Packed Party was dreamed up shortly after I moved to San Francisco and didn't know a soul. I called my mom upset and she told me I was having a Pity Party. Feeling sorry for myself, I went to bed early and awoke in the middle of the night with the concept of sending yourself an actual Pity Party or package to throw yourself a party for one. Right there in my tiny apartment in the middle of the night I created a business plan, a name for my company, and even a concept for my logo. I knew immediately I was going to redefine the term "party" and make it accessible for people to throw themselves or someone else a party at home for one with one of my packages. Everyone's been to a "Packed Party" and felt alone, so why not take a term and redefine it with a physically packaged party.
I first created all 5 packages I wanted to sell and went from there researching what products I wanted to source for them. This required a lot of research and learning on my end as I went because I didn't graduate with a business degree or have any sort of entrepreneurial background. I made a lot of friends quickly though jumping in feet first and reaching out to vendors and convincing them my package would be an awesome platform to showcase their products. Products change out every few months so staying on top of the latest and greatest products that my customers might find hard to get a hold of themselves is always a fun challenge for me.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Putting my product out there and earning my first sales was a bit scary at first. I didn't know if my friends would be the only ones purchasing my product, but quickly with social media, particularly Instagram, my product took off immensely capturing the 20-some market more than I could have ever imagined.
Instagram truly put us out there to people and influential bloggers and celebrities were able to see what we were doing and endorsed our product.
Tell us about the back-end of your business. What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?
Shopify has completely changed our business and made our back end extremely simple. We use applications like Product Options to allow our customers to customize their orders and give us their names to sign on their packages. We also use Shipping Easy to manage the high volume of packages we're shipping out every day through UPS. Both programs are incredibly simple to use through Shopify and make our business run smoothly.
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
My advice for new store owners would be don't be afraid of the unknown on Shopify. I had never managed a web store prior to starting Packed Party and was a bit intimidated by building and managing a website, but I really utilized Shopify's support hotline, and my Shopify expert I was referred to.
I can't begin to explain how simple using Shopify was for my team and I after being so "scared" by managing a site. I immediately was referred to a Shopify expert who built my site based off of my vision and allowed me to get my product to customers. I have recommended using this product to so many business owners because you're able to see your analytics and edit your own site if need be all in one place. Dive right in and learn it because this is the best way to sell and market your dream!