The Ann Summers Party Plan business is 30 years old this year and shows no signs of sagging. Four thousand Ann Summers parties are held every week in the UK and Ireland with an average of 10 women attending. Organising those parties are 7,000 self-employed party planers that make around £60 per party selling lingerie and sex toy products.
Integral to the party planners achieving their sales goals and making a profitable at-home business are the company’s 27 regional conferences each year. Five hundred planners from the Leeds and Harrogate region meet bi-annually at Harrogate International Centre (HIC) to view new products, share tips and sales tricks and listen to the company’s financial bare basics.
Ann Summers’ Party Plan Director Dee Staines said: “The regional conferences are vital for our party planners, who are effectively running their own businesses from home. Our goal is to provide motivation, inspiration and excitement about the products they are selling.”
The conference runs for half a day; 11am to 2.30pm, (to ensure mums, which form a large percentage of the party planners, are able to take the kids to school and pick them up) and follows a theme each year. This year’s theme was the jungle, in line with a new range Ann Summers is pushing in its new autumn/winter catalogue, delegates were requested to dress up. (previous years have seen pirates and fairies as a running theme).
“We ask delegates to dress up, many do so in our own lines to give them a sense of belonging to the company and the product. It also gets them excited about the products they are selling at their own parties,” said Staines.
There is a £4 fee for delegates attending which is ploughed back into Ann Summers prizes for award winners. An awards component forms part of the conference where recognition is given for the highest grossing salesperson and long-time achievement.
Aside from the awards is a catwalk show, in which models showcase the latest Ann Summers products from its new catalogue.
For the HIC this an important piece of regular business. The event has been held at the venue since 2005, and has grown considerably in that time, moving into the venue’s Royal Hall in 2008.
HIC Event Planner Andrew Lane said: “All events are important to the venue, but ultimately it is all about the clients being satisfied and their objectives being met. It is the most outrageous event we host at HIC, but also it is the easiest to organise as it is held regularly and we know the format like the back of our hands. The Ann Summers team lets us get on with it.”
There weren’t even any outlandish requests. “The requirements were pretty simple; a stage; good lighting; good sound system and an iron and ironing board with full-length mirrors backstage,” Lane said.
Measuring a conference’s success is ultimately down to feedback from delegates, who were positive about the event. One delegate told CN: “ Working from home can be demotivating at times, and tough, so this conference is a great opportunity to re-motivate, and remind you that you are part of something much larger than your own living room.”
Another told CN: “It is good to see the products we are selling from the catalogue in the flesh so we are better able to sell them to our clients in the future. It has also helped me to learn new ideas from other party planners.”
Staines added: “Party planners are a key part of the Ann Summers business model, without them the company wouldn’t have its 148 retail outlets and online shopping experience. It is the fun of the parties that gets our customers excited about our products and turns them into loyal customers.
“I am satisfied that the planners went away from the conference re-motivated and so the conference met our objectives.”
Ann Summers was established 30 years ago by CEO Jacqueline Gold.
The business has grown from two small shops to a multi channel retailer with over 90 per cent brand recognition in the UK, a level likened to global leaders such as Nike and Apple.
Gold started her career at Ann Summers on work experience. Whilst there she spotted an opportunity to create a business that allowed women to buy lingerie and erotic goods in the comfort of their own home. She took the idea to the board at the age of just 21, and after much resistance eventually received funding to launch her Party Plan idea.
The success of Party Plan was almost instant, proving that Gold’s vision was correct. With Party Plan growing at a huge rate, Gold recognised that Ann Summers would also translate in to a retail offering and bring something unique to the UK high street. In 1993 the first retail store opened, and she was credited with bringing sex to the British High Street.
The huge success of Ann Summers has not been without its challenges. Gold and her team have faced various obstacles over the years, yet this has never stopped the growth of this unique retail offering.
With its e-commerce platform now adding a third trading dimension to the brand experience, Ann Summers has made a huge mark on the British retail landscape.
Today the face-to-face (or should it be cheek-to-cheek?) business turns over in excess of £150m a year.
Each week over 104,000 customers shop in store, around 500 Ann Summers Parties are held and over 10,000 customers shop online.
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