Party Anthem – Celebrations Made Facile With Fun & Frolic|The Absolute Party Organizers
With professional entanglement, organizing a party or celebrating a special event becomes a frantic task to cater all the requirements for the event. And, blessed are the hosts who could reach Party Anthem– the absolute party organizers making every minute requirements ready at hand to make a party comfortable with fun and frolic. Party-anthem was founded by two fun loving ambitious souls Leena Sewhani Luthria and Shraddha Gandhi in 2013 with an Avant Garde spirit and a lofty objective to make it easier to celebrate special events with loved ones and most importantly with the belief that nobody should overpay for a great party.
With a vision to provide a wide range of high-quality party supplies and excellent customer service while leading the way for environmentally conscious businesses, Party Anthem is a great support to the fun-loving people with finished arrangements of parties and events. Recalling the birth of this venture, the founders speak about the birth of Party Anthem:
“Once, way back in 2012, while we were planning a theme party, we realized how passionate we were about creating ideas, designs and themes. However, we realized that there wasn’t much available in the Indian market in terms of party supplies. That is when Party-Anthem was born. And since then, it is something we have never lost focus of.”
And, today, their ideas are ruling the market with unique party theme managements and various event managements.
From their humble beginnings in 2013 selling party supplies, to today, where they provide start-to-end event solutions, their aim is to provide products and services to make each celebration truly special. From birthdays to bachelorettes, and birth announcements to funky themes, from balloons to tableware, from props to costumes, they sell everything to suit any occasion with excellent services. With an impressive line of licensed and personalized products they have a lot to offer.
Founder Leena Sewhani Luthria completed her schooling in 1999 from the prestigious Bai Avabai Framji Petit Girls High School, Mumbai. She earned her Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) in Management from M.M.K.College in Mumbai in 2004.After finishing her BCom, she completed her MBA degree from MET, Mumbai in 2006. Her area of specialization was Marketing, so several of her courses & projects directly prepared her for the wide-ranging field especially in Sales & Business Development. In 2016, she completed a certified course in Marketing from Harvard University, USA. The final project was a capstone project in which she had to create a Business and Marketing plan for an actual business entity. She states,
“This course gave me global exposure, a chance to work with culturally diverse colleagues and the real-world experience I needed to know how to start and run a business from scratch.”
Founder Shraddha Gandhi completed her schooling in 1999 from the prestigious Bai Avabai Framji Petit Girls High School, Mumbai. She did her Graduation (BCom) from M.M.K.College, Mumbai in 2004 with a specialization in Accounting. She achieved her MBA Degree from Wellingkar Institute in the year 2007. She specialized in HR which gave her better in-depth knowledge on how organizations work and how to help any company with their hiring and employee management needs. She states,
“The campus placement eventually gave me hands on experience in the industry.”
Ms Shraddha joined Leena for the joint venture in 2012. She joined TCS after completing her MBA. She worked on employee engagement activities and on reducing employee turnover. Then she moved to KMPG, one of the big 4 in consulting firms in 2009. She took a sabbatical after the birth of her daughter in 2011 to get back to her profession with a new spirit soon.
The duo founders narrate about the challenges found to reach the preset status today,
“In our initial days, we often faced gender bias. We were asked if we were married or had children and how can we run the business although we have family responsibilities. We feel the situation is now improving with the acceptance of women entrepreneurs and the many support groups and systems available for women.”
On the professional front,
“With the gaining popularity of online market places, we were suddenly faced severe competition and price undercutting in 2016. Most of the marketplaces were selling cheap knockoffs or products whose quality were dubious. At one point, there were so many sellers online that it was easy to get lost in the noise. We saw a decline in sales for a brief period but bounced back as we believed in one thing, which even the customers eventually realized- nothing can beat quality in the long run.”
As a new player retailing party supplies online, it was initially a challenge to shift people’s perception from conventional methods of purchasing party supplies. ecommerce in 2012-2013 was still in a nascent stage and people were wary of purchasing online. The touch and feel factor were missing in online selling vis a vis offline selling. It was difficult to convey the quality and usage of the products online. Translating the concept and communicating the value was a significant task. They had to ensure that every communication and interaction at all points of contact ended up being a positive experience for the customer. They add,
“The essence of ecommerce is in its ability to transcend physical boundaries and reach customers (in a manner different from traditional brick and mortar stores) right at their very doorstep. The logistics challenge then was a lack of standardization of postal addresses and the absence of seamless last mile deliveries.
They further stated,
Lucky for us, around the same time ecommerce exploded in India spreading its reach further. More and more customers embraced the virtual world as a safe and convenient place to shop. Logistic companies were quick to innovate and invested in technologies which in turn improved the quality and speed of deliveries.
The challenges made the women stronger and professionally more and more sound. Party Anthem soon won the market with great achievements such as:
- In the year 2013, they were the second ecommerce party supplies company in India.
- In the year 2014, they launched their products on omni-channels like Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry among others. This move helped drive incremental sales and incremental customer reach.
- In 2015, they ventured in Party Planning and Event Management – planned theme parties, baby showers, conferences, pre-wedding parties and even trade shows.
- In 2018, they were approached by Amazon to sell their products directly to them, once again increasing their sales, customer reach and profitability.
- In 2020, the company forayed into children’s safety gear i.e face masks market successfully.
Party Anthem is now selling party supplies directly to Cloudtail. They have also collaborated with Disney Licensed party supplies. They sell the largest range of original Disney licensed party supplies like decorations, balloons, tableware, gifts, etc. for all their popular themes like Avengers, Frozen, Mickey Mouse, Cars, Minions among others.
Stating about their most challenging project delivered, the duo founders say,
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown put an abrupt stop to ecommerce in India. Baring essentials, no other products were sold online. During this time, people were not able to move out, and those that were, needed masks and protective gear. There were many suppliers for adult masks but none for children’s mask. We identified an unmet gap in the children’s face masks market. At that time there were not many options available for children. And the ones that were available, were not safe or comfortable. Face masks as a product and category is something, we have no prior experience or expertise. We jumped right into the deep end. Possibly for the first time we began something very complex and unfamiliar, without much preparation. We went through a month of R&D, and several prototypes before finalizing and introducing the face masks in the market. Fortunately, our hard work paid off. Because of the branding, quality of the product and our relationship with our vendors, the products have been well appreciated and successful.”
The challenges and their professional journey have been an enlightening journey for the two women professionals. This is what they speak about their major learning from their professional and personal journey.
Founders Ms Leena and Ms Shraddha are indeed the exemplary figure in our society and are the embodiment of women empowerment. Every aspiring youth must learn from their journey of struggles and successes. They thus give few suggestions to the young aspiring entrepreneurs,
“Everyone wants to create the next big thing but one should never lose sight of what actually matters i.e profitability. Don’t chase investors. Instead create products / services that add value to the stakeholders. Never compromise on the quality. Have faith in your product and service. Build relationship with all your point of contacts. Your delivery personnel are as important as your biggest suppliers. Stay focused on providing the best product and service to the customer because that is the only thing that matters.”
Ms Leena and Ms Shraddha continue their journey with new dreams and aspirations. They have more to achieve in future. Speaking about their future plans and actions, they inform,
“When we started in 2012, 100% of our products were imported from China. In the last 3 years, about 50% products are manufactured or sourced locally while the rest are still imported from China.
The recent pandemic has made us realize that we cannot be dependent on any other country to run our business or to source our products. Our respected PM Shri Modiji has asked all businesses to be Atmanirbhar. In the spirit of that, we plan to start sourcing and manufacturing party supplies in India. By 2021, we aim to have 100% of our products to be Made in India”
Salute to their spirit of courage and dedication towards our nation!
Beginup wishes all the best for all their future endeavours!
