Meet the Qld mums behind Schoolstuff - a business shaking up the ’back to school’ market

Two Queensland friends were frustrated with the old way of ordering school supples so they decided to do something about it. Now their business employs up to 50 people at peak times.

One day back in 2004, Lisa Jensen and her friend Alison Walsh met up for a coffee. They were both frustrated with how difficult it was to order back to school supplies for their children. Out of that catch-up, a business idea was formed that has grown into Schoolstuff, a company now bigger than they ever could have imagined. During peak times they employ up to 50 people. After 16 years together they are a well-oiled operation and know how to capitalise on each others strengths.

Lisa Jensen

Schoolstuff founder and director

Alison and I met at our local PCYC gym through a mutual friend and we quickly became very good friends having similar ideals, aspirations and love for being busy. Our children have since grown up together and are friends to this day.In the industry of “Back To School”, the suppliers of book packs and lists used to have cut-off dates that were around the end of October of the previous school year.

After one saying no to filling a book list order in the December, Alison and I decided it was time for action. Schoolstuff was born in 2004 over sheer frustration while Alison and I were having a coffee together.

We were both ready for a change in our careers and hoping for a little flexibility around our families.

We developed the concept of a school resources business with no cut-off dates, an online ordering service 24/7 (many families are travelling overseas at the time you need to order the packs) with fast turnaround.

We immediately registered the name Schoolstuff, created a logo and engaged a website developer who built the first online store in Australia for school supplies.

After many meetings, we signed up five schools for the first season.

Because our business is seasonal and we were a startup, we couldn’t afford to rent premises. Our local rugby club offered us a cheap deal on the change rooms instead!

Lisa Jensen (left) and Alison Walsh from Schoolstuff. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

In the beginning, we both did absolutely everything. We answered customer queries on a flip-out Nokia, unpacked stock, picked and packed orders, ordered more stock and packed until all hours of the night. Then, we would repeat that process day after day.

These days, we divide and conquer during the back to school season.

Alison runs administration, the retail store and orders our stock, while I manage the warehouse, packing staff and stock levels.

Each year we have employed more and more staff to work in designated roles.

By our tenth year we were desperate for more space and found our current premises in east Brisbane. During our last ‘‘season’’ we employed more than 50 casuals working in a range of areas, from picking and packing online orders, call centre and administration and instant service in our retail store.

Both of us have a degree in education and I was working both in schools and as a consultant in a recruitment agency.

Alison was at Flight Centre having worked as a consultant in HR and procurement.

We are very similar in the way we think about most things so agree and compromise well, but I think we very quickly learnt each other’s strengths and have used them well over the years.

Alison is excellent at negotiating pricing with our suppliers, training in administration and customer service, while I am better at networking, face-to-face meeting with our clients, managing staff and the warehouse logistics.

Schoolstuff managed to stay afloat during the GFC despite customers ordering absolute minimum product from the recommended book lists, but one of our biggest challenges was the 2011 floods. That was a very tough season.

With COVID-19 now creating havoc both socially and economically, we have set up a ‘‘Home School’’ category on our website to assist families during this stressful time and so are currently accepting online orders and delivering out same (business) day.

We haven’t seen each other face-to-face in weeks but we are managing perfectly fine.

During the year I am usually out visiting schools and Alison does admin so we tend to be ships in the night anyway with our business.

Our sheer grit and determination has got us through before and will again if need be.

Alison Walsh

Schoolstuff founder and director

We supply booklists to families to start the school year. The business started out when the service being provided was not online or convenient and we felt there was a need for parents to have a better service. Lisa and I had been friends for many years having met through a mutual friend 26 years ago. We pretty much fell into the roles we now play.

It has evolved with the business with a few crossovers. Lisa is responsible for the warehouse, logistics and accounts and I look after the retail store, stock ordering and administration. 

We both have a background in education but most of our experience comes from being involved in the corporate world.

Lisa Jensen and Alison Walsh started Schoolstuff in 2004. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

The business is evolving and changing and we are always looking for better ways to do things, which creates a challenge. Being a seasonal business we have defined periods where we are planning and marketing, negotiating with schools and then servicing the needs of customers so there is always the next stage to look forward to. Being a seasonal business also means we have a new team every year and we are passionate about our culture and creating a vibrant efficient workforce. Getting our staff on board with this in a short period of time is always a challenge but we always get there in the end!

Aligning our goals for the business always keeps us on track. We also know each other very well and have the same drive and determination to make things work, even through the tough times. We know we have each other’s back.

Our customers are all parents or care-givers to children and have high expectations of online services and we try to meet and exceed those expectations every time