Melbourne co-founders Phoebe Simmonds and Kate Casey started The Memo as an e-commerce store in 2019 with a mission to disrupt the parenting category. Three (soon-to-be four) retail locations later, the pair report 45% year-to-date sales growth – with expansion plans on the horizon.
It’s a burst of pastel purple, green and bright red at The Memo in Fitzroy – with big bright pictures of full bellies and smiling parents. There are cots and bassinets, prams and capsules and carriers and bottles, not unlike other baby goods stores, but perhaps the biggest difference at The Memo is the focus on mum: there’s a whole pre-and-post-natal section dedicated to maternity-wear, labour prep and after-birth care.
“We’re a parenting retailer,” co-founder of The Memo, Kate Casey, says. “Certain categories we perform really well in – like innovative products for mum – don’t actually exist in many other retailers in this space.”
It’s also why you won’t find the word ‘baby’ in its name. The Memo, which launched as an online retailer in 2019 with 80 brands and a curation of 400 items, got its name from a list of must-buy products (with links and notes on use-cases and functionality) Casey received from a friend when she was pregnant with her first child nearly eight years ago.
Fast-forward five years and The Memo has amassed an Instagram following of more than 100,000, opened three retail outlets in Melbourne (Fitzroy, Highpoint and Armadale) with a fourth on the way in Sydney in Spring, and has seen 45% sales growth year-to-date. Though, the pair forecast that figure will bump up to 50% by the end of the calendar year.
One of our biggest distributors today told us at the time, ‘I don’t think this is going to work’.
Kate Casey, co-founder, The Memo
Casey, an ex-buyer for David Jones, Myer and then Mecca, was on maternity leave after having her second child when she realised the parenting industry in Australia needed a shake-up. She’d met Phoebe Simmonds, an ex-marketing director of cosmetics, during her stint at Myer, and knew Simmonds would be the right partner to see it through.
“The experience of big box, traditional retail had just not met my needs as a first-time mum,” Casey says. “I felt really overwhelmed, there were too many options and ultimately, because I didn’t trust that experience, I had to lean on my friends to give me context on products. After being with Mecca, which really focused on the ultimate customer experience with the right product, content, education and marketing, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, baby needs to have this experience’. That meant a curated assortment of the best product, with the best experience.”
Simmonds, who didn’t have exposure to the baby industry, says she cooked up rough plans for the brand in about a day. From then on, things moved quickly: ideation for The Memo started in April 2019, and by October that year, Casey had met with her preferred brands and secured initial stock for a launch and Simmonds had created the branding assets.
“We had a pitch-deck around brand positioning and our point-of-difference, and a lot of the brands I went to sign were quite confused,” Casey says. “We were able to get what we wanted, but it did take a bit of mindset-shifting. One of our biggest distributors today told us at the time, ‘I don’t think this is going to work’. We said, ‘Just trust us’.”
While the pair don’t reveal their initial investment, they do say the business was initially bootstrapped – meaning they forked out their own cash for the first product launch. They also did not take a salary from the business for three years, instead choosing to invest in hiring team members to speed up growth.
“That helped us, in a way,” Simmonds says. “Every dollar Kate was spending was our money, so we couldn’t go out and just buy a tonne of stuff. Kate had to be considered with her curation – she had to ask, ‘Is this actually not only of value to our customer, but worth our money?’.”
We don’t believe you can create a meaningful brand in the 21st century by just selling stuff – we know you do it by fostering real conversations.
Phoebe Simmonds, co-founder, The Memo
Though The Memo declined to reveal its actual revenue or profits, the team did say they have secured investment partners to fuel growth and expansion. ASX-listed Baby Bunting on the other hand is seemingly in strife. It hit a share-price peak of $6.58 in 2021, but is down to $1.64 at the time of writing. Its market cap is $221.92 million. In its full-year 2024 results, it revealed its revenue was $491 million – down 6.3% on FY23. Baby Bunting said it would focus on redesigning its store format, rolling out new stores and refurbishments and continuing progress on range innovation and exclusive brand offerings.
“The industry needed to be shaken up,” Casey says. “They’ve continued to offer that experience for so long – being about price and not brand. It needed to change.”
Key to The Memo’s brand is its community. With an intense social following, Simmonds says the company has transformed online ‘baby chat’, and their authenticity drives loyalty.
“The industry was just really shouty – there was a lot of noise and opinions on everything, but we know that parents want to connect on real terms and have honest conversations about hard it is,” Simmonds says. “Our content needs to educate, connect and inspire. We don’t believe you can create a meaningful brand in the 21st century by just selling stuff – we know you do it by fostering real conversations.”
They opened their first store in Armadale, Melbourne, in 2022, which has since seen 60% year-on-year growth for the June quarter alone. On launch day, the team had 4,000 customers enter the store. There were more than 6,000 that came through the Fitzroy location on its first day, too. But the stores aren’t just a spot for a physical purchase – which is key for hard goods like car seats, which require installation, and prams – they’re also being used cleverly for brand activations.
“We try and use our stores as a way for our customers to live and breathe the brand,” Simmonds says. “We put on community events with outside experts – like during World Breastfeeding Week, we had lactation consultants in-store.” Then there are the logistical benefits, like being able to offer three-hour delivery within a 100-kilometre radius.
Looking ahead, the team say they’re focused on continuing to expand throughout Australia and expand its product categories. Simmonds says there’s potential to launch overseas, too.
“I’m overseas at the moment, and I thought I’d see more, to be honest. The best of fashion, beauty and lifestyle is abroad, but I haven’t seen a big expression of baby and parenting over here. So, in the same way we saw a need for it in Australia, there’s a need over here.”
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