Cost of living, inflation, supply chain or energy crisis - doesn't it seem as though there's a reason for everyone to "justify" hiking prices just at the time where we're all struggling more?
Reflecting back over recent years, it's both interesting and alarming. We observed similar behaviour during the pandemic, where genuine people were taken advantage of. It's one of the reasons Virtuenity was initially formed and the reason you'll find value, cost and service at the heart of our company values.
One size doesn't fit all...
We like to think we're a little different. Where some see challenges, we see opportunity. When things get hard, we just work harder. Why? Because we understand that for many young people with additional needs or neurodivergent conditions, pricing parents, carers and professionals out of the market is exactly the wrong thing to be doing. Life is stressful enough, so let's not add to the burden.
Our young people have enough to contend with, whether societal norms or getting through one of "those days". We want to ensure our range of products remains at the lowest sustainable price, while not compromising on quality. Here are just some of things we've been working on back at Virtuenity HQ:
- Sourcing - we've spent hours upon hours, at ridiculous times of the day, negotiating with our suppliers in the far east. Whether negotiating volume discounts or devising ways to cut production costs, we've been able to mitigate any increase in raw material cost.
- Smarter solutions - working with our import partner, suppliers and UK logistics partners, we've funded additional capital to gain efficiencies-of-scale to mitigate increased shipping and transportation costs.
- Domestic postage - domestic postal couriers have increased prices. As an online retailer, we send purchased items daily, therefore are exposed as much as anyone else. We have chosen to absorb those increases. Our delivery charges remain as they always have.
- New lines - we continue to make new product lines available to our family of Virtuenity customers. We have a healthy pipeline of new products in the next 12 months.
To you, this means we can continue to offer our products at the prices you expect. No gimmicks, no limited-time deals, just plain-old decency. Know we're working hard behind the scenes to support our extended Virtuenity family. That's what we're all about.
So, returning to where we started:
Cost of living, inflation, supply chain or energy crisis - doesn't it seem as though there's a reason for everyone to "justify" hiking prices just at the time where we're all struggling more?
Answer: No, not everyone! No price increases here, thank you!