How does it work?

Users can browse the catalogue of premium products and simply add to cart as with normal online shopping. Items are delivered straight to the customer on their chosen day. The subscription payments are taken monthly, and with a minimum rental period of a month the product can be returned whenever it has served its use. The items will then have a thorough clean, sanitise and safety check before they are ready for their next home.

Who does it help?

Parents! Baboodle’s launch catelogue primarily caters for children age 0 - 2 (an age where babies outgrow items at a particularly alarming rate) but parents to older children will also find many useful items for rent, particularly the travel-oriented products.

Baboodle works within current consumer behaviour. Parents have already adopted a circular attitude to kitting out their baby  - 59% of parents turned to buying second-hand in the nursery and baby equipment retail sector in 2021 (Mintel, 2022). c

What are the benefits of renting over buying?

Sustainable

In 2021 there were 625,000 new babies born (Office for National Statistics, 2022). The average baby in the UK has a 58.6 metric tonne carbon footprint annually (Wynes and Nicholas, 2017), much of which is as a result of the current consumption mindset regarding baby equipment - the carbon footprint of an average pram is approximately 450 kg CO2e (calculated on 2030 Calculator using Bugaboo Bee). Each baby needs a pram, a high chair, a carrier, a crib, a cot, and the list goes on. These items are outgrown and replaced multiple times within the baby’s first year.

Baboodle lengthens the lifespan of products, reducing CO2 and water waste in production, and saving products from landfill. Items are refurbished, reused, and ultimately donated (to UK baby banks) when they no longer fit Baboodle’s rental criteria.

“The objective for Baboodle is to make a real and tangible difference in the transition towards a more viable world by facilitating and encouraging mass adoption of the circular model. Parents are incentivised twice: as well as being ‘environmentally friendly,’ they will genuinely save themselves money, time, and space. The sustainable choice becomes the obvious choice.”

- Katie Hanton-Parr, Founder

Baboodle will contribute towards Global Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, by substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.

Cost effective

Each week the UK spends £7million on new baby and nursery equipment (Statista Research Department, 2022)... “as every parent knows, the vast majority of these purchases are short-term use, in favour with baby (or parent) until they’re not. Paying for access rather than ownership just makes more sense in this context.” - Katie Hanton-Parr, Founder.

It is estimated that in a year the average Baboodle customer will rent £1450 worth of short-term use equipment for just £38pm.

Time & space-saver

“Sourcing everything you need takes so much time, particularly if you are buying second-hand and having to juggle pick-ups, faulty products and marketplace ghosting. Then, at the other end you have the products which have been outgrown taking up space in your house while they’re waiting (and waiting and waiting) to be sold. Baboodle takes away all of that hassle.”~ Katie, Founder

Other advantages of the access subscription model include: try-before-you-buy (no need to commit to a £1000 cot before you know if you /your baby will like it), travel-friendly, allows for flexibility around seasons (e.g. more airy pram for summer, hardier pram for winter.)

Who is behind Baboodle?

Founded by Katie Hanton-Parr (Interior Architect by trade) after having a baby in late 2021.

“We were trying to kit out our baby in an environmentally conscious way, and on a shoestring. That meant hours spent trawling marketplaces, picking things up, cleaning them and, on several ocassions, fixing them when their condition had been embellished. On top of that, when our daughter arrived, we used about half of what we had bought, and have still yet to sell all the unused / outgrown bits (she’s 1 next month).  I think it was about 3 months in that I thought, okay, there must be a better way to do this.

The response so far has been incredible. So many parents have got in touch to say that they wished Baboodle had been around when they were having their first, which is exactly how the idea was born in the first place. A lot of our interest has come from parents who really want to contribute to the circular economy, but don’t want to pay the logistical cost.” ~ Katie, Founder

When did it launch?

Baboodle went live on the 1st October 2022.

What products will be stocked?

Most popular brands include Babyzen, Elvie, Bugaboo, Nanit, Artipoppe, Baby Bjorn, Snoo, Dockatot.

Products include: prams, baby carriers, cribs, high chairs, pram bassinets, baby monitors, breast pumps, sleeping pods, bouncers, travel items and more.

The catalogue of 50 initial products has been chosen based on a series of focus groups with mums, and the products they found most useful.

Additionally, all products are premium brands to ensure that they have the high quality demanded for a longer lifecycle.

The full catalogue can be viewed at www.baboodle.co.uk.