EXHIBITOR CASE STUDY
Point of Rental and Ultimate Celebrations
Background
Ultimate Celebrations arose from humble beginnings over 21 years ago, when Justine Carey started producing wedding stationery. A few years later, she purchased wedding decorations to expand her offerings, acquired another business, and Ultimate Celebrations’ wedding and events clientele continued to grow. In 2020, the addition of a balloon business required expansion to two locations, including a retail store. Ultimate Celebrations now offers a range of balloons, decorations, signage, furniture, and much more to the Port Lincoln and Eyre Peninsula Area.
Problem
As Ultimate Celebrations’ inventory continued to expand, hire software became a requirement to track it all. Specifically, Justine and her team needed software that could coordinate their two locations, be easy to use, and it needed to have an online storefront, particularly given that the acquisition of the balloon business took place during COVID-related lockdowns in Southern Australia.
Solution
Endowed with plenty of time to research a new software thanks to the lockdowns, Justine pored through several hire software options and found Point of Rental and Essentials. Not only did it solve her software problems but Point of Rental having a local office and on-the-ground support in Australia provided an added bonus.
Result
Despite COVID, lockdowns, and the other myriad challenges faced by the events industry since 2020, Ultimate Celebrations has seen amazing growth.
Thanks to the successful implementation of Essentials, Justine has peace of mind when she’s away from her shop, knowing her staff can easily process bookings and handle the work that needs to be handled.
After so many years and so many pieces of inventory, Justine loves the simplicity the software brings her. “My favourite thing is that everything is in one place, photos of stock, stock numbers, it has everything,” she said.
The online store functionality has played a big role in helping Ultimate Celebrations continue its growth during lockdown, as customers are able to find the items they want from the comfort of their own home (or really, wherever, given its mobile-friendliness). Because Essentials is cloud-native, Justine, as the owner and head stylist, is also able to access the software from wherever a job takes her and see what’s happening back at the store.
The future’s looking bright for Justine, Ultimate Celebrations, and Point of Rental.
“The support team are great, they always get back to me as soon as they can and they’re always there to answer any questions,” Justine said, adding, “I love how if the software doesn’t have certain features, you can suggest ideas to make it an even better product. There are always upgrades happening and I love seeing what has been added.”
And no matter where Justine might want to grow her business in the future, she knows she can get there with Essentials, thanks to its flexibility to handle whatever the world may throw at you.
“It’s been great for me and I love all the options it has and the way you can customise it to suit your business.”