Winter 2021

30 Sep21419 Best Infant Teething Product (Australia): Mizzie The Kangaroo Multi-award-winning Mizzie The Kangaroo is Home of Australia’s Original Natural Teething Toy® and collection of educational toys for babies and toddlers. With the knowledge (and first-hand experience!) that children learn best while enjoying themselves, Mizzie the friendly Queensland kangaroo was born with the purpose of supporting the development of young children from 0-4 years old. All Mizzie products are designed by an inhouse team of mums and exported around the world. Already supporting over 65k babies worldwide, Mizzie products are now proudly sold in the UK, USA, Poland, Hong Kong, and Canada, available for purchase from John Lewis and Not On The High Street, as well as a growing number of beautiful independent stores. Mizzie The Kangaroo is a 100% natural rubber teething toy, recognised globally as a great working and comforting natural teether for babies as early as only a few months old. Her lightweight shape has been perfectly designed to suit little hands, giving plenty of places to hold on to, no matter the size of hand or ability. Her bright colour makes her stimulating for baby’s eyes, as well as easy to find. And being a product made from natural materials, she gives peace of mind to all parents and carers, knowing that their babies can safely chew on her. All other products feature Mizzie as the enabler to teach age-appropriate skills in a fun way. As such, Mizzie can take babies on a fun learning journey all the way to their toddler years, in her uniquely fun and Aussie way. The Mizzie team prides itself in developing and manufacturing products that are natural, sustainable, eco-friendly, and purpose-driven, and the company’s mission has always been to think of ways to have a positive impact on children’s development and futures, the environment, and community. The products are natural and safe, using absolutely minimal packaging which is recyclable. The team thrives on having a positive impact on children’s development around the world. And the company believes that it is parents who often have the best insights into children’s journeys, as well as parenting journeys. As such, it aims to employ parents as a large part of the team, giving them opportunities to work for a global brand with great flexibility. Through the realisation that there so many talented mums looking for work, Mizzie embraces employing part-time team members and keeps an open mind about flexible working arrangements. Everyone has the opportunity to make their mark and it has a team culture that is highly motivated, inspired and flexible. While Mizzie sees excellent success around the world, it did unfortunately find the first half of 2021 extremely challenging. Pre- COVID, its business model was 80% wholesale, 20% online. With all retailers shutting overnight, the biggest challenge was business survival. Mozzie had to completely flip its business model, reorganising its digital flows and customer journeys, and optimising and increasing its digital ads and spend, as well as taking the cash-flow risk to finalise a new product launch. The risks paid off though and the company was rewarded with a huge online growth, with a business that was essentially flipped on its head. Also, the shipping congestions occurring worldwide have been a reality challenge for all product-based business. Having come out the other side thriving, the future is looking very bright for Mizzie. It is looking forward to sharing some exciting new things which are happening in the next 12 months. Speaking about Mizzie’s win in LUXlife magazine’s Parent and Baby Awards 2021, company founder, Sandra Ebbott said, “We are so happy to see the continued love and support for our products in the UK. We love all our new Mizzie fans and customers, and to see our products have a positive impact to bubs all over the world reminds us that all the hard work we are putting in is more than worth it. “It’s also great to see the growth in our retail partners, and recognition among them. We are also hugely proud of all the awards that we are receiving, including very recently, The Independent Toys Awards, Made for Mums, Mother & Baby Awards, and Junior Design Awards, to name just a few!” Company: Mizzie The Kangaroo Contact: Sandra Ebbott Email: [email protected] Website: www.mizziethekangaroo.com

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