Have I Got This All Wrong? Farmshops & Wholesale Pricing | Ideas Incorporated with Laura Ward-Ongley

How do you make a new product feel premium without spending money in all the wrong places? Follow Laura on instagram   / laurawardongley   Follow EXEAT Tea on instagram   / exeattea   Visit EXEAT Tennis website https://exeatweekend.com In this episode of Ideas Incorporated, I receive the first tin samples for EXEAT Tea and start making some of the decisions that will shape how the brand looks, feels and ultimately makes money. One of the biggest questions is packaging. Rather than printing directly onto thousands of tins, I explore using beautifully produced labels instead, giving us more flexibility, reducing upfront costs and allowing different EXEAT Tea blends to carry their own distinctive artwork. I also take you behind the scenes of the EXEAT print process and explain how we create our original prints with our illustrator, Gemma. The same approach we have used in fashion is now being reimagined for tea, with hand-developed artwork that can move from clothing into packaging and help make each tin recognisably EXEAT. From there, we get into the commercial side of launching a consumer brand. I talk through the retail channels I’m considering for EXEAT Tea, including one particularly British institution: the farm shop. If you live outside the UK, British farm shops are much more than places selling produce from a farm. Many have evolved into beautifully curated food halls selling premium British food, gifts, homeware and independent brands, making them an interesting potential wholesale channel for EXEAT Tea. And that leads to one of the most important realities of building a product business: wholesale pricing. I explain why the price a customer sees on the shelf is very different from the amount the brand actually receives, how retailer margins affect our own gross margin, and why packaging, production costs and retail price all have to be considered together from the very beginning. There is also a little Wiltshire interlude as I take Reggie and Beatrice for a walk around Wardour Castle, one of my favourite places locally, while thinking through what comes next. ABOUT IDEAS INCORPORATED Ideas Incorporated documents how ideas become reality. I’m Laura Ward-Ongley MBE, a British founder, brand strategist and entrepreneur. Before starting my own businesses, I spent nearly two decades working in advertising, marketing and brand strategy. Today I’m building brands in public and sharing the decisions, mistakes, numbers, creative process and commercial realities that usually happen behind the scenes. Ideas are easy. Bringing them to life is the hard part. ABOUT EXEAT I founded EXEAT in 2021 as a British luxury courtwear brand for women. Designed in Wiltshire and made in Britain, EXEAT creates luxury women’s tenniswear and courtwear for tennis, padel, pickleball and golf, combining British sporting heritage, fashion, craftsmanship and performance. EXEAT has sold internationally since launch and has become the UK’s most exported luxury women’s courtwear brand. The business has been recognised as a UK Export Champion and featured in publications including Forbes, Vanity Fair and FT HTSI. Sustainability and British manufacturing have been central to EXEAT from the beginning, with an emphasis on limited production, considered sourcing, recycled performance fabrics and making closer to home. In 2025, I was awarded an MBE for services to exporting, sustainability and women in business. ABOUT EXEAT TEA EXEAT Tea is the newest chapter in the EXEAT story. It is a British tea brand being developed around the same ideas that have always sat at the heart of EXEAT: British heritage, craftsmanship, ritual, sport, design and the good life. I’m documenting the entire process, from tea blending, packaging and pricing to retail strategy, wholesale margins, manufacturing and launch. In this episode: EXEAT Tea packaging and tin development Luxury packaging on a start-up budget Printed tins vs labels Creating original brand artwork Fashion print design and illustration British farm shops and independent retail Wholesale pricing and retailer margins Gross margin in a consumer product business Launching a British tea brand Building a luxury brand British manufacturing Founder-led brand building Wardour Castle, Wiltshire #IdeasIncorporated #EXEAT #EXEATTea #BritishBrands #BrandBuilding #Entrepreneurship #LuxuryBrand #BritishTea