Petal & Pup grew beyond where it hoped to be in 10 years time

It began in the study. Then the downstairs living area. Then the upstairs living area. Then the bedroom. When Tiffany Scarff ran out of space in her family home, her father, Philip, turned to her. “It’s about time,” he said, “we went and found somewhere else to set up this business properly.”

Such were the humble beginnings of Petal & Pup, the Australian fashion boutique that has risen from in-home start-up to international couture brand. With Shopify Plus, Petal & Pup has enjoyed:

• 400% year-over-year (YoY) sales growth
• Orders shipped to more than 80 different countries
• Global sales now representing 20% of total revenue

Keep reading this case study to find out more about the brand's journey with Shopify.

Challenge

In 2014, Petal & Pup was born on Shopify. It had to itself a founder with a work ethic that was unmistakable. In the building of this business, Tiffany would routinely log 16–18-hour days.

Before it grew far and wide, Petal & Pup was truly a family enterprise. Alongside Tiffany, the founder, was Philip (chief executive officer), her mother Robyn (human resources), her husband Julian (chief operating officer), and her uncle John (manufacturing).

At the heart of it all was Tiffany, whose expertise on affordable fashion was driving a business that grew soon outside the expectations of even her own close-knit family. As 2016 churned on, so did Petal & Pup, bursting at the seams of its home market and eager to more readily expand past the Australian sector.

It began to scale further, and as its customer base broadened and its internal logistics became more complex, Petal & Pup had company strategy top of mind. There were new products to roll out, new geographies to conquer. What Petal & Pup had no room for was technology squabbles or a platform that could not deliver. It was time for a move in its ecommerce platform.

Solutions

Over the fall of 2016, Petal & Pup upgraded to Shopify Plus. There were a number of benefits it achieved in the move: the capacity to add unlimited staff accounts, to ability to use Shopify Flow for ecommerce automation items like auto-tagging new products, and for access to merchant success resources exclusive to Shopify Plus.

Following its upgrade, Petal & Pup was freed to grow in ways that once seemed unlikely. Production ramped up—more styles, more frequent new arrivals. Then the company began to market itself more aggressively across the world. First in New Zealand, where it found hosts of eager shoppers. Then the company looked deeper toward the horizon, connecting with consumers in the United Arab Emirates, soon ramping up its social media presence even further abroad, in Canada and the U.S.

Results

Petal & Pup—born from Brisbane, a family affair—had discovered a global audience clamoring for its products.

As its global efforts really took off, the bottom line was bolstered in a way the company had not yet seen. Between spring/summer 2017 and spring/summer 2018, Petal & Pup grew 400% YoY.

And that was only the beginning of this expansion. Petal & Pup’s sales were growing just as its production was, too. The brand’s offerings have risen considerably since it joined Shopify Plus. “We now regularly have over 1,000 different styles online at any time,” says Philip Scarff, the CEO. “The range is regularly updated with in excess of 80 new arrivals each week.”

Globally, the new items have been a hit. In the past 12 months, Petal & Pup has shipped orders to over 80 countries, and international sales now represent 20% of total revenue for the Aussie fashion brand. Growth of years past has proven no fluke. In 2019, Petal & Pup reports it will reach double-digit percentage growth yet again.

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