‘You’re spot on’

In May, we revealed the results of a study, which showed that almost half (45 per cent) of UK adults have been receiving more parcel deliveries since measures designed to limit the spread of Covid-19 began.

One such business, who have benefitted from our help during the pandemic, is husband and wife team, Jon and Nicola Walters, who run UK Table Tennis Ltd - the UK’s sole authorised importer of French ‘Cornilleau’ table tennis tables and equipment, and Italian ‘Garlando’ table football tables.

Established in 2005,  the West Sussex-based business has an annual turnover of more than £3m a year.

‘Table tennis used to only really be played in clubs at competition level,’ said director, Jon. ‘But over the past 10 years, interest in the sport has surged. When Table Tennis England and Sport England decided that table tennis was a good enough sport to be promoted to the public as a leisure activity, they launched the free street table tennis project known as ‘Ping.’

‘We’ve been involved in Ping from the start and in that time, we’ve seen a massive spike in the number of customers putting table tennis tables in their gardens. Obviously with the arrival of the pandemic, that interest has gone through the ceiling. In line with other areas of the leisure industry, I think that anyone who was selling anything that people could put in their gardens for their kids to play with or to help them keep fit, has seen business take off.

‘The part of the business that has gone really well is accessories -  the bats and the balls - which we sell and dispatch from here. Because they’re small packaged items, it has been ideal.

‘The products come from China and India to the warehouse in France, which was completely full of stock, so we have been able to keep those sales going. We had lorries turning up here with pallets of stock, so it was fine getting the goods in, but getting them out…that’s where Royal Mail saved the day.

‘We use the Click and Drop system. All our accessories are Jiffy or polybag items and in the last two months, that side of the business has increased by over 500 per cent. We recently sent out more than 600 items in just seven days, which considering it’s just the two of us, was really hard work! The accessories have been a lifesaver for us because we haven’t been able to get the big capital items out of the factories.

‘We’ve always had a really good relationship with the team at Horsham Delivery Office. You can almost set your watch by them. They always come in with a smile. Right throughout this crisis, I’ve been really impressed with the way Royal Mail has supported us. Special thanks to collections manager, Andy Bennett, who I’ve known for some time, and Naomi Parr in your sales team, who has always kept in touch to ask how Royal Mail can support us.

‘If Royal Mail hadn’t continued to offer their service both locally and throughout the country, as a small family business, we wouldn’t have been able to continue during the lockdown. So, I’d just like to say a great big thank you to everyone involved. We’ve been here for 15 years and I’ve got no complaints about the way Royal Mail support us. You’re spot on.’