Kelly: We truly, truly want to help people and I think people can see that in our brand that we're literally about solving problems that most people have.
[Voiceover]: So basically I was like, kelly, do you want to be my Kardashian? I can be your Evergreen.
Kelly: We launched the product and 48 hours, all the stock is gone.
[Voiceover]: Like 10,000 units.
Kelly: We have so many magnets in this house, if a plane flies over, they are just going to fall to the ground.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to ADD to Cart, Australia's leading e commerce podcast that express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of online retail. Here's your host, Bushy.
Nathan Bush: Ever lost a hat? Struggled to keep track of your glasses, or been horrified at the thought of leaving your designer handbag on the pub floor?
Nathan Bush: I've probably got two out of three of those.
Nathan Bush: I'll let you choose which ones, but
Nathan Bush: Clipster has the answer.
Nathan Bush: Today I am joined by problem solving extraordinaires Kelly and Julie from Clipster. They're an innovative brand tapping into everyday pain points and solving everyday problems one clever clip at a time. You're going to hear more about that, but welcome to another episode of Add to Cart. My name is Bushi, joining you from the land of the terrible people here in Brisbane, Australia. What began as a simple solution to stop school hats from going missing has now turned into an international business, selling 40,000 clips every month across 12 countries. In this chat, you're going to hear how Clipsta scaled from a side project to an international success. The lessons that they learned the hard way from understocking their most viral product, why they spend big on protecting their ideas from copycats, how listening to customer feedback has led them to unexpected new markets, from optometrists to farmers, and their mission to reach $1 million every month while staying profitable. Now, before we get into today's episode, I have a couple of special Add to Cart events coming up that I would love to invite you to. Firstly, next week we are going to be hosting a very special webinar to unpack the 150 plus Shopify updates in the winter edition, aka the boring edition. There is so much in there to unpack. Luckily I have Dawn Hernandez from Shopify and Chris Hadid from Ozhair and Beauty to talk us through that. Join us there because not only will dawn and Chris unpack the most important features in there, we'll have a chance for you to ask live Q and A questions in that webinar. You can find all the details on add to cart.com au also, for the very first time, we are trialing something new. We have recorded a live demo of a new technology to see inside it to see if it might work for your business. We've just recorded a demo of Prezy's new AI shopping assistant. It's a really cool tool that's helping take search and merchandising to the next level. Come on over. We've got it now available in campus, which you can find on the Add to Cart website. It's about 30 minutes. Come and have a look how they've taken the blue bungalow experience to the next level by introducing an AI shopping assistant through their homepage and their product page. Head to add to cart.com for both of those. All right, thanks to our awesome partners Shopify and Klaviyo for making this app and this podcast happen. Let's get into the good stuff with Kelly and Julie from Clipster. Kelly and Julie, welcome to Add to Cart.
[Voiceover]: Thank you for having us.
Kelly: Thank you.
Nathan Bush: So good to have you here. I will ask you both to introduce us so everyone can get to know you and understand who's speaking based on the accents. Kelly, I will. I will start with you.
Kelly: Hey, I'm Kelly and I'm the CEO and founder of Flipster.
[Voiceover]: And I'm Julie and the accent is from France, but I lived in New York my most of my adult life, so very confused accent. I am the general manager at Clipstar.
Nathan Bush: Lovely. It's awesome to have you both here.
Nathan Bush: I think that's the most formal start we've ever had.
Nathan Bush: And I was like, I'm not like that before, but that's okay. When we had in our office, when I said, we've got the team from Clipster coming on, I shared it with our team who do a lot of our audio and production. And Grace, she'll love this. She was like, oh, my God, I love Cliffster. She's been trying to place an order again for the last couple of weeks. She's like, I'm just waiting for it to come back in stock. Like it was this irrational response when I mentioned that you were coming on. And I've since said it to a couple more people and had a similar response. For a business that sells clips, and I know I am very well understating it there. You seem to have established a really, really strong connection with your audience.
Kelly: We have, yeah, we have. The other thing that's so unusual about it is that it's such an eclectic audience as well. We've had phone calls from farmers telling us how much they love our Clips. And how now they're a Coober is in the back of the truck and it's not getting trashed. We've had nurses
[Voiceover]: with their luxury handbags and they want the flip bag hook.
Kelly: Yeah. We've had a blind woman call us up and tell us that now she's not leaving her hat at bus stop. And yeah, it's just been absolutely amazing.
Nathan Bush: That must have been a pretty incredible call.
Kelly: Yeah, exactly. That call actually brought me to tears. I was like, oh, my God, this is exactly what we're about. We truly, truly want to help people. And I think people can see that in our brand that we're literally about solving problems that most people have.
Nathan Bush: So tell us, Kelly, how did it all start?
Kelly: It started during COVID or when we launched was during COVID but we actually started before that. So I had a son who kept losing his school hat. And in Australian primary schools, it's no hat, no play in a lot of schools. So he was getting really upset because he couldn't play on the playground. He had to sit on the steps. And I went one time to go and look in the lost property and was absolutely stunned at how many hats there were.
Nathan Bush: And aren't they disgusting? They're the most disgusting places in the world. Lost property boxes. I hate putting my hand in there.
Kelly: Exactly, exactly. So I thought, hang on a sec. This is a problem that I know that I can solve. So I started making some prototypes, very, very bodgy prototypes from materials that I found at Spotlight and things like that. And eventually I realized that the market was big enough that I needed to get an industrial designer and go from there.
Nathan Bush: What stopped you from just getting a big ass alligator clip from officeworks and going, use this?
Kelly: Yeah. So my son's hat was actually felt. So I really needed something that could would be very secure but wouldn't leave a mark. So that's how we came up with magnets. Magnets were absolutely perfect.
Nathan Bush: Okay, so magnets plus clip is the magic behind this?
Kelly: Yeah, well, it's actually literally just a strap, but it's very clever in the way that it kind of folds into itself so that it locks onto a bag so it can't fall off and it holds really securely. We use neodymium magnets, which are like the strongest magnets in the world. And, yeah, the combo together is pretty cool. People. People really liked it.
Nathan Bush: What was the magnet magic moment when you were like, magic magnets are the answer.
Kelly: We experimented with so many different materials and then just realized, hang on a tick. What is really strong, but doesn't leave a mark. So.
[Voiceover]: But also knowing Kelly, I can tell you that it has to be perfect and whatever we do, there has to be a better way to do it. So she's putting out their products that, yes, are award winning designs, but it's tested. It's years of development. And so the magnet came and then tested it. You tested it, you tested it. And feedback and everything.
Kelly: And then so I gave it to a lot of my girlfriends to try with their kids, and they were like, hang on a tick, forget about kids. I want this for my hat. So, yeah, so that was when we realized, hang on a tick, we could. I think this is a really useful product.
Nathan Bush: And the range has expanded pretty significantly since then.
[Voiceover]: Yes.
Nathan Bush: Or the use cases as well.
Kelly: Yeah, exactly. So the use cases. So then we found people were using the hat clip for all sorts of. Yeah, they were using the hat clip for holding clothing at the beach. Yeah, exactly. They were just using them for absolutely everything, which was brilliant. Yeah. But they kind of weren't built for that. So then the next product that came along was a product. Product that could be used more for traveling. So they were, for example, they were kind of attaching them to suitcases and things like that. So we then realized, hang on a tip, we need to make a clip that's more versatile, that can be attached to a lot more things than just a bag. So that happened.
[Voiceover]: So then the flakes came in, and then, because Kelly's reading reviews, talking to customers and everything, then someone was like, we need something for glasses. And then Kelly came up with the specs, which is the glasses clip.
Kelly: Yeah, of course.
Nathan Bush: It's like on the chirp pocket there to keep your glasses off.
Kelly: Exactly. And actually it made so much sense to me because I was taking, you know, it was during COVID and I was taking my glasses off all the time, leaving them by the kettle, always yelling out to the kids, are there any glasses in there? And I thought, yeah, this is absolutely brilliant. We could absolutely solve this problem. Problem. And, you know, that product has been amazing. I had to visit someone in hospital recently, and I would say that, you know, at least eight of the nurses there were wearing spectrums. And that was just an incredible moment.
Nathan Bush: Did you say anything?
Kelly: Yes, well, actually. Actually, first of all, I played dumb and I was just like, oh, what's that you've got there? Because I thought, oh, you know, I'll see what the feedback is. And the nurse that I was taught, the first nurse I was taught talking to was like, oh, they're fantastic. She got it out, she showed me, and my husband was with me and then he said, well, that's Kelly from Clipster. And. And they were like, oh, my God. You know, they all wanted to come and meet me. And so that was really nice.
Nathan Bush: And Julie, how did you come into the business?
[Voiceover]: So I moved to Australia a year ago to the day, actually, to this day, I was in New York. I was working in fashion and luxury industry. I was working for Versace for Diane von Furstenberg. Came to Australia, and very early on, I met an amazing recruiter, Sharon, at Talent Matters. And she was like, you have to meet Kelly. You have to talk to Kelly. What was supposed to be a five minute conversation on the call ended up being a two hour conversation or an hour and something conversation. And Kelly's passion for product is contagious. And I was like, I know there's a potential. I can take this brand to the next level. And I. No, I can use my international experience and I want to be part of that. And I like a good challenge also, but I want to be part of that. And we clicked.
Kelly: We did. We clicked straight away. We actually weren't. I wasn't actually looking for somebody like Julie, though, coincidentally, I have a business mentor. And just the week before, he'd been saying, kelly, you've done an amazing job, but I really think it's time to bring somebody else in, somebody with a lot of experience. And Sharon, who's a mutual friend, sent the resume and said, you really need to speak to Julie. And I looked at her resume and said, oh, well, speak to her maybe, but I don't think she's going to want to come and work at Cripster and all that. We could afford her. And yeah, it just, we. We spoke and that was it. We both totally fan girl on Immigrate. I don't know if know who Emma Greed is. She's the brains behind Skims, behind all the Kardashian brands.
[Voiceover]: So basically I was like, kelly, do you want to be my Kardashian? I can be your immigrant.
Nathan Bush: You know, you're in trouble now because that could be the lead quote for the podcast.
Kelly: We love Emma Em is absolutely amazing. Yeah, awesome.
Nathan Bush: Okay, so that's a big step, especially establishing the business for yourself, Kelly, that moment where you like, I need to bring in people who are smarter than me. And I know a lot of founders that I speak with. That is like one of the milestone moments for them in their business. What did you have to kind of reconcile in Your head to go, yes, I can justify this and yes, I'm comfortable bringing someone else in on my baby.
Kelly: I think the main thing was that Julie and I just hit it off so much that I knew it was going to be fun. So I knew that absolutely I needed help, I needed some expertise. We were definitely expanding globally and we had a few products but I really needed somebody who just had done it on a much bigger scale. And yeah, meeting Julie, she had all the experience and we just have so much fun and I think that's really important, particularly being such a small team. So yeah, there is a lot of laughter in our office.
Nathan Bush: You're not allowed to have fun in E Commerce.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, right, apparently. And also Kelly is all about product and that's her passion and that's what she wants to do and you can't do that and do everything else that generates revenue. And so I think we're a good team in that sense also is that you can now focus on more on product. And I have to stop her because there's too many products coming out and I need to be like, hold on a minute. What markets? What segments? Like what, where are we going with this one? So I think it's a good team also of like I take care of, I mean we work closely on everything obviously, but you focus on product and I can focus on like making sure that everybody uses this product.
Nathan Bush: So Kelly, I did read that you started the business with $10,000 of your own investment during that Covid time. And Julie, you just mentioned there some of the growth.
Nathan Bush: I think it's really important for our
Nathan Bush: listeners to get an idea of how Clipster is taking on the world because when I saw some of the numbers I was like, oh, this isn't a small business anymore. This is, you know, an idea that is scaling pretty quickly. What can you share around the growth and the numbers behind Clipster?
[Voiceover]: So from one hot clip that Kelly started, and Kelly, I just want to say how much I admire her because she had no experience in product. No experience in. So now from one hat clip we have 28 SKUs. We're selling 40,000 clips in 12 countries a month. We have thousands of stores and we're growing. And the goal this year is for
Kelly: us to get to a million dollars a month. So a million dollar a month turnover.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. What do you need to do to get to that? Sell a lot of grown up people. God, you think I'm an E commerce expert?
Kelly: Yeah. So we're not just E Commerce. We do do a lot of Wholesale as well. So, you know, we're in quite a lot of stores, but we need more stores. We really do. So we're really concentrating on expanding into the us. In March, we've been invited to the Travel Goods association trade show and they've actually nominated us for an award, which is, you know, fantastic. Yeah. So trade shows, a little bit of pr. We've. We've started some PR in the US and we've been on some products, have been on some shows and we've been in some great magazines and I want
[Voiceover]: to do more partnerships and collabs also with brands that we love and admire. That would go so well with who's
Nathan Bush: on the hit list. Give them a shout out now. We'll make it happen. We'll put it out there.
[Voiceover]: Dear July team, I love everything you do and we would look so good on your suitcases.
Nathan Bush: I know they listen to every single episode. So there we go. We'll make it happen. Anyone else?
Kelly: Yes.
[Voiceover]: Do I really give a full list?
Kelly: Why not?
[Voiceover]: Why not? Okay. I don't know how you said Maison de Sa. Well, technically it's a French name, but they're actually Australian. I know, that's why I don't know if I should say it with the French accent or not.
Nathan Bush: Who am I to correct you?
Kelly: Well,
[Voiceover]: for a flip bag hood, that would be amazing.
Kelly: And. And Figs internationally, we'd love to see Figs since we saw specs on nurses and we heard the feedback. And Figs is this amazing brand that does super cool medical. Yeah, medical outfits. Really? Yeah. We'd love to do something with them,
[Voiceover]: but also Warby Parker in the US and also like the Steak Saver here. Like, I have a big job and a big list.
Kelly: So that's the thing with our, with our products, I guess, is that we, whilst it's absolutely brilliant, we're in these, you know, different areas, like our specs are now in, you know, lots of optometrists and our hat clips, you know, very early on, three months into launching Akubra contacted me, the general manager of Akuba, and I nearly fell off my chair. I was sure I was being pranked and they wanted to test our clips and so of course I sent them a whole heap and they came back three months later and said, we want your clips in all our stores. To this day, we're the only non Acuba branded product on their websites. They've introduced us to all their distributors, even internationally. They've just been so incredibly supportive. But the reason why I say that is Because. Because our products are sold to hat wearers, they're sold in gift stores because they make great gifts, they're sold in optometrists. We've recently found out that there are schools that have made the hat clip compulsory uniform. It's like we have this. I guess it's a good problem to have, but we have such a diverse customer base that at times that can be difficult to market to.
Nathan Bush: That was going to be my question to you because obviously you are solving real problems out there. Do you find that your customers discover you because they have a problem that they're looking to solve? So, for example, my child keeps losing their hat. How do I solve this? I'm stumbling across Clipster. Or do you find that they hear about Clipster and they go, oh, yeah, I do have that problem.
Kelly: That's an interesting one. And in fact, initially, when I launched the hack clip, nobody really understood what the hell a hat clip was. It's like, well, if you, you know, if you don't want to lose your hat, put it on your head. And I really kind of had that battle. We'd run some ads and people would respond with kind of those comments.
Nathan Bush: So I have that battle with my kids every day.
Kelly: So I think it's. It's kind of a mixture of the both. We definitely have solved some problems for people. Then there's a whole heap of word of mouth that comes in into it. And now I think people know that we are problem solvers. So they might come in initially to look at one product, but they'll take a look around and see what else we have.
Nathan Bush: The ads that you running on Instagram and Facebook, I saw them before I met you guys and they were for the handbag clip, which we haven't even discussed yet. What's the name of the handbag clip?
[Voiceover]: Flip.
Nathan Bush: Flip.
Kelly: Flip.
Nathan Bush: And it's a really cool design.
Kelly: Right.
Nathan Bush: Because it's made. And I'm going to butcher this on your behalf. And made to be able to stay on your handbag and look trendy.
[Voiceover]: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: Fashionable. But be versatile enough to be able to hang up wherever you go. That's a little bit different from what we've been talking about with glasses and school hats and the cobras.
Nathan Bush: How did that extension happen? Darchi knows that the outdoors isn't just about having the right gear.
Nathan Bush: It's about the experience.
Nathan Bush: And since adding B2B E commerce on Shopify, Darchi can now offer tailored experiences for both B2B and D2C audiences, while integrating their ERP system and managing all sales on one dashboard. Thanks to this streamlined shopping experience, Darchi has seen more B2B customers flocking to place their orders and a 59% year on year increase in annual web traffic. How's that for a steady climb towards triumph? To read more success stories, head to shopify.com casestudies and see how Shopify can
Nathan Bush: help your business grow.
Kelly: Well, we have people almost every day come and ask us to create products to solve a problem. So it had been coming up a lot that people had been asking me, oh, can you please do a bag hook? You know, I've got a beautiful bag and it would be so helpful if when I was at pubs or a cafe, I didn't have to put it on the filthy floor. And I thought, yeah, I can definitely do that. And I had a look around, obviously, to just do some research, and yeah, they were pretty.
[Voiceover]: They were not functional and attractive.
Kelly: Attractive and they weren't premium and. Yeah, exactly. So basically I did a better job.
[Voiceover]: And we brought sexy back.
Kelly: Yes.
[Voiceover]: On the. On the back hook also. Where we teamed up on this and where it came with, we wanted to make sure that we were stepping away from being just a hat clip brand and we were becoming a brand that is for life on the go. That makes your life easier. And we can solve a lot of problems, but we make it as it's functional, but it's also a bit sexy and affordable, premium quality. And so the whole marketing around that flip bag hook was how do we make it functional, but how do we make it sexy also? And that's where my background help and Kelly's genius help is that we were like, we're gonna team up on this. And we. Boy, did we. We did well because we sold out 10,000 units in 48 hours. And we ended up with a massive problem.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's why Grace is angry at you.
Kelly: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So that was. That was one of the biggest issues that we've come across is that we introduced a product and we just had no idea how well it would be received. And the issue was that we'd been to trade shows and we told stores that it was coming. So they'd done their pre orders, which was fantastic. And then we launched the product and 48 hours, all the stock is gone, like 10,000 units.
[Voiceover]: And we were like, we don't know how well it's going to be received because it's different. It's not a clip anymore. We're doing like another. And we were in shock. And then that's why yeah, that's why your team is upset. But now it's back in stock, so you can tell her she's good now.
Kelly: So for the first time, we had to deal with some really angry customers. And we'd never had that. Like, you can have a look at our reviews on online. We have such amazing reviews. You know, when we're at trade shows, people come and hug us, they want photos, they want. So to hear people angry was really not great. And it's totally. We kind of really values driven and yeah, it did not feel good at all.
[Voiceover]: It was against everything we're doing because everything we want to do is to make their life easier and they would come at us and honestly, it was heartbreaking for us. And, and now it's back in stock and we're very happy with that. We will not lose our grave, but we will not do that again.
Kelly: We're, we're not pre sell.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, okay, that's a, that's a good, good call out.
Nathan Bush: So what would you change? So for future product releases from that experience, obviously forecasting isn't always going to be 100% accurate and there is probably even a bigger risk if you over forecast and undersell. What have you learned around launching new products into market? Because as problem solvers, I'm sure that there are plenty more products to come. What are you going to change moving forward?
[Voiceover]: I think it's also looking at our numbers and data and understanding that we're not a small brand anymore. So when we do launch a product, we need a lot more than what we think we need because now we have thousands of stores that are placing orders in 12 different countries. We're in airports. We have a database of 100,000 customers that are active in buying. So maybe we need a bit more units behind it.
Kelly: And that's all part of growing really quickly. But yeah, so the lesson is, I think that we won't sell anything unless we actually have it in our warehouses at this stage. And yeah, and maybe to go harder with the numbers.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's a good problem to have.
Nathan Bush: When you were talking about Akubra calling
Nathan Bush: you up with that phone call, pretty special moment, my head immediately went to, oh, is this dodgy? To give them your product so that they can investigate it and have a look at it. Because what's stopping them from creating it? We've seen that recently with Kmart and the Lemon Squeezer.
[Voiceover]: No, we're talking about this.
Kelly: Yeah, yeah.
Nathan Bush: And you're going to keep doing this, right? You're going to keep creating Products that are brand new to market, that have your IP in it.
Nathan Bush: How do you protect yourself?
Nathan Bush: Not only from other retailers, but we've got global behemoths on the doorstep who are very happy to take your product and make it four times cheaper. How do you protect that?
Kelly: So basically, we're building our brand because that's something that they can't replicate and building wholesale. So then they cannot go into the stores because they're just not as premium. But, you know, we have. We spend so much money on intellectual property, patenting, design registrations. We also spend time, you know, getting them down. But it's something that we kind of just have to live with every day. And the first time that it happened, oh, my God, it just like, absolutely broke my heart. But the bottom line is, our customer, if you're all just about getting the cheapest price, you're probably not our customer. And we're certainly not going to get into a race to the bottom. We do have good margins, but we make things really affordable, and they're really premium. They do exactly what we say they're going to do. So we're kind of, you know, just sticking to our lane, concentrating on what we're doing.
[Voiceover]: And Kelly's coming up with new products, so hopefully we stay ahead of all of that. And what we've noticed also is that the customers that are looking for cheaper things end up having that exact problem. So we had this woman that was super angry about her hat clip not holding her hat, but she didn't buy it from us. So we're like, if it was ours, we can assure you you won't lose it.
Nathan Bush: What do you mean? She complained to you but didn't buy from you?
[Voiceover]: She didn't realize it was not from us. So I was like, yeah, but if you bought it for, you know, a lot cheaper and not on our website or one of our stores, then obviously it's not going to work. So we also know that our community, they know our product and they know it's good quality, and they know that we spend years developing it and there's like a real thought behind it and we're testing it. So hopefully they continue. Hopefully they know that, and hopefully they continue sticking with us.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, and I think what you're doing around sharing you guys behind the brand as well, you know, with real people behind it, a real story adds to that as well. I think one of the things that I loved, and I can assume your business is very well driven by average order value, would be one of your key Metrics I could imagine, because there's no limit to the amount of clips
Nathan Bush: or flips that you can have in your life.
Nathan Bush: Well, I loved the build a bundle functionality that you've got on the website because you could add a couple of hat clips, couple of glasses clips, handbag clip, all together, get a small discount. Wasn't a crazy discount, but it was really easy to use different colors in there.
Nathan Bush: Did you custom develop that or is
Nathan Bush: that kind of off the shelf?
[Voiceover]: It's an app, but we are working closely. It's called Up Nova and we're working closely with him to develop all of that and customize it and make sure that. Because I guess every E commerce brand has different challenges for the average order value. But for us, it's like we finally introduced new colors. And we introduced a lot. We introduced like 19 new colors across three products in like, a few months ago. So people wanted those more colors and we were like, we can finally give it to you. But then we were like, how are we going to communicate that on our website that you can just buy a lot more and get a discount for it, like a bundle? So we like this app and it's working for us and it's been great.
Kelly: Yeah, we highly recommend up Nova and the developer is just a delight to deal with and it has really increased our average order value. So we kind of stagger our discount so that, you know, initially you get a certain amount and then as you buy more, you. You can increase the discount, which has definitely made a difference because the challenge
[Voiceover]: with our product also, which is one of the many challenges we have, is that it's a durable product. So you don't technically, you don't need 10 in the same year. So the challenge is like, how do we make sure that the customers are coming back and buying more? And that definitely helped.
Nathan Bush: It's the Frank Green effect.
[Voiceover]: Exactly. Exactly.
Kelly: Yeah. And it's funny, nobody buys one clip. Hardly anybody buys one product from our website. So that's really lovely.
Nathan Bush: One of the things that I saw
Nathan Bush: on your website that you seem to be pushing or prioritizing heavily is gifting as well, which wouldn't naturally come to mind. To gift something that is as practical as what you've got. But there must be a sense of discovery. Almost like your nurse's story, Kelly, around people being so proud of what they've discovered and showing. Have you seen this? Can you see how this works? Like, it's almost like a bit of social cred to be able to solve someone else's problem. Is that what you find?
Kelly: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I think with gifting, so we're in a lot of beautiful gift stores, and the thing with gifting is that you don't want something that. That everybody already has. You know, you want it to be a little bit different. You want it to be something that's kind of useful. And so, yeah, that's worked really well, I think. And given the color selections that we have now, it's like, if you know somebody that loves red, we've got options for you. We've got. Yeah, if you know somebody that loves beautiful handbags, we've got options.
[Voiceover]: But also, our price point are perfect for gifting, because when you think about it, you get, like, a beautiful, useful accessory that you know someone that will use this, for example, like, we get a lot of women that are saying, like, I bought a specs, like the glass for my husband because I'm done searching for his glasses. Or we have, like, people saying, like, I know this person is the traveler. He needs a flex on his suitcase. So every product that we have, ideal for gifting, and most of them are unisex.
Nathan Bush: You don't really have sizing, sex, any of that to worry about.
Nathan Bush: Just colors.
Kelly: And then, like, between 20 and $35,
[Voiceover]: the return rate, Earl, is extremely low. Like, I've never seen that at any brand in fashion. It's not a thing. So I was like, there's no sizing, no return. Like, barely any return. So it's perfect.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And I can imagine shipping wouldn't be a huge cost because they're fairly small products.
Kelly: Exactly, exactly.
Nathan Bush: Crack the perfect.
[Voiceover]: There's other challenges, though. Hold on. Because it's magnets, so it needs to be. If you're like, it can't stick to something else that's going to be in the bag. I know there's other challenges.
Kelly: So our packaging is actually bigger than it needs to be, purely because you need to have space between magnets so that they don't stick to other magnetic.
Nathan Bush: Does that cause any trouble in warehousing, like, get these boxes all sticking together?
Kelly: Well, it's so funny. When we launched, my husband and I used to. To fulfill all the orders, and there was one stage where we should have been in a 3 PL, but, hey, it was Covid. And that just seemed impossible at the time where we actually thought, we have so many magnets in this house, if a plane flies over, they are just going to fall to the ground. We literally had hundreds of thousands of magnets and really strong ones.
[Voiceover]: It's Also a challenge for content creation and anything marketing related because you want to take people pictures and you want. And then everything sticks together. And then the first thing when I joined, we were like, we need more colors, we need more everything. So we had like all these products. I was like, kelly, I want this shelf and I want to see all the new products and all the things. And it ended up being like one massive pile of like clips stick together. Just because it's like it's magnet. It's the strongest magnet on the market. And we're not joking. It's like it's a challenge here.
Nathan Bush: Don't work with kids, pets or magnets.
Kelly: Exactly, exactly.
Nathan Bush: That was going to be one of
Nathan Bush: my questions because I think you do an incredible job on your social because if you look at your products, limited range, but you keep your socials really engaging and different angles. But even discussing with you now and hearing all your stories around the farmers and people with vision impairments and kids
Nathan Bush: and women with handbags, they want to
Nathan Bush: keep up pub floors, there's so many different use cases. And is do you use your customers and their feedback as inspiration on how to keep your socials interesting?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, I would say that's the reason why I have so much gray hair. So many gray hair.
Nathan Bush: But not see any.
[Voiceover]: But yes, because having those products is a blessing in a sense that it talks to everybody. And every time we have a review and we're like, oh, we didn't even think about it. We didn't even know it could be in an option. So it's a blessing and a challenge because you technically, if you have a product, you shouldn't be talking to everybody and there's no way you can address everybody. But with our product, we're really trying to keep it interesting because we know we have a lot of different people buying. We have parents, we have nurses, we have travelers, we have people that are doing road trips, camping. Like Van Life. Yeah. Coming from Paris and New York. I did not know about that. But Van Life is massive. So it's pretty big. Like a lot of customers are coming to us for that also. We have like athletes, we have farmers, we have. So we're trying to keep it interesting and we're trying to keep it so that whoever you are, if you come on our socials, you find something, there's something for you, there's something talking to you, but it is a pretty big challenge.
Nathan Bush: So as you expand, because it strikes me that you really do care about your customers, I can hear in your voice, we started off talking about customer feedback and customer feedback that almost brought you to tears. And then even customers who contact you about complaining about products that you didn't sell them and that you even getting back to them strikes me that you really care. So as you expand both internationally and you give some of that responsibility over to wholesalers and other retailers, how are you going to keep that customer? Love?
[Voiceover]: So we're very picky. There's two things. There's the e commerce aspect, which is easy. Well, I don't know, it's easy to have a few customers. It's a bit more challenging to have thousands and thousands, thousands of them every day. So Kelly reads every review, we get emails, we get DMs, we work in a co working space. We even have people walking in and telling us how much they love our product or what we need to solve next or what's like how much they like this or they tried something else and this didn't work. And so people are constantly, and our customers are constantly talking to us and we love it and we don't want to change that. So that's the e commerce aspect and Kelly's. If there's one thing, like she's passionate about solving problems and so she will do anything to solve your problem. Like if you tell her right now what's her, she will create something from the wholesaler side. We're being a bit more picky and maybe picky is not the right word, but we're being very careful who we work with. We always go look at their reviews. Are they a good store? What do people say about them? We also, and my job is also to make sure that I communicate everything with them and how we talk to people and how we show them the product and how we display and if they have any questions, we're here. Every, ideally every single one of them still feel like they're very special to us and they are very special to us and we're so grateful for them and we want to expand and we, we can do trainings and we can do everything. So, so the number one thing beside product is our customers and we know it and we know we're here thanks to them and the love that they've given us so far. So it's a priority for us.
Kelly: And I think also, I think if we keep on with our mission, which is basically we're trying to make life easier for people, we genuinely are. So I want to keep creating products, creating products that actually solve problems and you know, if we're completely honest with you, you know, we'd love the business to, when we get big enough, we will work on impact, becoming a business that has a bit more impact in the world. I'd really, really love to start creating products for people that don't normally have products made for them. So that's something that's coming in the future. We've got to get the business a bit bigger.
Nathan Bush: Are there any causes that are close to your heart?
[Voiceover]: Well, both of us actually.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
Kelly: Yeah, both of us. And I think that being able to solve problems and knowing now a lot about how products get made, I think I, yeah, we, I'm really looking forward to be able to doing that and helping different groups. I mean, you know, one of the first things is that Julie and I both have family members in wheelchairs and with disabilities. And you know, one of the first, first things I'd love to do is to create products for people with disabilities that look great, that are functional, that are affordable and that were created with kind of love in mind rather than how can we do this for the cheapest price and just all about function.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, cool. I love that. I am sure that people throw their problems at you every day to go, have you thought about solving this?
Kelly: And I love it.
[Voiceover]: And we love it.
Nathan Bush: When it comes to the new year, there are two types of people. Those who are organized and planned, they probably got a diary for Christmas and those who get to October and say, where did the year go? Luckily for us, our partners at Klaviyo are the organized ones and they have created a free 12 month e commerce marketing calendar for you to plan your big wins in 2025. Do not miss an opportunity to boost sales and engage your customers with this monthly by month guide to significant marketing moments. From the unmissable moments like Black Friday and end of financial year to the untapped opportunities of national avocado day and take your dog to work day. There are over 150 ideas to help you connect with your customers. Head to klaviyo.com au to grab your copy and if I don't see a spike in avocado promotions this year, I will be very disappointed. Where would you like to go?
Nathan Bush: So obviously we've talked a lot about travel and we've talked a lot about helping mums. Talked a lot about farmers, which I wasn't expecting. Other categories that you would love to explore.
Kelly: Absolutely. One of the areas that we're growing in and then I'm sorry, so proud of is that we are getting into optometrists which is so random. But optometrists are everywhere. They're all over the world. And yeah, that, that has been incredible too. So, you know, businesses like Dresden, which I personally think are so funky, all their stuff is made from recycled plastics, super trendy, great price. And yeah, I'm just absolutely thrilled to be in some in stores like that, but also some majors as well. So we're in optometrist, we're in bookstores here in the US like in places like Harry Hartog, which is just absolutely beautiful. And they've got us because we're in their gifting area. So it's, it is so, so diverse.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. And I think the travel is a focus for us and will remain a focus for us. But I think the way we're looking at it now also is like, it doesn't have to be travel on an, on a plane. It can be like a road trip. It could be commuting to work as long as you're on the go. So like going from point A to point B, we have a product for you and we have a solution for you. So I think that's where we're heading also is like, yes, we're growing in the U.S. yes, we're going to grow in to a lot of different countries in wholesale and we want to have partnerships with hospitals, with optometrists, with gift stores, with. But we are now a brand that creates products for life on the go and it doesn't just mean traveling in an airport.
Kelly: And actually, we forgot to mention ladies fashion because some of our biggest retailers are fashion stores. So they sell our hat clips with their hat.
Nathan Bush: Just get into Gucci just like, here's your $20,000 bag, easy.
[Voiceover]: Especially coming from Versace. Imagine the face they will. It's like their direct competitor if I go to Gucci. But yeah, so I would love to do something with. And again, we're not a luxury brand and everything, but I would love to do something for like that bag. Hook, flip, back, hook with a luxury brand for that and specs with like the biggest optometrist in the country. And like, let's be everywhere.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, I love it.
Nathan Bush: So, Kelly, I've heard you put this
Nathan Bush: number out there a couple of times and it sounds like you're well on the way to it. $30 million. What does that mean to you?
Kelly: $30 million means that we have solved a lot of problems, means that we've made a lot of customers happy. And I think I personally would be really, really proud. I mean, I'm somebody that started A business in their 40s, late 40s, who had no experience in product, didn't know anything about manufacturing or marketing. And basically I'm proud. And to get to 30 million, I think would just be fantastic. And it also means then that we can help more people by giving back, by starting to look at the impact that we can have in the product development space. Space and helping more people.
Nathan Bush: You should be proud. And I bet your kids are loving going on this journey with you. From that moment of solving the lost hat in the lost property bucket to seeing you grow this into a multimillion dollar international business. That's pretty special.
Kelly: They are, but they're also teenagers, so take that with a pinch of salt. It's like, oh, mum, that's amazing. Yeah, what's for dinner? So I think they are deep down, definitely. But, but yeah, they'll tell you when
Nathan Bush: they get into their early 20s.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, I know. I'm like, don't worry, they'll. They'll see that. They'll.
Kelly: They'll know. And actually, I'm always saying to them, guys, get a product business. I'll help you.
[Voiceover]: Oh.
Kelly: And they're like, not interested.
Nathan Bush: They're like, mom, you TikTok. Shit, can I do your TikTok? And it's not. But all right, I'm going to move on.
Nathan Bush: So the next 12 months, we've hinted
Nathan Bush: at some, some of the problems that you could be solving, but tell us more. We've talked about wholesale as a focus, international as a focus. I've got no doubt there's more colors and more products coming, but the next 12 months, what is key for you? Any special releases coming up?
Kelly: Well, we won't talk, we won't mention actual products, but just know that there are many, too many.
[Voiceover]: There's too many products. I'm like, we have 12 months. How can we do that? 48 products. So Kelly has so many ideas and I think what will need to happen in the next 12 months is prioritize what we can do because we're a very lean team and we can't do it all. And we also want to make sure we grow fast and scale, going even more international, more into wholesale, more into E commerce, but like in more countries and have more people using our product. But we can't do it all. And we can't do it all in such a mean team.
Kelly: Exactly. So we can't do it all. And the main thing really is to stay profitable. There are so many businesses that have fantastic businesses and that are profitable on paper, but they Just run out of cash flow. So we really, really, that's, that's important to us. And yeah, so we've got some really big goals, but we need to do it. We need to prioritize. We really need to say, okay, this is what we can do. And we need to add people to the team as well with different expertise. It's great as it is, but really we need some help with logistics and operations, maybe a CFO as well. So it's expanding globally with our product range and where our products are solve, but also in our team as well. Our leadership team is tiny. There are three of us and most other businesses that we speak to cannot believe what we do with three people, but we absolutely love what we do.
Nathan Bush: Okay, well, I've got no doubt that
Nathan Bush: there are many people listening to this and going, I've got to get in touch. First of all, Ethan and Zoe at July are thinking that straight away, but
Nathan Bush: there might also be other people who
Nathan Bush: are like, I want to absolutely connect with Kelly and Julie, maybe as business owners or maybe as, hey, I've got some skills that I might be able to help you with. What's the best way to get in touch?
Kelly: Best way to get in touch?
[Voiceover]: I mean, there's LinkedIn or there's Julie.
Kelly: Do we say our email addresses?
Nathan Bush: Yeah, if you want.
Nathan Bush: It's up to you. Totally up to you.
Kelly: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: I mean, some people do julie.com or kellyps.com and then we're always on LinkedIn and.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: And yes, please. And July team, we're looking at you.
Nathan Bush: Just don't go emailing more problems because the roadmap for 2025 is already full. No more problems to be solved.
[Voiceover]: Yes. No, we're always happy. And especially because usually it's something that we're working on and so we know it's like validating. We're like, okay, we know another person.
Kelly: Yeah, it gets moved up the list because we're.
[Voiceover]: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: I love it. Kelly, Julie, thank you so much. Congratulations on everything so far with Clipster.
Nathan Bush: Obviously just the start and can't wait to see what problems you'll be solving in the future.
[Voiceover]: Thank you for having us.
Kelly: Thanks so much.
Nathan Bush: Pushy.
Kelly: It's been an absolute pleasure.
Nathan Bush: I wish I could make a business like Clipster. Every time that my kids lost their school hats, I would be absolutely loaded. But the truth is, Clipster didn't just stumble on success. They built it by solving everyday problems in ways that no one else has before. And I can't wait to see what they come up with next Here are my top three takeaways from this chat, along with the actions that you can take right now as an e commerce manager. Number one, your brand is your best IP protection. Clipster has spent thousands on patents and design protections, but what really stops copycats? A brand that people actually care about. When Akubra, Australia's most iconic hat brand, came knocking three months after launch, they didn't just want the product, they wanted the Clipster name and the trust behind it. Even when customers unknowingly buy a cheap imitation, they come back frustrated and even complain that because the knockoffs don't work, here's something to think about. If a competitor copied your product tomorrow, what would make customers still choose you? And it could happen. We're living in the world of temu. Think about your brand positioning, trust signals and community engagement. If the answer isn't obvious, now's the time to double down on your brand story and your customer experience. Number two Scale smart, not just fast Clipstar is growing fast, but I loved hearing the focus on profitability. The team learned the hard way and you can tell that they were a bit burnt when their flip bag hook sold 10,000 units in 48 hours. It left them with furious customers and months without stop. Now they take a data driven approach to inventory forecasting, knowing that they have thousands of retailers in 12 countries place placing orders at once. It's not easy. They're also really selective with wholesale partners, ensuring stores align with their brand and they're not just chasing revenue, they're focused on hitting $1 million a month in sales while staying cash flow positive. I love that they're focusing on a profit number, not necessarily a revenue number. So have a look. If we look back at that episode, the things that's helping drive towards that profit number is accurate inventory forecasting. So when you're planning, make sure you know whether you're planning based on past sales, real time demand signals or customer intent. If you've ever stocked out unexpectedly or been stuck with excess stock, you know how painful it is. It's time to refine your approach. Don't do it time and time again. And if you are going wholesale, be picky. Not every stockist is a good stockist and one big bad stockist could spell a lot of trouble. Number three, let your customers guide innovation. Klipster's best selling products didn't come from a boardroom or a backyard. They came from real customer problems. Kelly told us about the hat story Farmers called them about keeping a Cobra secure in their trucks.
Nathan Bush: Nurses needed a better way to store
Nathan Bush: their glasses on scrubs. Fashion lovers wanted a handbag hook that didn't look ugly. Clipster listened, tested and built products that solved these customer issues. The result is that they're now in optometrists, gift stores, fashion boutiques, even airports. If you are struggling to come up with new ideas or product innovation, go back to what your customers are telling you. And it might not be the obvious things go through your product reviews, your social media comments, your customer service tickets. Is there a recurring frustration, even if it's to the side of your core product that you could turn into a new product or feature? If your customers are already asking for something, you might have a ready made market. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a friend or a colleague or just someone who loves clips. Or leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And as always, please support our sponsors Shopify and Klaviyo who made this episode possible. Before you go, we'd love to invite you to join our free e commerce learning platform Add to Cart Campus, meet other professionals and learn from e commerce experts to take your business and your e commerce career to the next level. Register to join campus@addtocart.com
Nathan Bush: now.
Nathan Bush: If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure sure you share it with a friend or a colleague. Or even better, leave us a review on Spotify or Apple. It really makes a difference.
