Client Feature: Mother’s Day Classic
With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we thought this is the perfect time to talk about a client who is very close to all of our hearts.
The Mother’s Day Classic Foundation is one of those clients we can’t help but adore. They’ve been doing an incredible job raising money for breast cancer research since 1998, and we’ve been lucky enough to have been able to work with them over the past few years to create their merch range.
With thousands of Mother’s Day Classic fans registering each year to run in events Australia-wide, this event has become a community-driven tradition for Aussie families who want to lend a helping hand and show support for a cause that affects so many of us.
We spoke to two of our absolute favourite people, Sarah Clements and Kate O’Farrell, both general managers at MDC about their experience with Merchgirls.
‘The effect on sales was instant. Our first range of socks sold out within 24 hours. We knew we were onto something pretty special.’
‘That first year we increased our profitability by about 100 per cent. In year two we doubled our quantities and again increased profitability by another 50 per cent.’ Sarah said.
When talking about what drew them to Merchgirls, both Sarah and Kate agreed that they were looking for a merch supplier who could get it right consistently.
‘We had an incumbent merchandise supplier at the time [before Merchgirls]. And unfortunately, we were receiving a lot of feedback regarding poor quality, sizing issues and supply issues. I first noticed Merchgirls through their work with the Australian Open.’ said Sarah.
‘We needed somebody that could bring their creative angles, but also a commercial angle. We have a very small window to sell our merchandise to make sure that we're not left with any leftover stock, we have to get it right. And the fact is that for the last few years, we've managed to do that and that has made a massive difference to our bottom line.’ said Kate.
While there is definitely a fun side to creating merch, at the end of the day we know the kind of quality and service our clients expect from us, and we always deliver.
‘There is a really serious side about our relationship with Merchgirls and we have to deliver. Overall, their generosity and passion to work with us were evident from day one.’ said Sarah.
‘Merchgirls have been really insightful for us around what items to produce, what fabrics to use, and what to sell in the marketplace. And that is hugely valuable for us. We had refreshed our brand, which needed to be demonstrated in our merchandise. That first range really did that for us. It was almost too effective in some ways in that we didn't order enough!’ said Kate.
And it’s not just the MDC team that is loving all this merchandise with our special touch––the thousands of MDC fans participating in events can’t get enough either, routinely selling out each collection.
‘People know when they register they have to buy the merchandise then because it is not something that's going to last right up until the event day because demand is growing year on year… What we've produced is some beautiful products and I think that makes a huge difference on the sell-through.’ said Kate.
‘We instantly know the merch has started arriving because social media just lights up and the buzz for the Mother's Day Classic just builds from there.’ said Sarah.
When asked about the future of their relationship with Merchgirls, Sarah is adamant that things can only go up from here.
‘We don't see Merchgirls so much as a supplier, it's actually very much a partnering relationship… We're looking forward to another programme in year three with some pretty aggressive targets!’
‘We love Merchgirls, they treat us like queens and we think they rock!’ said Sarah.
We can only mirror that sentiment Sarah––we love the MDC Foundation and everything they do for breast cancer research. We’re just so thrilled to get to be a part of their work and hope we get to keep being a part of it for years to come. Watch this space for next year’s MDC merch drop 👀