Update On our Party Supplies Business: We Have Bounced Back To Better Than The Pre-Pandemic Sales
This is a follow up story for Sydney Party Decorations. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 7 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
The Party People was started by “Patches The Clown” 35 years ago when she decided to open a small party store. She decided to launch an online store in 1998, so she got me and other IT uni students to make an e-commerce website, and we became the first online party store.
More notably, we offered to click and collect and became the first retailer to offer click and collect in Australia, which we called “pickup from store”.
The Party People is Australia’s largest party store offering over 30,000 party products, including costumes, balloons, decorations, novelties, candy, catering supplies, and more.
My brother and I took over the family business in 2007, opening a second store and growing the online business. When we took over, we had two employees, and now we have over 40.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
Recently we survived the pandemic and came out battered and bruised but in a better position than the competition. During the pandemic, we were down by 92% in sales. We asked our customers (the 8%) what they were buying and why and we figured out people were baking and needing entertainment for kids in lockdown.
We focused on helping people in lockdown since parties were illegal and sales boomed for categories such as baking, toys, and games. We did this by reorganizing our home page with a Coronavirus Survival banner and a set of categories to suit.
Since lockdowns ended, we have been inundated with business. People had been starved of gatherings and celebrations for two years, so they were playing catch up. I think we can all relate to this, when it ended, we couldn't wait to catch up with all our friends and family again.
Gatherings were more significant and more festive. So essentially, our recovery has been an organic explosion of demand. As we were in a powerful position after the pandemic, it allowed us to look for opportunities to acquire or open another store.
Focus on a niche and own it. Smash that niche and be the best in that niche.
We acquired a competitor that added 30% to our size late last year. This was a significant milestone for us to grow so much in one go. We are now focused on integrating the two businesses.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
Forecasting has been the biggest challenge with two years of pandemic sales, so the closest absolute reference is 3-year-old data. Sales are also larger than usual due to the pent-up demand mentioned earlier. So this was very difficult.
In addition, hiring staff has been extremely difficult. We have had trouble finding a great team at the usual rates, so we have had to increase our salaries to employ new staff and keep existing ones.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
Talk to your customers more to get to know them better. Before the pandemic, I would have said our success was because we knew our customers. Then when COVID hit, and the government made gatherings and parties illegal, our sales dropped 92%.
After we got over the shock, we decided to ask the customers (8%) what they were buying, given parties were illegal, and we found they were buying things to do in lockdown, such as games, toys, dress-ups, etc. So we created a coronavirus survival section on our site and made it the main banner on our homepage. We also focused our marketing efforts on this.
Our sales bounced back to being better than pre-pandemic levels. It shows we should always be talking to our customers to ensure we understand them.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year and the next five years?
As we just acquired a business, we want to integrate it and get the total synergies out of it. After that, we will seek to acquire another or open more stores.
The long-term goal is to have a national chain of party stores. We are also looking to raise capital to achieve this potential.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
Catch of the Decade by Gabby Leibovich. This book takes you through the journey of some guys who started a business in the local markets and went on to create multiple companies, all of which had high-profile exits in the 10s -100s of millions. They tell you how they did it.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their businesses?
Focus on a niche and own it. Smash that niche and be the best in that niche. Then use that as a base to grow from there.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I recommend going to our careers page as we are growing and always looking to hire good people. We do currently have positions open to hiring retail assistant managers.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
