How Byron Bay Candles increased its stockists by 25% despite a pandemic and regional flooding

When Anne-Marie Dove took the reins of the Byron Bay Candles in 2017, the former customer “who loved the brand and all it stood for” had big plans for the manufacturing wholesale business, based in the coastal town’s arts and industry estate. 

Byron Bay local Dove and her family are the fourth owners of the company that now employs four full-time staff (including herself) plus back-up casuals (candles are hand-poured) and freelancers for digital marketing. 

Established in 2001 when the company’s range sported the colourful, tie-dyed look associated with the location’s famously hippy persona, today’s more minimalist aesthetic sees Dove and her team pioneering its pure essential oil range to offer some of the cleanest burning products on the market. 

And just before the pandemic hit, the Byron Bay Candles team was in the process of releasing a ground-breaking refill option.

After battling the setbacks, Dove spoke with SmartCompany Plus to explain how the company reignited its spark. 

Hitting the digital accelerator

Dove had spent the past couple of years developing the company’s website and online shopping platform. This meant that when Byron Bay Candles’ stockists went into lockdown, the team were able to “kick (digital) up a gear very quickly”.

Byron Bay Candles’ products. Source: supplied.

“They closed their doors at different times (depending on the state) so without the online sales, we would have had to close our doors,” she said.

At the height of the lockdowns, Byron Bay Candles managed to flip its 85% wholesale and 15% online sales ratio completely around before stabilising to the 50/50 it maintains today.

But, according to Dove, it wasn’t a matter of just flicking a digital switch and everything was okay.

“There’s a presumption that if you had an established online business during the pandemic you did alright purely because you already had a presence there.

“But that just wasn’t the case for everyone, including us. For many small businesses that had already hit their groove, they suddenly had to think quick on their feet.”

Timing was everything

One of lynch pins that elevated the company’s product range during its digital push was the candle refill option that Dove had been working on for two years prior to COVID-19.

“We were due to launch when lockdowns hit so having that point of differentiation ready-to-go made a big difference and allowed us to stand out from the pack,” she said.

The refills are purchased without the added cost of the vessel saving customers $10 per candle, bringing the company’s high-end quality soy products in line price-wise with the mass-produced and imported varieties.

Customers embraced the concept that also followed the company’s environmental values by reusing and reducing packaging.

“We ended up having to bring in more staff (to assist with e-commerce and stock production) because candles became a go-to product.”

Good timing also extended to production capabilities during the uncertainty of supply chains.

“We were extremely lucky that our jars, cardboard boxes and lids were on a shipping container that arrived the week before lockdown so we were one of the few in the (candle) industry that had stock,” Dove reflected.

“A lot of businesses struggled because of lack of raw materials.”

Crunching the numbers

Knowing where the company’s figures sat and where they needed to be was also a crucial component of their pandemic plan.

“We were in touch with our accountant as soon as lockdown started. We were already online with QuickBooks, which meant my accountant was able to see (remotely) where we were financially and what was going on.”

Dove says the beauty of Intuit QuickBooks was its ability to combine and track all the company’s income streams across its different platforms.

“Primarily we were using it for wholesale, but it came into its own when we had to flip from retail to e-commerce quickly. It was connected to our online store and six different payment portals so that meant we just had one hub to see what activity was going on everywhere.

“Then we could project our cashflow based on stock we had, to back up gross pays for us. That’s where our accounting software really came into place.”

Dove says integrating this information with Google Analytics and the company’s email marketing meant the business could continue to direct funds into marketing and growth throughout the pandemic.

“I can’t comprehend the quantity of transactions that were happening but because it was automated it meant we didn’t have that excessive manual bookkeeping because it was all being run online,” she said.

“This freed us up to do other pressing things.”

Sense of community

When the lockdowns first hit, Byron Bay Candles reached out to its local business community for marketing advice which led to one of its most successful promotions to date.

The mega collaboration, The Ultimate Byron Bay Giveaway, was worth more than $4500 and involved a range of well known local brands including Spell, The Beach People, Harvest Restaurant and The Bower.

Byron Bay Candles provided an annual subscription worth $1000 as part of the group promotion, and its Instagram following rapidly increased by 25%.

“We had about 7000 [followers] and picked up an extra 5000 followers from that single promotion. It definitely got us noticed,” Dove said.

The pandemic wasn’t the only setback Byron Bay Candles faced. When devastating flooding smashed the region in February and March this year, it was a test too far for many small businesses in the area.

While Byron Bay didn’t receive the crippling inundation of its neighbouring Lismore and Mullumbimby areas, the effects were felt throughout the whole community.

While Dove’s husband Chris and his friends went out to help flood victims, she went into the factory to find communication lines were down.

“At that stage we didn’t know our storage facility had been flooded.”

In what she described as the “hardest period to cope with yet”, after their initial emergency support delivering food to the greater Northern Rivers community, Dove turned to her own products in the hope might provide a “sense of connectedness and calm” amid the stress people were feeling.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Byron Bay Candles: Refillable Candles (@byronbaycandles)

“We did a call out asking for jar donations. We had plenty of wax, wicks and aroma but just needed something to pour candles into.”

The response was amazing.

“We had people coming in dropping off ceramic mugs, jars, as long as it was clean, and we went into production pouring candles to donate.”

Groups of volunteers took them devastated areas, delivering more than 2000 candles door-to-door.

“It was an incredible experience, very humbling. We kept that production going full-time for three weeks. Now we’ve seen the significance of this simple gesture and the difference it can make to someone’s daily life, we are continuing to run the program on a smaller scale.”

Brighter days ahead

Since coming out of the other side of pandemic/flood apocalypse, Byron Bay Candles has not only increased its digital sales but also its wholesale uptake, increasing its stockist outlets by 25%.

With plans to expand its range of essential oil soy candles, introduce bespoke lines for corporates, and launch an “exciting” new collaboration later in the year, it’s almost company policy that its future continues to burn bright.

“After managing all the challenges, it really only feels like we have scratched the surface on where we’re going and the impact of what we can do.”