For a lot of small companies, promoting a product isn’t merely about making a revenue, however reasonably fulfilling a larger mission. For Pipermoon, a Pacific Northwest-based blanket firm, that mission is to “reward hugs one blanket at a time.”
And since launching its ecommerce retailer on BigCommerce three years in the past, Pipermoon is just getting began.
Impressed by the nostalgia of child blankets, Pipermoon provides teen- and adult-size blankets made out of a stretchy, weighted material. Whether or not a buyer goes via a tough season, staying within the hospital or fighting insomnia, Pipermoon Blankets supply a supply of security and luxury for anybody who wants it.
A Blanket #LikeaHug
In accordance with Kimberly Cannon, Founding father of Pipermoon Blankets, the enterprise acquired its begin for a unique cause.
Residing in a rural city, Cannon’s youngsters typically had lengthy, late-night bus rides getting back from highschool basketball video games on college 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 grew to become Pipermoon Blankets.
However when the pandemic hit, the imaginative and prescient for Pipermoon took a unique course. Amid the uncertainty and concern of the pandemic, a lot of Pipermoon’s prospects turned to their blankets as a supply of consolation, so Cannon and her group took the thought and ran with it.
“Particularly when COVID-19 hit and everybody was social distancing, prospects 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 mentioned. “That really grew to become our hashtag — #LikeaHug — as a result of our prospects directed us that approach.”
However this mission of consolation doesn’t cease with Pipermoon’s prospects. 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 mentioned. “So I’ve lately been making an attempt 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 making an attempt to be current and follow slightly bit extra self care.”
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Giving Again — One Blanket at a Time
From the day Pipermoon was born, Cannon knew she needed to make use of her enterprise as a strategy to give again.
“Once I was in faculty on the College of Utah, I used to be volunteering on the Main Youngsters’s Heart in Salt Lake Metropolis,” Cannon mentioned, “and I seen every day that there are such a lot of actions, items and packages for the kids which might be in long-term stays, however not fairly as many for youngsters.”
For greater than 20 years, this challenge caught in Cannon’s thoughts, and was later rekindled when an in depth household good friend underwent remedy for mind most cancers. As a 14-year-old, he was capable of verify precisely what Cannon had noticed in faculty — that whereas there have been actions and items obtainable for the youngsters, they had been primarily designed for youthful youngsters.
Realizing how a lot consolation their blankets had introduced different prospects, Cannon knew that Pipermoon was the right alternative to unravel the issue she had contemplated on for thus a few years. As we speak, Pipermoon Blankets donates a share of its blankets to Main Youngsters’s Medical Heart in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, Youngsters’s Hospital Los Angeles and St. Jude Youngsters’s Analysis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
A Large Neighborhood 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 neighborhood. Connecting with different feminine small enterprise house owners via The Product Boss podcast, Cannon defined that the neighborhood of ladies 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 might be in the identical type of trade, who’re keen to speak to you and information you thru all the challenges of proudly owning a small enterprise,” Cannon mentioned.
A Mission Fulfilled
Regardless of the challenges that include being a small enterprise, for Pipermoon, the one factor that makes all of it price it’s seeing their mission come to life.
“Now we have some mother and father which have autistic youngsters who’ve reached out to me to inform me that their baby slept for the primary time in 4 years,” Cannon mentioned. “That was an e-mail I simply acquired final week and it simply made me cry. These are the perfect 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 baby or husband stole their blanket as a result of they beloved it a lot — Pipermoon desires its blankets to really feel #LikeaHug irrespective of the explanation.
“One of the best factor is if you see a repeat buyer order,” Cannon mentioned, “as a result of that your mission and what you’re making an attempt to perform is touching different individuals’s lives, too.”
The Remaining Phrase
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