PartyWorldwide.net spoke with Unique Party’s vice president Jim Cairns to find out how business has been over the past few months and how things are shaping up as lockdown restrictions begin to relax and many retailers are preparing to open on 15 June.
Hi Jim – good to be speaking with you. First and foremost we know that you were unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with Covid-19 – how are you feeling now?
“Great catching up, it’s been a long while since we last spoke back in February at the trade shows. I contracted Covid-19 in early March, and it quickly took hold. By the third day I needed to go to hospital to assist my breathing. My wife and grown-up kids all caught it too, and we endured it over four weeks. Thankfully we’re all fighting fit now! Weirdly I still can’t fully smell or taste, but it’s coming back slowly…”
It’s good that you’re fighting fit. How is Unique Party working operationally at the moment?
“We’ve been operating throughout. Of paramount importance, above all else, has been the need to protect our colleagues and our customers. We initially operated with a reduced work force, however we’ve steadily seen ongoing increases in orders from the initial lock-down and we’re continuing to call our colleagues back to work in line with this. Prior to this we undertook risk assessments across our business, in line with government guidelines, to ensure that our environment provided complete protection and assurance for our colleagues to work in. The steady, continual improvements in our order book have been particularly encouraging and we’re confident that this trend will continue.”
You’re holding up very well then. Any reasons you feel you’re tracking ‘pretty well’, all things considered?
“We’ve continued to operate throughout to ensure that those of our customers who were able to remain open were supplied. Our lead-times were a little longer but our customers were delighted that we were there for them when they needed us the most! We’re also not selling luxury goods – birthdays, events and celebrations all still take place (despite them being scaled back) and party goods are low-cost products that consumers will buy regardless of economic conditions.”
In terms of those trends, what are your thoughts as retailers look to re-open in a matter of weeks?
“The vast majority of retailers will want to get back to business as soon as possible – I don’t believe that we’ll completely return to where we were, but I’m confident that we’ll see a great uplift when they re-open in a couple of weeks’ time. And as always, I can happily report that we’re ready and prepared, to completely support our customers when they re-open their businesses.”
Do you feel that consumers will indeed feel the need to celebrate life a bit more this summer?
“What I’m hearing repeatedly from our customers, is that consumers want to get back on with their normal lives as soon as possible – whatever ‘normal’ will look like after lock-down that is! This includes returning to the pub, their favourite restaurant, shopping malls and importantly family celebrations. After this extended period of isolation for most, we believe that people will be champing at the bit to party!”
It sounds as though you’re ready for whatever the rest of the year holds. What advice would you give to your retail customers right now?
“People will want to return to normal life, so simply be ready and prepared for this as lock down is eased, and know that we’re always here to completely support them as always!”
