Dean Salakas is the ‘Chief Party Dude’ at The Party People. The Party People is a bricks and clicks retailer, with 2 Australian stores and a market leading website. The first online store was launched in 1998 and Dean’s always been focused on keeping The Party People at the forefront of eCommerce development. They’re now turning over $2 million a year.
Click to Tweet: The eComMasterPlan #podcast is going off with a bang as we interview The Party People Australia’s, Dean Salakas
About the business
- eCommerce Business Structure – Bricks and Clicks
- Product Range Scale – niche
- On a Magento platform
- 9 people in the eCommerce side of the business
- Based in Australia
- Key widgets in the website:
Listen to hear how Dean Salakas got started in eCommerce
Most Awesome Thing Right Now
Dean really likes the fact that his business is a party shop, it’s a fun business and he loves what he does.
Listen to hear more about how The Party People have used product placement to grow their business
On the Radar for the Coming Months
With the online success of The Party People, Dean’s current focus is on looking at further ways to transfer the businesses’ achievements onto the high street. He will be working on his bricks and mortar strategy and looking at how he can form synergy between his bricks and clicks business.
You can hear about all this on the podcast, for free – right now…
eCommerce Book Top Tip
Jab Jab Jab Right Hook by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
eCommerce Traffic Top Tip
Dean admits that Google Adwords have worked really well for The Party People – but admits that is a bit of a dull answer. He suggests trying Bing, the traffic numbers are lower but not as many people are using it so you’re more likely to get a bigger percentage of the traffic for a lower cost.
Tool Top Tip
Dean and his team use Asana a project management tool, he started using it when developing their website. It’s easy to use, you can easily keep up to date with what stage various projects are at and it’s free for up to 15 users.
Start Up Top Tip
Dean’s top tip would be to start with a niche focus with a business that you know you’ll be really good at and target that small area. Be the best at that you can be and then begin to build up from there.
If your business didn’t exist, which eCommerce Business Would you like to be Running?
Although Dean is really passionate about all eCommerce there is no question in his mind that there is no other business he would rather be running it’s all about The Party People.
Interview Links
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