From 35 hours a week to 4 —and space to finally breathe.
How Play Planet Kids outsourced fulfilment to Fulfilpackers — and reclaimed the time, energy, and headspace to scale.
Children's Goods · Gold Coast, QLD
Play Planet Kids — purposeful play, built in Queensland.
Play Planet Kids is an Australian family-owned brand creating thoughtfully designed indoor play equipment for children. Their range (soft play sets, foam climbers, stepping stones, Pikler triangles, castle blocks, and building blocks) is designed to grow with children, encourage movement, and support early gross motor development.
The brand was founded by Ella and Adam, a Gold Coast couple who built the business after their daughter began physiotherapy for a chronic gross motor delay at six months old. When they couldn't find quality, compact, aesthetically considered indoor soft play equipment for her therapy, they made it themselves. The result is a brand with genuine purpose: products beautiful enough to leave out in a family home, and functional enough to support children's development every day.
Play Planet Kids stands for the idea that play isn't just entertainment — it's how children learn, build confidence, and make sense of the world.
Rented shipping containers, trailer runs, and a c-section that couldn't stop.
Before Fulfilpackers, Play Planet Kids' fulfilment operation was entirely self-managed — and it was consuming the business. The team rented seven shipping containers located 45 minutes from home. Ella's partner Adam, a builder, would take a ute and trailer to top up basement stock multiple times per week. Orders went out from under the carport. In busy periods, not all stock could stay dry.
The turning point wasn't a spreadsheet or a strategy review. It was a Black Friday sales period, three days after Ella's caesarean, with Adam recovering from two emergency spinal surgeries — and no family nearby to help.
"The only option during Black Friday sales was for someone post c-section to put out the packages."
— Ella, Co-Founder, Play Planet KidsWith products averaging 8kg each — some larger than Ella herself — and no support structure around them, the emotional toll matched the physical one. The business was growing. The founders were not keeping up.
Most 3PLs wanted small boxes. Fulfilpackers didn't.
Ella found Fulfilpackers through a thorough Google search — and what stood out was what didn't apply. Most fulfilment centres prioritise compact, high-density SKUs. Foam climbers and giant soft play sets don't fit that model. After speaking directly with Gavin, it was clear that Fulfilpackers operated differently: first in, best dressed.
Being Gold Coast-based helped too. Ella and Adam could visit the facility, meet the staff, and see exactly how their products would be handled. That proximity replaced a layer of anxiety that would have existed had they been working with a warehouse interstate.
"I didn't really have any fears — I think that's because we live local and could see the facility, meet the staff. If we lived in another state, I'd always be wondering if they cared as much as me."
— Ella, Co-Founder, Play Planet KidsEasy to integrate. Honest when things got complicated.
Onboarding was straightforward. The software integrated cleanly with Play Planet Kids' Shopify store, and invoicing was simple to navigate. One early friction point: the platform didn't allow clients to edit customer shipping details directly, which meant Ella had to reach out to the Fulfilpackers team more than she wanted. That's since been resolved.
On packaging: Play Planet Kids sells large foam products in cardboard boxes. The product is robust. No customer has ever reported a damaged or poorly presented delivery since switching. Ella's care rating for the Fulfilpackers team? 10 out of 10.
31 hours back. Every week.
The number is stark: 35 hours a week on fulfilment, now four. But the real measure is what those hours contain now.
When the business ran out of the family home, weekends were never truly off. The kids came second to logistics. Now Friday afternoons are for the family — so weekends actually are.
On the business side, Play Planet Kids has just placed its largest stock order: two 40-foot containers instead of one, in preparation for peak season. That expansion would have been unviable to self-fulfil. With Fulfilpackers absorbing that operational load, it's simply the next step.
What Ella would tell the version of herself from 12 months ago.
Her advice is direct: hire sooner than feels comfortable. Ask for help before you're desperate. Protect your health like it's your most important business asset — because it is. Don't wear exhaustion as a badge of honour. Being able to do everything yourself isn't the goal.
"Stop waiting for things to calm down before you look after yourself. There was always another launch, another problem, another late-night email. Businesses grow faster than founders do. If you don't build support around yourself early, eventually the business demands more than one person can give."
— Ella, Co-Founder, Play Planet KidsOn what outsourcing actually does — and doesn't — change:
"Outsourcing fulfilment doesn't remove work — it changes the type of work. A great fulfilment partner can help you scale faster than you ever could on your own. A poor one can create problems that take months to recover from. Don't choose based solely on price. Choose one that communicates well, is transparent when things go wrong, and genuinely understands your brand."
— Ella, Co-Founder, Play Planet Kids 
I used to spend 35 hours a week on fulfilment. Now I spend that time with my family, my children's sports, supporting my fiancé and keeping his business going. The difference is priceless.
Ella · Co-Founder, Play Planet Kids · Gold Coast, Queensland
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