When Karaline Loiterton was planning for her big day, 12 years ago, the last thing she needed was the hassle of wedding gift registries offering poor service. At the time, she was living overseas and, apart from the boring brands and terrible in-store service, many retailers were not online. (Twelve years later and there is still no other online registry.) Karaline saw this gap in the market as an opportunity for a bespoke service and brand-focused registry in Australia, with both a physical store and website from day one, Wedding List Co. Wedding List Co. is a service-driven alternative to the department store, with improved excellence in customer service aiming to create a satisfying experience in gift registry for couples and their guests.
“I started purely because I knew I would never forgive myself if someone else did it and made a success. Today we hold a significant market share of what was previously owned by big-name retailers David Jones and Myer. “I wrote the business plan while still working as marketing manager of a cosmetics company in London. I raised a small amount of investment from a high net worth family friend, moved home to Australia, and launched the business six months later.”
As the business grew, four national stores opened (in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane). This growth had both a positive and negative impact on Karaline as she is now unable to be in the stores doing personal consultations as often as she likes.
“Since we opened our large flagship store in Woollahra, Sydney, I have been in store more and have enjoyed that connection again. I also love choosing all the gorgeous goodies to add to the range. I travel to the overseas fairs and have found enormous inspiration at Maison Objets in Paris and the NY Gift Fair.”
In late 2012, lovelustwant started as a pure online gift retail website benefiting from the huge database of Wedding List Co. guest purchasers from the last 10 years.
Karaline’s favourite aspect of running Wedding List Co. is meeting the soon-to-be-wed couples and helping them choose their gifts.
“It’s such a special time and you meet such interesting, diverse people. I sometimes bump into some of my original couples from 10 years ago who now have kids and I love hearing what’s happened in their lives.”
Karaline wishes she knew certain aspects for running a business before she started. These include:
- Know and understand compliances for small businesses in Australia. They are very regulated and there is a lot to understand. Read and get advice from specialists in every area.
- Build a great relationship with your bank manager early on. These days, some banks seem to be lacking the ability to fulfill their promises and are more prepared to support small businesses. That doesn’t mean they will give you any startup finance without collateral, but they will be more lenient later on around overdrafts and loan extensions if you have built rapport.
- Starting and running a successful small to potentially medium business is a huge commitment of time. It never stops. Not at night or weekends. Learn to get the balance right early on or you will eventually burn out.
Karaline recommends some skills for those just starting out in business:
- You need to have the ability to structure your business — this is very important. Set it up as though it will one day be very large and you may wish to sell at some point.
- Understanding a P&L and Balance Sheet is essential. If you don’t, then enrol yourself in a course or get it explained by an accountant or friend to ensure you are very clear, as it is your responsibility as a Director to understand.
Karaline Loiterton’s advice for starting a business:
- Never over-extend or over-gear, even when times are good. With the instability in the world economy, things can change very quickly. Be over cautious and remember the old adage ‘cash is king’.
- Join an organisation such as HerBusiness. They are a great source of information and network.
- Juggling a business and having a family isn’t easy. Babies don’t sleep under desks at meetings (for long). Employ long term trusted staff so that you can have time off and enjoy time with your family. Better yet, wait until your children are at school before you start, and you will make your life a whole lot easier!
