[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
[Voiceover]: Today's checkout features Danny Atkins and Alex Babbage, the married founders of Kulani Kinis, a swimwear label inspired by Hawaiian life, summer and a love of color. And they're taking the world by storm. Not only are they selling over $20 million of bikinis with their team of 40, they are selling 80% of their product outside of Australia.
Nathan Bush: Danny and Alex, welcome to the checkout. We've heard all about Killarney kidneys and now we're here to learn a little bit more about you. I feel like we already learned a lot about you, but we're going to learn a few little tidbits. All right, five quick questions. One, what's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Dani Atkins: A glitter bomb. Have you heard of a glitter bomb before?
Nathan Bush: I have heard. But who is the poor victim of your glitter bomb?
Dani Atkins: A customer. I'm not sure if I should talk about this, but we had a nature of e comm is chargebacks. That's just a reality of selling something online. We face chargebacks weekly. We had a customer who had four orders from us. We had pictures of her in her swimwear. We had dialogue with her saying how much she loved her swimwear. Yet she submitted four chargebacks and we lost them. And I spent so much time and energy that the way I felt like that I could feel better about the situation was we sent her a glitter bomb.
Nathan Bush: Do you know if it arrived?
Dani Atkins: The tracking said yes. So yeah, trust the process. Yeah, I love it.
Alex Babich: Some random follow up ones might soon follow. Exactly.
Nathan Bush: Anyway, don't mess with the Kalani crew, otherwise you get glitter bombed. Fraud prevention ever.
Dani Atkins: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Dani Atkins: I love Princess Polly. So they're quite a major. Yeah. Based up on the Gold Coast.
Alex Babich: Yep.
Nathan Bush: And do you guys work together or like share things at all?
Alex Babich: Not at the moment, no. We really, I think I look at them as like a player in the force that's doing really interesting things. And I like to follow brands like Pura, Viva, Sunbum, places that, you know, have a very similar kind of like demographic of audience but just are in a different category. I just love watching what other people are doing and just getting to see what's inspiring them. So that's what I like. Brilliant.
Nathan Bush: Number three, which E commerce practice do you wish was history?
Dani Atkins: The Wheel that spins when you're. Yeah. To get a discount.
Nathan Bush: Never been tempted to do one.
Dani Atkins: No, no, not my favorite.
Nathan Bush: Same for you, Alex.
Alex Babich: Yeah, same for me, mate. We were talking about this and we were just like, definitely. Spin the wheel. Hates it. I just hate it.
Nathan Bush: Like, when did our website turn into a game show?
Dani Atkins: Yeah, correct.
Alex Babich: I was like, larry. I just think of Larry Henson, the Price is Right. You know, I'm like the theme song playing in my head and someone like
Nathan Bush: that little man going up the mountain and then falling off a cliff. Maybe that should be the new Spin the Wheel. All right, number four. We're going off tangents. Number four. Can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Dani Atkins: We are loving at the moment, Diary of a CEO Stephen Butler. So Alex and I often trade episodes and I'm diving right back to, you know, a year or two ago and finding ones that, yeah, like, I like the look of.
Alex Babich: But, yeah, that's very cool. Yeah. And when I'm late at night doing what Danny says I shouldn't do, which is working late, I usually put on a How I Built this from Guy Raz. And there's this really great episode. If you've ever want to feel like life is terrible, you go listen to a guy named Gary Hirschberg talking about starting of an organic yogurt brand in America in the 90s and almost going bankrupt five times. And just like, life's not so bad.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's the kind of 2:00am Motivation.
Alex Babich: Yep. Yeah, exactly.
Nathan Bush: All right, and last question I have for you. Finish this sentence. The future of retail is sustainable. Same thing about me.
Alex Babich: The future of retail is that and also Omni Channel. And I think that's what we go back to, the heart of our brand, which is we are a direct to consumer business. Like, that's how we started and how we were founded. But I really think the future of finding your customers where the customer is, and I think as you get bigger and as you find your brand voice, it's really about sharing that voice wherever you can find your customer.
Dani Atkins: And.
Alex Babich: And yeah, so we've gone on that journey to start wholesale again after the COVID lockdowns and we're off on the road again. So it's exciting.
Nathan Bush: Amazing. Danny and Alex, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout. If you want to hear more of the stories. Fascinating story, really exciting business. Head back to the main episode.
Dani Atkins: Thank you, Nathan.
[Voiceover]: To hear more from Danny and Alex, jump back into episode 208 where Danny and Alex share the inspiration on how they came up with creating a new swimwear label as a side hustle, and how they left their previous careers as a psychologist and a corporate accountant. We also discuss why they don't pay Instagram influencers despite their 600,000 followers, and they give their tips for surviving burnout in a very busy e commerce world. Hint you have to work more than four hours a week. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to car.
