Member Info for D-Geeman

'You utter complete and baffling conversations that most people's box.'

That is slightly ironic to say the least...

'Post period developments

Launch of Channel 4 TV campaign from April, sponsoring 'late nights on 4' for 12 months'

Thanks Don'tgive, same to you.

TP is slow this month. Last April there were 301 reviews and this April 17th we are still on only 66. Having said that, Avis-verifies in France is still ok.

And according to a Nectar points email this morning, it's possible to collect points on eve through Very https://www.nectar.com/brands/very

More up-to-date Very Group info:

https://www.theverygroup.com/media/news/2021/very-sales-and-new-customer-acquisition-drive-record-revenue-and-continued-profit-growth-for-the-very-group/

'The Very Group (the “Group”), which operates online retail brands Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com and LittlewoodsIreland.ie, today announces its full year results for the year ended 3 July 20211.
Very retail sales up 24.9% to £1,535.6m, driving 13% Group revenue growth to a record £2,317.1m
Very customers increased 12.4% to 3.82m, boosting Group customers by 7.6% to 4.82m
Group profit before tax of £81.7m, up 68.8% on the prior year, reflecting increased Very retail sales and improved cost management
The Group finished the year in strong financial health, with underlying operating cash flow of £245m'

I've seen 'Very' coming up as a seller of eve stuff, and did a little more digging this evening.

https://www.very.co.uk/e/q/eve-mattress.end?_requestid=1462730
https://www.very.co.uk/e/q/eve-bed.end?_requestid=1462998

I don't believe buyers through very get the eve trial period (or even perhaps the long guarantee) which i think has lead to some poor reviews; certainly, some less fair than TP reviewers are.

'Very' are actually quite big. This https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Group is according to (slightly dated 2016 figures) Wiki:

'The Very Group is a multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[1] It is based in the Speke area of the city of Liverpool, England. Established in November 2005 as a result of the merger of the former Littlewoods and Shop Direct companies, the retailer was known as Littlewoods Shop Direct Group until a corporate rebranding to Shop Direct Group in May 2008. In 2013, the company rebranded to Shop Direct, dropping the 'group' from its name.[2] Shop Direct rebranded themselves to The Very Group in 2020.[3]

A business group trading via several digital department stores, The Very Group traces its roots to a variety of mail order companies in northern England, the football pools and mail order business founded by John Moores, as well as the Manchester-based home shopping business of Great Universal Stores. These companies were purchased by Sir David and Frederick Barclay in 2003,[4] and a major business restructuring took place leading to a merger of two companies that had "been arch rivals for the best part of 100 years".[5]

Since the merger of what had been struggling businesses in 2005, ongoing restructuring and modernisation of the company has resulted in Shop Direct emerging as one of the largest online retailers in the UK. Its traditional paper-based and phone-in orders system has been superseded by electronic commerce technology.

The group is now amongst the largest online retailers in the UK, with annual sales of £1.86bn in 2016 and 62% of online sales coming from mobile devices.[6]

The group's brands are Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com, Very Exclusive and Littlewoods Ireland. The former Shop Direct brands are Additions Direct, Abound, Choice, Great Universal, Isme, K&Co, Kays, Marshall Ward and Woolworths. In 2009, The Very Group acquired the brand name of the failed Woolworths Group and re-established it as an online-only operation.'

Which means that you can buy eve through https://www.littlewoods.com/e/q/eve-sleep.end?_requestid=131478

Maybe possible to buy eves in Italy??
https://www.westwing.it/offerta/eve-sleep-il-piu-comodo-al-mondo/?gclid=CjwKCAjwur-SBhB6EiwA5sKtjis8kINHMrcgM5UtKauCPHA8KIL0aPg7PpY9KHu36kiugCI9AvVWoRoCafcQAvD_BwE

Web traffic in U.K. and France for March. France slightly up, which I like. Just now I haven’t got access to figures from 12 months ago

https://www.similarweb.com/website/evesleep.co.uk/#overview

https://www.similarweb.com/website/evesleep.fr/#overview

https://www.evesleep.co.uk/products/the-fluffable-feather-pillow

Just arrived with me but not new; maybe people have seen this on LinkedIn;

'eve Sleep
6,170 followers
3d • Edited • 3 days ago

At eve, we’re devastated by what’s happening to the people of Ukraine.

So when we saw Jeremy Fish at Ardent Hire Solution's post about a 1k mattress appeal, we knew we had to help.

Ardent Hire Solutions have been doing amazing work delivering supplies to Ukrainian refugees. Now they’re working with the Slovak Republic Rotary Club to get 1,000 mattresses to refugees travelling to Vyšné Nemecké, a small Slovakian village that borders Ukraine.

Ardent Hire Solutions have 210 mattresses at the moment. We’re donating 123, bringing the total to 333 mattresses.

But they still need loads more. So we’re calling out to Simba Sleep, Emma – The Sleep Company, Silentnight Group, Dreams… can you donate some mattresses? The Ukrainian refugees have been through so much already, let’s work together to at least give them something comfy to sleep on at night.

eve Sleep stands with Ukraine (blue heart yellow heart emojis)'

Looks like C4 own 4.5% of eve sleep:

SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDERS
OVER 3 PER CENT (AS AT 30 NOVEMBER 2021)

Octopus Investments 37,473,358 13.7%
Paul Pindar 15,334,885 5.6%
4 Ventures Limited 12,422,827 4.5%
DN Capital (UK) 11,578,031 4.2%

http://www.channel4.com › media › pdfs › 4vent...PDF
Channel Four Television Corporation s Wholly-owned trading subsidiary of. 4 Ventures Ltd. Channel 4 is a multi-channel, multi-platform media business.
'4 Ventures is the new holding company for all Channel 4's businesses other than the main channel, 4 Learning and 124 Facilities.'

Going back to the 'value' of eve I think their Which? Best Buy accolades are really very valuable, alongside eve's experience gained through hard work and a lot of expenditure since 2015.

Just suppose you wanted to start a fresh company making bed-in-box mattresses. It could take years to win a Which? accolade and actually, you may never do it. The people who've already won have more experience and Which? only do the test every couple of years (or more, hopefully).

Many customers mention Which? in their TP reviews and even their complaints ("how can Which? have got it so wrong" etc.).

To make the investment to beat eve, and Simba, Emma and the others, would be huge, and we know how difficult a challenge it would be. We've virtually done it and it's taken years – and £m's.

So why not just buy eve out instead? You get to say your mattresses are some of the best according to Which?, you have bags of experience (assuming the staff hang around) and a premium brand that's pretty recognisable and trusted. Not only that but eve have cash in the bank that's more or less what you'd have to pay for the company.

The catch of course is that you wouldn't get the shares at a price of <3p for very long, once people realised you were interested.

(PS If the share price went to 5p in the next 10 days, I'd just have to cope..)

Hi Wyn,

Your figures are larger than the ones I had in my head (CC and TP said they are normal people with bills to pay, which might be stretching 'normal' a tad but I hear what they said).

Also, they might be worried about too may eggs in the same basket like the rest of us. With it being the end of the tax year it could be someone using up this year's allowance and there'll be similar or bigger buys in a day or three, even if not a Director being the buyer.

Anyway, the rise today has put a spring in my step slightly ahead of our hols. I hope too much doesn't happen for 10 days or so.

Hi Wyn, if this buy
04-Apr-22 11:22:23 2.40 520,833 Buy* 2.10 2.40 12.50k
turned out to be a Director rather than a regular Pi how would you interpret that?

I hadn't noticed when I found that CBD review but CC had immediately tweeted about it:

'cheryl calverley
@cherylcalverley
·
22h
Ah, nice to see someone who knows their stuff liking our stuff!
Quote Tweet

CBD Sloth
@CbdSloth
· 22h
Eve Sleep CBD Oil Review
https://cbdsloth.com/reviews/cbd-oil/eve-sleep-cbd-oil-review/… @eve_sleep'

' as he didn’t really say what he actually thought!'
I think it was written to imply CBD is good for sleep without making concrete claims that might not stand up to scrutiny, or may generate complaints from Emma and Simba etc.. (A bit like claiming arnica heals bruising without medical proof; many people believe it does, even in my family, but I'm not particularly one of them.)

Dontgive, I think they've come a long way since Sturrock and CC began to run the show. And the products are in more and more places. Yes, 11,000 TP reviews (I recall when it was less than 3000) but also the Total reviews from the past 12 months is at around 3000, so fairly consistent for the last 18m, and not including revenue that should come from DFS sales.

The CBD guy seems to be pretty clued up. It's an article that people will find if they are interested in CBD. He doesn't actually make claims for eve's CBD, just clarifies that it comes in different strengths (that can be trusted) and that he personally found that CBD works for him.

All those eve products, and the sloth name, imply he's either a huge fan or it's by agreement with eve.

https://cbdsloth.com/about/
'Sloth’s are seen as dopy, but are actually very intelligent. They enjoy their sleep (so much that moss grows on them). They are gentle and soft creatures that don’t wish harm on others. What’s not to love? The connections were too close to ignore, so it all begun!

Years later, I’ve now tested over 200 different products. I have tried it all, including oils, balms and creams, teas and coffees, chocolates, gummies, chewables and capsules, but to name a few.

I had also struggled to sleep at night throughout my entire life. I would spend hours every night lying in bed as a child and this didn’t change as I became an adult. Finding CBD oil, it was the first point in my life that I could fall asleep after just 20 minutes.

The mission of CBD Sloth is to provide transparency in the cowboy world of CBD oil. While so many brands hide quantities, details or sources of their product, my aim is to review and offer a genuine reaction to products in the industry, allowing the end user to pick the right product for them.'

The 'test' seems more like PR in collaboration but I'm not certain. The photos (and text) could hardly be more 'pro-eve'.

Here's more about the author, in a Daily Telegraph piece:

'“Before the Covid-19 outbreak here I was going to the gym two or three times a week,” explains Tom Bourlet, 32, a Brighton-based travel blogger. “When lockdown came I paid £500 for an adjustable dumbbell set and an exercise bench so that I could work out from home.”
Bourlet found that the convenience of not having to journey to the gym led him to push his training beyond his usual routine. “I’d get a bit bored and do more weightlifting than usual, upping my sessions to five times a week and with heavier weights.”
“It started well but I pushed myself too hard. I was doing shoulder press exercises one morning and felt a twinge in my neck and shoulder my left side. Within a few minutes, the pain really started kicking in.”
Bourlet self-diagnosed a ‘rotator cuff’ injury. “They’re the tiny muscles that connect the joint in the shoulder and arm. They’re easy to injure and once you’ve done them they tend to recur.” He stopped lifting the weights immediately. “I couldn’t even go out on my bicycle either as I couldn’t turn my head to see when riding.”
According to the private health insurer, Bupa, Bourlet is one of 7.2 million Brits who’ve been injured while trying to stay fit during the lockdown. Of those who reported injury as a result of exercise during lockdown, 30% had been doing classes online or via apps, 28% had been weight training and 22% have used home gym equipment............'

https://cbdsloth.com/reviews/cbd-oil/eve-sleep-cbd-oil-review/

Completely unconnected, reminisces by joint-founder of Eve, Kuba Wieczorek. Sounds like they were pretty 'low' when they departed and the turnaround began with James Sturrock:
https://www.ministryvenues.com/event-huddle/
'An evening with Kuba Wieczorek

Join Event Huddle for An Evening with Kuba Wieczorek hosted by Ryan Curtis-Johnson. From Account Director to founder of a multimillion pound company Kuba Wieczorek's life became what dreams are made of. With a lot of hard work Kuba went from an employee to founder of Eve Sleep which in only two years was valued at £140 million. “About six months after Jas (my business partner) left I hit rock bottom as well. You know, really rock bottom, I realised that it was either my health and my family, or staying at Eve, so I made the right choice. I resigned.” Join Event Huddle Late with Kuba & Ryan to talk about his career, family and decisions. His amazing story is not to be missed. Ministry Venues - 79 Borough Road - 5.30pm'

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/gallery/weighted-blankets-uk/amp

Best weighted blanket: Eve Sleep Weighted Blanket (£199)
What takes Eve Sleep's weighted blanket above and beyond is its design. Made with no glass beads, only 100 per cent cotton, it feels softer, more comfortable and is far easier to fall asleep with. It’s as close to a hug as a blanket can get.