As it prepares to celebrate its 30th birthday, Mamas & Papas is looking beyond the UK while staying true to its family roots.

When you look at a picture of the Scacchetti family you could be forgiven for thinking that you are looking at a catalogue shoot.

They all have the good looks of models, but this family are a lot more than just good genes. They have been running nursery retailer Mamas & Papas for the past 30 years since the birth of their first daughter.

Originally from Italy, Luisa and David Scacchetti were frustrated by the lack of desirable baby products when they were expecting their first child. So they began importing products from Italy, which quickly proved popular in the under-served UK market.

From there they moved into developing their own products, as well as beginning to succeed in their ambition of opening more stores to showcase their growing ranges.

And the story since then has proved that the company was right to focus on offering products that no other retailers could, with its latest expansion being international, serving other markets where it feels there is a gap.

Commercial director for the retailer Tim Maule says: “They opened their first store in the early 1980s in Huddersfield wanting to inject fashion into what was a very dull offer elsewhere.”

As it approaches its 30th year,the brand has gone global in a big way with a major deal agreed this year with Babies R US in the US, part of toy giant Toys R US. It has also opened in places such as Greece and Japan, and hopes to continue growing its international presence with key retail partners.

Design for growth

Although the baby market is often thought to be recession-proof, Maule says that this is not always the case.

“I don’t think it is fair to say the baby market is immune,” he says. “What it does mean is that people having a baby are more demanding.”

Mamas & Papas sales in the year to April 4 were up 20% to £91.9m. Operating profit for the year reached £2m, up from £224,000 the year before.

The company invests from very early stages the developing and testing of products. This is a key focus and every product it makes is tested vigorously at a facility by its West Yorkshire head office.

“Product development has always been at the heart of the business,” says Maule. “In the early 1990s heavy investment began and we invested in specific teams for each sector. The research and development facility on site employs 100 people and is more than 12,000 sq ft.”

In the UK, Mamas & Papas now has 56 stores and it says that its successful retail expansion has allowed it to continue to innovate in its product. “Our research facility gives us a unique proposition and we are one of the few [retail] brands that only sells its own products,” says Maule.

Those products now range from pushchairs, toys, and furniture to babywear and maternity wear.

Although building its reputation with pushchairs, it has moved more into the fashion space in recent years, with a growing range of maternitywear including lingerie and well-tailored outfits for all stages of the pregnancy.

Maule says that it is the specialist service offered in conjunction with its fashion that sets Mamas & Papas apart from the raft of high street fashion retailers including Topshop and River Island that now offer fashion for mothers-to-be.

Maule says it has bumps in stores that pregnant women can use to see how the clothes will look when they get to later stages of their pregnancy, for example. Fashion now accounts for 18% of the total business.

This is not to say it has taken its focus off its other offers, which it has been having to adjust to the modern customer such as more masculine push chairs for the modern hands-on father.

Product development is also now having to be done on a much more global scale. “Whenever you expand internationally the challenge is appropriate for different markets; coping with the northern and southern hemisphere and different tastes in colours,” says Maule.

Maule has been with the company for 20 years and in that time has seen a lot of changes in the nursery market. “With any business dealing with parents clearly people’s expectations are very high,” he says. “You sort it out for one generation of parents then the next generation wants something completely different.”

Now parents are far more time-poor than they used to be, with both parents often working. This means being able to pick up everything for a baby’s needs in one store is even more important.

Mamas & Papas has also expanded its online offer and exclusive products offered online only. And a tie-up with home shopping group Shop Direct Group has expanded its reach further, allowing it to sell some of its products through Shop Direct’s sites.

The growth of Mamas & Papas has not been a sprint, and Maule admits that as a business it can be more cautious than some. When it decided to start working with its first international partner, for example, it researched for a year before making the decision.

“Retail expansion in the last year has been quicker because we have worked for some time on getting the retail footprint right. We established carefully the optimum size of store and identified carefully where we need stores,” Maule says.

“Our investment decisions are often for the long term. We can afford to take a long-term view and build a firm foundation.” Its cautious approach also means it has been able to keep its independence and not rely on outside influences.

As a family business, Maule also says it benefits from not having a big hierarchical structure and the family is still involved in everything that goes on.

Its focus now will be on growing its international business, with new deals signed recently in Malta and Canada, and the deal with Babies R Us, which the company believes will add an estimated $10m to $15m (£6.4m to £9.6m) to earnings in the first year of trading.

Mamas & Papas will sell a selection of products including pushchairs and accessories in 23 Babies R US stores, including its US partner’s iconic toy store in Manhattan, FAO Schwarz.

With the 340-store portfolio boasted by Babies R Us, this deal has a lot of scope to grow if it goes well and Mamas & Papas hopes it can sell a wider range of its offer over time.

Maule says: “Our aim very much is to become the world’s favourite nursery retailer. We don’t want to be the biggest, but the favourite.”

In five years Maule says it hopes to have a footprint across Europe, the US and in key Asian markets through stores and retail partners. Maule says that it will also continue to invest in product, with £20m earmarked for product investment in the next five years.

He says that having product that the company knows it can trust, particularly in the baby market, is also important as it reaches a more global audience. “It gives us a tremendous backbone not having to rely on anyone else,” says Maule.

With retailers such as Mothercare proving how well nursery brands can travel on an international level, and few competitors at the same level, Mamas & Papas is in a solid position.

International growth can be difficult to juggle but this is a company that does not go into anything lightly, and with the family touch and attention to detail that keeps this retailer unique, it has a solid grounding for continued success at home and abroad.