May Time Marketing is celebrating 25 years in business and back then in 1994 the industry was very small compared to now, with very little competition, says director Adrienne Mamo.
“Each wholesaler had their niche and particular look and our customers ordered at gift fairs and from our travelling reps,” she explains.
However, ecommerce and social media are now very important for daily communication but the personal relationships are still important.
“Carrying good levels of stock and working alongside our retailers is very important to stay competitive.”
May Time made its debut in Australia about 10 years ago and started exhibiting at the gift fairs a few years later in 2012.
Mamo says she was initially inspired to launch the company due to a lack of good kitchen and interesting homewares available in the NZ market and this then expanded to representing the range of brands and wholesaling in Australia also.
“We had Australians contacting us for product they were seeing in magazines and this led us to exhibiting and selling in Australia. Our Australian customers like our style and reference it often.
“We are the Australasian distributors for Broste Copenhagen and launch their new product at the Australian fairs. This year we were at Life Instyle.”
All May Time products have an ethical basis and Mamo constantly searches out the best local craftspeople that work with age-old traditions, have a sense of pride in their work and of course a nod to sustainability and local ethics.
“Sustainability has always been very important right back to when we first launched rattan and water hyacinth into the market in the 1990s. We work with natural fibres, recycled glass, FSC plantation timbers and with brands who adhere to standards such as GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), and Oeko-Texstandard 100 which guarantees textiles to be free from all harmful substances, including toxins and irritants.”
Want to read more? Check out the full article in our Giftguide Directory issue, which is out now!
