Helium Shortage Options for Ballon Decor Business Owners

How to find a new helium supplier (or a secondary supplier)

Google is your friend when finding any supplier for your business and helium is no different. Start with a google search for “Helium Tank Rental” and add your local metro area name to the search. “Helium Tank Refill” will also provide solid results.

Here’s what the search looks like in the Seattle metro area. We used “Helium Tank Rental Seattle”:

Here’s the “Helium Tank Refill Seattle” search results:

For each search the key is to start with the industrial suppliers and work down the list toward balloon distributors and then further, if necessary, to party related sources.

Call each company you see in that focus order and let them know you want to rent a tank and go through their process to create an account. If you’re willing to pay up front you’ll be in a better position than those that want credit from the supplier or want “net 30” terms or the like.

When it’s difficult to find a supplier that will work with you, make their life as easy as possible to get better service.

How to adjust prices to account for increased wholesale helium cost

For many businesses the challenge isn’t securing helium, the challenge is that the cost of helium has increased significantly. Some markets are seeing 3x to 5x the pre-2020 price for a tank of helium. This has a direct impact on expenses and profit margin and requires that prices be increased to maintain healthy margin.

There are three common strategies for pricing cost of goods increases like this:

1. Increase price to account for the change and maintain the percentage of net profit
2. Increase price to match other local market suppliers
3. Increase price until clients say “no” and change to other suppliers for decorations

Each strategy has benefits and drawbacks.

Adjusting prices to maintain net profit percentage is the technique that represents maturity in your business management and is the strategy we recommend.

To use this technique you need to create a cost model for the decor items the business provides. A cost model is simply a spreadsheet that shows all expenses and revenue associated with each decor product the business creates.

Using a spreadsheet allows you to work with the revenue, expenses, and net profit as expenses change. Today we’re covering a change to helium but the most common expense to change is the cost of labor.

Using a cost model effectively allows you as the owner to maintain the net profit percentage you target in your business while adjusting to changes in expenses and provides clarity on the retail price you and your team offer for decor creations.

If you have thought of your business as a “custom decor” provider where every creation is completely unique the best way to introduce this cost model technique is to literally build a cost model for every creation and use it to determine the price offered to the client.

Some business owners are concerned that increasing prices for helium filled creations will result in clients going to other suppliers. Remember that the competition is facing the exact same changes in their cost of revenue. Maintain the health of your business and stick by the pricing you need to make money. If your business doesn’t have the occasional “no” due to price, prices are not high enough anyway.

How to adjust balloon designs to use limited helium or eliminate helium

Consider a client that wants 24 helium balloons on strings to denote locations at their event. Perhaps the client is a 5k or 10k fitness event and wants to identify the water stations. Perhaps it’s an upscale nonprofit fundraiser and they want helium balloons at each featured auction item.

A shift to decorating with non-helium balloons will guide you to present alternatives that better meet the clients needs. Do not focus on the price or availability of helium, instead, focus on helping the client meet their needs. You would be surprised with how many non-helium balloon ideas there are out there.

An outdoor event may face wind or high temperatures which massively impacts the quality of the decoration. Steer a client seeking this type of decor to a themed air-filled column of the same requested height that can free-stand or be attached to the desired furniture.

An indoor nonprofit fundraising event looking to feature specific places or options can do better than a single balloon on a string and you can consider presenting options more typically used as an elevated centerpiece. Add-ons for other featured areas such as the photo shoot area and registration can also be presented as floor standing air-filled.

Along with a change to air-filled decor recommendations and steering comes a change in marketing so that potential clients are seeing air-filled designs. Focus on changing over web pages and social media posts to showing air-filled designs. If there are helium based designs in the online store, change over to air-filled designs. Updating marketing with the changing trend (or business reality) helps align potential or repeat clients before they enter a design conversation with you.

If you are working to solve your business problems the team at Balloon Suite is here to help. Join one of our Problem Solving sessions where we focus on your biggest business problem and presenting solutions and resources so you can move on to the next problem.

Helium Balloons FAQs