The owners of Puj, a Vancouver-based baby product company, recently announced the planned launch of six new products by the end of the year. The company is also looking to hire three additional employees.
Husband and wife team Ben and Katie Richardson said the growth they have experienced since launching the company in late 2009 has allowed them to triple their product line and hire more staff, despite the sluggish economy.
“We started our company in a very down economy and we figured the only place to go was up,” Katie Richardson said. “That’s how it has been the whole time for us. If we can start and grow a business in a very down economy, then the sky is the limit.”
The Richardsons founded Puj after realizing that the baby products available to parents weren’t meeting their needs, especially those used during bath time. As a result, the industrial designers developed the Puj Tub, a soft and foldable baby bathtub that fits in a sink, which brought them immediate success.
“We had customers from Holland, Australia, France, people all over the world, paying up to $250 just in shipping to get our product because they wanted it that badly,” Katie Richardson recalled. “We knew we had to go big with it.”
After prototype testing, trade shows and features on the Ellen DeGeneres and Rachael Ray shows, Puj did indeed “go big.” The company reached $1 million in sales by the start of their second year, with Puj products sold at more than 600 retailers in 22 countries. The Puj Tub has been the number one baby bathtub on Amazon.com since 2011.
“This year we are projecting our revenue growing by another 50 percent from where we are at now,” Ben Richardson said.
That revenue growth will come partly as a result of upcoming product launches. The first shipment of Puj Snugs, soft faucet covers to protect children during bath time, arrived at the Vancouver design studio this week.
Seven employees and five unpaid interns work at the Columbia Way studio, which focuses on what Ben Richardson called the “core” parts of their business: product and brand design.
“It’s about functionally making life easier for parents,” he said. “We find a need, solve it and deliver it in a well-packaged, well-designed way. That’s the secret to our success.”
In addition to the Vancouver office, Puj employs roughly 100 people between two offices in Taiwan and China. A warehouse in Portland and manufacturers throughout Asia support the company as well.
Beyond the new products launching this year, the owners said a longer-term vision for Puj may include more than just baby bathing products. Feeding, travel and other types of products that make parenting easier are all growth opportunities for the Richardsons.
“Once a parent, always a parent,” Katie Richardson remarked. “We’ll grow with our kids and with our company. We won’t always do just baby products.”
