Who on earth needs a van organiser?
The over 3000 people who have purchased the myXplorer van organiser seem to think they do, making it the UK’s number 1 van accessory on Amazon with excellent reviews.
myXplorer is designed specifically for tradespeople and van drivers to make long and stressful days on the road a bit easier. It creates space for work and personal items to always be in safe and easy reach and organise what is essentially your office on the road. But how did this small UK business based out of Buckinghamshire get started? Not how you would expect!
Lucy Brackett, who owns myXplorer, explained: “I have 3 young kids and after one terrible car journey, we got stuck in the car for eight hours. After this I started looking for ways to keep the kids’ toys and snacks in the car so they could reach everything themselves. There wasn’t anything that really suited me, so I decided to make it myself and myXplorer was born as a way to help families stay organised on the road.”
Then COVID hit…
“Like many others, my small business was badly affected. I had put all my savings into it and the nerves definitely hit when sales fell because families were not travelling anymore” Lucy explained. However, somehow myXplorer kept on selling a small amount of organisers, to Lucy’s surprise. She continued, “I reached out to these new customers as I was interested in knowing who was still buying from us, and realised we had developed a small but loyal following amongst van drivers and tradespeople.”
Still working throughout the pandemic, delivering goods and providing services we so urgently needed, these daily drivers gave such positive reviews about the myXplorer organiser and how it helped them. Lucy decided to research ways to make the organisers better suited to these customers by speaking to more tradespeople, testing different concepts, and finally launching a version specifically tailored for tradespeople and other daily van drivers.
How did you adapt the organiser?
The first change was to adjust the size of the organiser to maximise carrying capacity whilst fitting well in the middle of the passenger front seat of a typical van. Then came better cup holders, as many tradespeople and van drivers found their vehicle did not have large enough options. An insulated and waterproof cooler bag was also added for lunch and drinks, giving all day cooling and a little extra comfort on hot summer days. And there you have it, a way to keep paperwork and tools organised, and stay nourished in between jobs!
How much of a difference did this make to this business?
“Once we made these changes,” Lucy tells me, “we found the reviews really stepped up and we got a whole load of love for our products from the trades and van driving community. We have even had a fleet manager purchase almost 80 for their entire fleet!”
“I’m really proud of how much we have involved tradespeople and van drivers to gradually create something that is really well thought out for them. This group of people gave me so much hope in a time when my dream of running a small business almost died. Really listening to them and continuously adding features they love is the least I can do to repay this trust. For its unique design, myXplorer now benefits from a pending patent.”
What’s next for myXplorer?
“We want to learn from even more tradesmen and sell directly to more of our customers”, says Lucy, “Amazon has been amazing for our business, but they take a massive cut from what we do and limit our customers’ ability to give us feedback. Selling directly will help us to offer even lower prices and a more personal service to our customers.”
To celebrate the launch of the website, Lucy is offering Tradesman Saver readers 20% off on the myXplorer organiser. Visit myxplorer.com and enter the code TRADESMAN20 during checkout to take advantage of this special offer. myXplorer has never been priced this low before so make sure you grab your organiser before the 31st September when the code runs out!
