The Sheet Society turns over $15 million with online branding
Hayley Worley noticed a change in the way we were all living and it has turned her business into a raging success after she started with just $20,000.
Former fashion designer Hayley Worley has seen amazing growth in her online business since launching her bedding label just three years ago.
The Melbourne businesswoman has tripled earnings to a staggering $15 million this financial year selling her range of bedding manchester online.
“It’s incredible … from nothing to $15 million in three years is mind-blowing,” she told news.com.au.
While The Sheet Society predominantly sells sheets, Hayley says the secret behind the brand’s multimillion-dollar success was building a “lifestyle brand” with the help of online platforms.
“It’s about building a brand not just a product,” the 34-year-old said. “Online creates the space to tell our story and to be able to show that. You can’t really tell that brand story just by walking past a store.”
With the growth of e-commerce and more businesses turning to social media for marketing, Hayley saw a gap in the market.
“People’s homes are getting smaller and they’re spending a lot of time in the bedroom. It’s perfectly normal these days to use the bedroom for Netflix binges and eating pizza in bed,” she said.
“There were not many brands addressing the 20-to-30-year-old Instagram demographic – the ones who eat pizza and watch Netflix in bed – and I wanted to capture that audience,” she said.
With 69,000 followers on Instagram and 3500 five-star reviews on her e-commerce website, Hayley has created a brand that has a loyal customer base with a 30 per cent return customer rate.
“You need to have all those beautiful images that show the different colours and textures because we’re selling a tactile product that our customers can’t feel online,” she said.
With new lines launching throughout the year – including the latest “Butter” line for summer with creamy neutral hues and soft stripes – Hayley said customers come back to buy sheets as often as every three months.
“You need to have all those beautiful images that show the different colours and textures because we’re selling a tactile product that our customers can’t feel online,” she said.
“People usually shop for sheets only once a year or so, like with moving house or breaking up with a boyfriend, but we see customers come back after a few months,” she said.
The Sheet Society uses a “bed builder platform” using augmented reality (AR), where customers can experiment with customising their bed sheets by mixing and matching colours and styles virtually. This takes out the need to go into a physical store but it also helps boost sales.
“It’s never been done before and it was a bloody nightmare to figure it all out,” she laughs.
“We believe you should be able to express your personal style through your bedding and to be able to do that you need to visualise it and using the tech enables that,” Hayley said.
“You can mix and match so it’s like building a wardrobe,” the fashion designer added. “It’s about dressing your bed with your personal style through your sheets and bringing fashion into the bedroom.”
The business was launched in February 2017 with her brother, who is no longer part of the business, with an initial $20,000 investment.
“All that money was invested into stock, so we had to be really careful with our marketing early on,” she said.
Hayley said it took about a year and a half before they started seeing profits.
“We were struggling at the beginning and we were juggling a few credit cards,” she said.
But now with millions of dollars coming in, Hayley said it’s been bigger than they could have expected. “We’ve created a bit of a monster,” she laughed.
“We’re hoping for $30 million next year if not more,” Hayley revealed. “Everyone has a bed so we see this as endless.”
Hayley is focused on investing the capital into the operational side of the business to make the business even more streamlined, including upgrading the warehouse from a 200-square-metre space to a 3000-square-metre warehouse with a more robust warehouse management system.
“Growing the business starts with getting the foundations right,” she said.
The warehouse upgrade is part of the plan to prepare for this year’s Black Friday sales – which Hayley anticipates is going to bring in around $3.2 million for that month alone. “It’s mind-blowing,” she laughs at the number, “but we feel confident behind the data.”
Even though Black Friday draws in people looking for sales bargains, Hayley hopes the mega sales event will attract first-time customers she hopes to convert into repeat shoppers.
“We hope to convert those new customers through the sales, but we don’t want to be sales-led. It’s a want-to-have not a need-to-have so it’s about building a brand,” she said.
The brand will be expanding internationally soon, with a US website launching next month in November and expansion into the UK on the horizon next year.
“We are living in such a small world now and we can ship all around the world,” Hayley said.
But launching globally doesn’t come without its challenges. “US bed sizes are different to Australia, so for us to really deliver on a good product that fits properly we have had to get a specific products for that market,” she said. “We get a lot of search traffic from the US – we’re just looking to convert them.”
While many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic crisis and many businesses needing to let go of employees, The Sheet Society has been able to do the opposite and employ 10 new staff during COVID. Hayley’s team has now grown to 16 full-time staff and 10 casuals.
“Looking at our Christmas party photo from last year, there were only four of us,” she laughs.
“It’s been a challenging year but we’re lucky. We’re really lucky being online and still able to operate.”
Growing so quickly comes with its challenges, like keeping up with customer demand, Hayley said.
“We’re really focused on the customer while seeing growth, so we’ve made sure to keep that promise to the customer,” she said. “Keeping stock levels up when growing so quickly is a challenge, but I feel like we’ve done that really well.”
AUSSIES SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESS
Research from Xero shows that COVID-19 has changed the way Australians engage with small businesses, with more than a third of consumers (36 per cent) having increased their online spending during the pandemic and one-third (32 per cent) engaging with small businesses in online communities.
“The resilience of the small business sector has shone through this year, and it has been matched by a willingness and determination of communities to get behind them,” Xero’s managing director of Australia and Asia operations Trent Innes said.
“As we chart a path to economic recovery, the resurgence of the small business sector will depend upon the same commitment from communities to champion their success.”
He said that small businesses tend to have a loyal backing from the community that helps to keep them afloat.
“Australia’s communities have always been in close contact with their local businesses and supported them when times are tough,” he said.
“Small businesses have long been the beating heart of communities in Australia. This has never been more apparent than in recent times.”
“The Sheet Society is a terrific example of this in action,” he said. “The study highlights the fact that Australians gravitate towards purchasing from small businesses because of the unique value they offer, distinct from large enterprises.
“Small businesses create personal and emotional bonds with their customers, have the agility to pivot quickly to address customer expectations and contribute to the wellbeing of their communities,” he added.
“It has been encouraging to see so many Australians rally around small businesses during this incredibly difficult time. As the nation rebuilds, the resurgence of the small business sector will depend upon the same commitment from communities to champion their success.”