Craft Focus - August/September 2020 (Issue 80)

68 Tools for success Dan Delic, managing director of Shesto talks to Craft Focus about more than 100 years of successful trading Tell us a little bit about the history Shesto Ltd was founded in 1907 by Nathan Shestopal. He was later joined by his son Jack in 1921 who managed the company for nearly 50 years. Between them, they developed the company over the next few decades. In 1963 Richard Shestopal (now chairman) joined the family business. In the early days the company dealt with watch parts, but Richard and myself (when I joined the company in 2004) diversified and developed the products to the wide range of hobby sectors that are available today. The company has won many accolades over the years, from the Queen’s Award for Enterprise International Sales in 2004 to various trade and export awards. What challenges have you overcome during this time? Shesto managed to expand its product ranges into new markets when other areas, such as watch parts slowed. By marketing the product through careful branding and packaging, Shesto was able to align itself with these new sectors such a modelling, hobby and craft as well as precision engineering and electronics and even cake decorating and hobby jewellery making. It’s never a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket. Talk us through your current collections. Shesto has a family of brands. These include: • The ModelCraft Collection – Comprehensive range of useful often hard to find precision hand tools and accessories. • RotaCraft – Compact 12v and 230v rotary tools and accessories. • SolderCraft – A collection of soldering irons, tips and sets. • SprayCraft – Ready-to-use airbrushes, compressors and accessories for beginner and professional, including Airbrushes and colours for cake decorating. • LightCraft – Lighting & Magnification Solutions (our most generic brand, as these can be used across a wide range of market sectors). • JewelTool – Precision tools for hobby jewellery making. • PoliCraft – High quality polishing made simple. • Shesto – Ultrasonic cleaning tanks, accessories and solutions. What’s your bestselling product? In terms of unit sales, the complete range of craft knives and sets, as they cut across (mind the pun) many uses and market sectors. What crafts are becoming more popular? We’re seeing a general increase in the sale of hobby & craft products across the board, from creative crafts to railway modelling. There are now various TV programmes covering craft, model making, jewellery making, repair & restoration and cake decorating, encouraging people to have more me-time and less screen-time. How often do you launch new products? We try to launch something new every month and are always on the lookout for new ideas and trends. You need to stay agile and alert in business. How would you advise a retailer who is interested in stocking your products? We have a very good trade portal and it’s quite simple to set up a trade account https://www.shestotrade.com/ We like to think that we’re easy to deal with and offer retailers a chance to carry a wide range without having to commit to large quantities of each product, they can order in singles if they wish and reorder as required. Our customer service team are very helpful and would love to talk to any retailer interested in trying any of our brands.