to Major Kids’s Medical Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles and St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
A Huge Group of Small Companies
Wanting again on the final three years of Pipermoon, Cannon acknowledges that being a small enterprise proprietor isn’t any small feat — however you’re by no means alone.
When requested what recommendation she would give herself three years in the past, Cannon emphasised the significance of group. Connecting with different feminine small enterprise homeowners via The Product Boss podcast, Cannon defined that the group of girls is ready to speak to one another via points that come up and stroll with each other via their very own enterprise journies.
“It’s actually essential to search out individuals which can be in the identical form of trade, who’re prepared to speak to you and information you thru all the challenges of proudly owning a small enterprise,” Cannon stated.
A Mission Fulfilled
Regardless of the challenges that include being a small enterprise, for Pipermoon, the one factor that makes all of it value it’s seeing their mission come to life.
“We’ve got some mother and father which have autistic kids who’ve reached out to me to inform me that their little one slept for the primary time in 4 years,” Cannon stated. “That was an e mail I simply obtained final week and it simply made me cry. These are the most effective issues.”
Whether or not it’s listening to {that a} buyer used their blanket as a consolation throughout a tough time, or {that a} buyer’s little one or husband stole their blanket as a result of they beloved it a lot — Pipermoon desires its blankets to really feel #LikeaHug regardless of the rationale.
“The perfect factor is while you see a repeat buyer order,” Cannon stated, “as a result of you already know that your mission and what you’re attempting to perform is touching different individuals’s lives, too.”
The Remaining Phrase
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