Yahoo Finance ‘Our website crashed’: How concussions led to beloved pot-plant party business
This is part of our Pivot Series, where Yahoo Finance tracks stories of small business survival tactics during the coronavirus crisis.
If there’s one thing the co-founder of hit plants business The Jungle Collective Linda Vydra isn’t afraid of, it’s hard work.
After the coronavirus pandemic hit, she and her partner and co-founder Josh O’Meara were forced to pivot the warehouse plant sale and events business completely online.
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Her average workday is 9am to 2am, and for the last few weeks, she hasn’t been sleeping at all on Friday nights ahead of mind-bendingly busy Saturdays.
But if there’s another thing Vydra and O’Meara aren’t afraid of, it’s adapting.
The Jungle Collective was born in 2018 after O’Meara suffered concussions while playing sport that left him unable to continue his work as a graphic designer.
After taking up gardening, the two decided to launch a business that combined plant sales with a party atmosphere. O’Meara’s graphic design skills and Vydra’s background in laser cutting, fabric printing and website design meant the two had the necessary mixture of creativity and business nous.
The first warehouse sale in 2018 was a massive success.
“Basically we had a line going one way down the street, and another line going the other way down the street. It was crazy,” Vydra said.
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“Because it was the first one, we didn’t have a good idea of how to manage the flow and everyone was excited and we had music playing and it was just a really nice vibe.”
Within an hour and a half, everything had sold out.
The couple went on to expand the business around Australia and were even considering launching some warehouse sales in New York before the pandemic struck.
The Jungle Collective was so successful, the doors to one of their warehouses in Brisbane were glued shut by a suspected competitor. Luckily, Vydra said, a staff member turned up early to their shift that day so they were able to find a way to open the doors before the sale.
It wasn’t uncommon for their Sydney warehouse sales to attract as many as 2,000 people.
But hosting thousands of attendees in a warehouse during a global pandemic? Not an option.
“About two weeks before they [the state and federal governments] made it not possible to run the events, we were starting to build an online shop,” Vydra said.
The first idea was a drive-through which would see people drive through and collect their plants that they had ordered online.
The second idea was an online ‘pop-up’ shop that would be open only on the weekends and only in certain cities, similar to how the business previously ran.
But the first time the two tried to host their virtual warehouse sale online, the site crashed.
“We were meant to open at 8am but at 7:50am the whole website crashed for an hour. We hadn’t slept that night because we were working all night and then it just crashed and we were like, ‘Ah, should we just go to sleep?’” Vydra said.
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The traffic eased up and eventually customers could access the sale.
The next weekend the site crashed again, leading the couple to try out different servers. They also introduced tickets for the event, allowing customers to choose the time they wanted to attend the virtual store.
Communication is key
While Vydra isn’t sure if they will continue the online store once warehouse sales can begin again, she said the business has already learnt some major lessons.
“The biggest [thing we’ve learnt] is probably communication with customers, so setting really, really clear expectations,” she said.
During the first sale, The Jungle Collective said they would be able to make all deliveries by Friday. They were carrying out their own deliveries so had believed they wouldn’t have any issues.
“We didn’t finish deliveries until the Sunday but then we weren’t clear to [our customers], that we were running a little bit late.”
They sent an update out on Thursday but not everyone got it. “That leads to maybe another 400 emails from people saying, ‘Where’s my order?’”
So clarity is key. “I don’t think people will get upset if you’re clear with them and they choose to go ahead with that order based on what you’re offering.”
Success story
Moving online at the start was simply a way to keep their employees paid, and to support their growers, Vydra said.
“We didn’t want to have to sack people or go into hibernation for three months, like a lot of events businesses have to. That was our goal and we’re just happy that it’s proven to be valuable to the customers.”
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