Two years ago, we wrote about Umbrolly, a British umbrella vending company that was just getting started. The company places umbrella vending units in public spaces, selling advertising space alongside brollies.
Since then, the concept has come along nicely. Umbrolly won funding in the Dragon's Den, a BBC television series that lets entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors to secure investment.
Umbrolly has signed deals giving them access to almost all of the United Kingdom's busiest shopping malls and rail stations. They've also appointed franchisees and distributors in The Netherlands, Australia and Ireland.
Not just working on sales, Umbrolly also managed to make time for innovation, adding a new mini vending unit to their range. The mini unit will be launching next month, and has become the focus of Umbrolly's business. It's compact size and battery operation allow it to be placed where customers are most likely to need an umbrella (usually near an exit). Over 700 units have already been ordered for the UK, and the machine is up for a British design award.
Opportunities? Umbrolly is actively seeking international distributors and franchisees, and has pointed out that smaller units mean lower start-up costs. Time to partner with them!
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Could you send us details of your umbrella machines. we have an immediate inquiry for 30 off machines that will hold about 50 umbrellas.
Many thanks
Having had close dealings with Umbrolly, I can tell you that they are a shambolic 'company', I use this term loosely - it is one director, a couple of helpers (unreachable) and a virtual office. They installed 12 machines which broke down in days, that was months ago, they still sit with 'out of order' signs, and the company is simply unreachable. a disaster zone
Having had close dealings with Umbrolly, I can tell you that they are a shambolic 'company', I use this term loosely - it is one director, a couple of helpers (unreachable) and a virtual office. They installed 12 machines which broke down in days, that was months ago, they still sit with 'out of order' signs, and the company is simply unreachable. a disaster zone
we have these machines in our local shopping centre and i have seen them also in some other places in oxford. the price is cheap, but all the umbrellas are black. a great idea but i now have too many black umbrellas at home...
love the product! googled you after seeing and using your machines in Cologne, and Dusseldorf recently. Would like to know where else in Germany you have put the machines, or if you are looking for a partner to grow for the rest of germany. I live in the west but think that outside of Koln and Dusseldorf, that Berlin would be great!
Springwise, can you tell me where I can buy these machines? I have just used one for the first time in Bristol and found it to be simple and cheap. This is the first time I have used one, but my wife apparently a stash of the brollies bought from machines in the City Centre, and I would like to know how much they cost to buy. Do you also sell them overseas, and what might they cost to take to Florida for example? how many do i need to buy?
Hi
I am very interested in the umbrella vending machines and would like to know about the services you provide in the glasgow area.
Many Thanks
James
James Kelly | August 4, 2007 9:41 PM