Reaching a world of collectors
With Australia Post as its partner, a small tradingcard shop became an international phenomenon.
Ash Howard’s obsession with NBA basketball cards sparked the idea to set up a collectable-card shop, initially as a project for his recently retired schoolteacher mum. “My parents, John and Judy, and my uncle, Glenn, opened Card Mania in 1993,” says Howard. Starting with collectable cards, the Geelong-based store followed each craze – from Tazos to Pop! vinyl figurines and “whatever was hot in pop culture”. When Howard returned to Australia in 2007 after a stint as a lawyer in London, he joined the family business, armed with a vision for international growth. “I could see a trend to cross-border retail so when I came back to Geelong, I said, ‘This business could be a lot bigger than a domestic one but we need to rebrand and open an online store, as well as a new bricks-and-mortar store.’” In 2009, Card Mania became Popcultcha, an online emporium of collectables that includes everything from Gremlins to lightsabers. “Our business is niche,” says Howard, “but there are people all over the world who are passionate about collecting and we’re specialists so they seek us out.”
From Geelong to the world
Popcultcha packages are sent to collectors in places as far away as Denmark and Peru, tracked and traced all the way. From day one, the company partnered with Australia Post, which now sends three trucks a day to pick up as many as 50 cages of Popcultcha merchandise. “Australia Post has worked with us to find solutions for things that don’t fit within the standard network,” says Howard, citing the popular Star Wars lightsaber. “It goes into a long carton and Australia Post ensures it is processed through a separate system.” And as the business has grown, Australia Post has been right there alongside the Popcultcha team. “There are a lot of moving parts and Australia Post has been superagile and has resourced us to help us grow, whether it’s more trucks or staffing up at the Geelong Business Hub,” says Howard. “They have coped with everything we’ve thrown at them.”