[Voiceover]: I am the CEO of Snot. I am. But guess what? Snot is a fact of life. Those online forums will either amplify your brand and put it up there on a pedestal or they will crucify you. The first tap of the rock is not going to bust the rock open. It's the hundredth tap of the rock that's going to bust it open. 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: Welcome to another episode of Add to Cart. I'm Bushi and I'm joining you from the land of the terrible people, otherwise known as Brisbane, Australia on Add to Cart. We welcome everyone to share and listen to e commerce stories. The more diverse, the better. I want to especially welcome the traditional owners and the original storytellers of the land that we are on, our indigenous and Torres Strait Islander listeners to join us in our e commerce conversations and our community. Now, speaking of community, we are excited to have the Add to Cart campus open for access. What's the Add to Cart campus? I hear you say. Put simply, it's a learning community for e commerce professionals and it feels like it's what we've been building at Add to Cart for many years. Free to Join Campus has lunch and Learn webinars, the latest e commerce resources, a job board, and a heap of ways to learn with industry professionals and your peers. Whether you're an e commerce manager, a founder, or simply finding your path to a career in e commerce, we'd love to see you in there. Register to join campus@addtocart.com Aucampus there's an old expression where there's mark, there's brass. I actually hadn't heard it before, but I was told to say that. But in other words, follow the snot and poop trail to riches. If you want another way of saying it, it's pretty self explanatory. It basically means that wherever things get messy, there's money to be made. Well, my guest today knows this only too well. Laura Klein is the founder and the CEO of Snotty Noses. Snotty Noses is a brand that pretty much does what it says on the tin. Provides a practical solution for dealing with the bucket loads of snot that the babies and toddlers in our lives seem to generate from the moment they come into our lives. I think I mentioned it in this episode, but I got a bit of PTSD from some of the situations Laura talks about Here. If you are not a parent or have had no experience with this phenomenon, you might want to look at Snotty Nose's TikTok channel to get up to speed. Just don't do it over breakfast. The Snotty Boss, Laura's hero product is a motorized nasal aspirator that niftily sucks the snot from your child's nose at the Touch of Button. Laura's journey has taken her from fulfilling orders at her kitchen bench to being stocked in retailers such as Terry White and Baby Bunting. Today, Laura shares how she made the tricky move from selling someone's product to manufacturing her own. She gives her tips for successful affiliate marketing and tells us what she learned from her recent warehouse upgrade. Now, Laura has also given our listeners a special discount on the products she has at Snotty Noses. So. So don't go away if you're in need of a little snot. Clearer details at the end of this chat. All right, thanks to our partners, Shopify plus and Deliver in person. Here's our conversation with Laura Klein, founder and director at Snotty Noses. Laura, welcome to Add to Cart.
[Voiceover]: Hey, Nath, great to be with you.
Nathan Bush: So great to be here with you. We caught up at the last Add to Cart social in Brisbane a couple of months ago.
[Voiceover]: Yes, that was great. Thank you for putting that on.
Nathan Bush: Oh, thanks for coming along. It was great to meet you and your team because we've kind of been in touch and we met at a digital social a few years ago, but I was blown away by the success that you've had since then and how fast it's happened and we're going to get into all of that today. But in our pre chat, I want
[Voiceover]: to give people a little bit of
Nathan Bush: an idea of where they're going. You said that you want to be Jane Fonda at 85.
[Voiceover]: Oh, she's my idol. I love everything about that woman. She is energetic, she's inspiring. She works not because she has to, because she wants to. She's passionate about her projects and her people connecting, you know, making a difference in the world. She's a good egg and I think the world needs more good eggs that will stand up and be helpful in whatever you do. Be helpful, enjoy it. If you don't enjoy something, then change it. But, you know, just keep going. She's fantastic.
Nathan Bush: I love it. That was such a great pre chat. I feel like we should have recorded the pre chat, but we are here to talk about your business, which is Snotty Noses. And I had so much Fun with Amy researching your business. And you know what stood out to me was some of the headlines. Like you have the most cracking headlines about your business for listeners. I'm going to give you an idea of some of those headlines. So headline number one, and this is in news.com so we're not talking dinky die community publication. This is news.com headline is mum makes millions from snot sucker. And then Sydney Morning Herald. Snot and poop are a fact of life. You can't get better headlines than that.
[Voiceover]: So glamorous, right?
Nathan Bush: Oh my gosh.
[Voiceover]: Can you explain? Sure. Look, it gets attention and both of those newspapers, they love a million dollar statistic especially, especially when it involves a mum. But hey, we both know that revenue or profit are very different things. So yeah, great revenue numbers, that's all good. But when it comes down to it, you know, snot and poop headlines get the attention, get the click. Isn't that what we're in business for? If you're going to be vanilla, you're just not going to stand out. So in this fast paced, short attention span world, attention is everything. And that's why I gave my business name the name. It is snottynoses.com. it gets a reaction from every single person you tell it to. They actually say, sorry, what or what is that? You know, it just sparks curiosity, it sparks a conversation. So the bottom line is I am the CEO of Snot. I am. But guess what? Snot is a fact of life with young children. And apologies to people who are listening to this that, you know, are not dealing with little people in their world. But you know, kids can't sniff, they can't blow their nose or I know that because I had three kids in three and a half years, you know, a few years back. And at the time it was like I was living in Snottsville. It didn't seem like the start of a dream back then in 2013, but fast forward nearly 11 years. Here we are sitting in our new warehouse in Brisbane and we've really come a long way.
Nathan Bush: I think you've given us the headline for our episode already. The CEO of Snottsville.
[Voiceover]: I'll take it.
Nathan Bush: So tell me. I was actually at my brother and his wife's house and they've got two young kids on the weekend and there was a snotty noses sitting on the bathroom sink and I was like, words
[Voiceover]: I'm fond of hearing.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, I'm sure you hear that all the time.
[Voiceover]: It was a sign from the universe that I needed to be on your podcast. I'm stalking you from your brother in law's house.
Nathan Bush: That's right. So tell me, how does this not sucker work? Like where did the idea come from? Let's start there.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, sure. So the original Back in 2013, you know, I was a full time mum to three little ones on leave from my, for my job as a, as a primary school teacher. Life was busy, but the level of snot was constant. And I had tried all of those cheap squeezy manual little bowl, you know, aspirators, they just didn't work. And then I found a motorized aspirator called Snotty. It was just called Snotty in an old school parenting magazine. Doesn't even exist anymore. But you know, I bought it, I loved it, I used it and then they sent me a work for like be a work from home rep, like a flyer, you know, they sent me this, not even on email, old school snail mail. And I looked at it and I thought, I have spent the better part of a year using this product telling all these people about it. Maybe I could, maybe I could start a business if they want, you know, work from home reps, a bit like an Avon lady, you know, you buy a box of stock and you sell it to your friends and I thought,
Nathan Bush: but instead of beauty, you've gone into snot.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, I know, right? So glamorous. I may as well try to sell a few and honestly, the rest is history. I bought a box of these little aspirators, I set up a website and away we went. And I am not kidding, I had no marketing plan, no social media, no idea about SEO or upsells or cross sells, Afterpay, TikTok, Black Friday, ChatGPT. They weren't, they were years away. They didn't even exist. I just started with what I had and I did the best I could. And you know what? That's how every business actually starts. You know, Google started in someone's garage and Facebook started in a dorm room. Everyone starts small. But I had a belief, I had a belief in the problem that I was solving. I knew if I faced it then small, so did so many other parents. What was on the market just wasn't good enough. It was a serious medical condition and people just needed a solution and I had nothing to lose. So I just, I just went for it.
Nathan Bush: And when you had that original letter or pamphlet in the letterbox, was your immediate reaction to go, I'm going to sell this online? Or did you think about Selling it door to door, setting up a shop, or was it always just going to be an online business?
[Voiceover]: It was online. You could see that that was the way it was going. And I also had to be practical. I had three kids at home full time. I'm not going to door to door anywhere. Where am I going to be? I'm going to be at my kitchen bench and on the right side of me I'm making Vegemite sandwiches for the kids. And on the left side of me, I'm packing aspirators to send to a customer. So it just fit, it fit with the lifestyle I was at. I think E commerce is the greatest gift to busy people. You can start from nothing and just build it step by step. Away you go. And I think it's, you know, the whole idea of doing this podcast has given me pause to think what the environment was like back in 2013. It was very different. People were still cautious about putting their credit card into, you know, the computer or their phone and handing over their details online. And when I think back to my first website, I actually want to cringe. It was not mobile responsive, it was clunky, it was awful. But that's what you had and that's what you started with and then you just, it's all part of the journey. So I guess the long answer to that is we started as an online retailer of other people's brands and that was great side hustle while, while I raised the kids. But I could, we had proof of concept really quickly, like we could start, start to see some really good numbers even in those early years. And I was a keen learner and I'd listened to countless podcasts so I thought, oh, I could do this and this. And then I got someone to help me with, you know, Google Ads and meta ads. And I think our budget was like $20 a day or something. It was, you know, adorable, but we just kept growing from there.
Nathan Bush: You know that nervous feeling you get when you place your checked in luggage on that airport baggage machine? You're kind of just hoping that your luggage arrives at your destination on time and in perfect condition. It's the same in ecommerce. You place a lot of trust in your last mile partners to deliver the final crucial element of the customer experience. Now imagine you are a premium product with over 100 years of customer experience expectations. That nervousness increases a lot. That's why Samsonite has chosen deliver in Person for their reliable on time delivery to drive outstanding shopping experiences, enhance brand reputation and significantly improve key Delivery metrics. I mean, you can never be too careful when it comes to making sure luggage arrives on time and undamaged. Don't settle for less. Make your last mile experience the first thing that customers remember. Learn more about the incredible performance uplifts Samsonite has experienced since working with Deliver in person@deliverinperson.com case study Samsonite. Tell us where is it today? I know when we caught up you were talking about wholesaling new warehouses. Give me an idea of the scale from that kitchen bench with vegemite in one hand and apparatus in the other.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, so we have grown slow and steady. I think sometimes wins the race. You know, you can pivot quickly on some things, but you just plod along for other things and you take risks when you need to and you just, you know, keep growing. So lucky for us, not suckers are one of those essential products. It's a must have, not a nice to have. You know, there's an urgency in that purchase and it makes your business a little recession proof. To be fair. People are always are going to need, you know, the widgets that we are selling because it's so urgent. Parents are less price sensitive. They just want something, you know, that works. There's growing number of kids in daycare. So, you know, daycare germs are the gift that keeps on giving to our business. And we realized that our target market was never running out. Sure, we might have, you know, our customers for a certain moment in their life before they move on to their next season and their next chapter and that's fine. So we started knowing that, you know, trust and reliability are the absolute biggest factors for business growth. You have to have that, otherwise you're going to get, you know, found out very quickly. So within those a year or two of, you know, starting the business, we realized that, you know, a sustainable business model means you need to have more than just a hero product that people buy once and never, never come back again. So you need a reason for people to come back and keep shopping with you. So it made so much sense from that original, you know, other brand aspirator to start bringing in complimentary products, you know, for coles and sniffles. So that was vaporizers, oils, balms, you know, and we were growing as nicely as an online retailer. So then I guess it came about five years into the business and it came time to sort of say, are we going to continue selling other people's brands or are we going to make the shift to our own product?
Nathan Bush: That would be a big moment yeah,
[Voiceover]: yeah, it really was. But we knew we had proof of concept, but we just kept getting feedback from people saying, look, you know, this is good, but. But you could have that or it could have this. And we just knew that we needed to take all of those years of feedback and take that cash flow and take a punt and create something of our own to give us control of our business, to be masters of our own destiny, to be able to break into the wholesale space. You can't do that when you sell other people's brands, so you have to have your own brand if you want DTC and, And wholesale, and that ultimately increases the profitability of your business. So. But manufacturing is a huge leap. Oh, my goodness. It requires significant cash flow and lots of other things.
Nathan Bush: I thought you were about to say manufacturing is a hoot. I'm like, oh, I've never heard someone say that before. Tell me about the customer feedback that you were getting on the products that you were retailing that was there two or three bits of feedback that you're
[Voiceover]: like, yeah, we could build that probably for the aspirator. Like, the suction strength is regulated by the tga. You can't make it any stronger than that. It will cause damage. So that part is fairly regulated, but you can make it the maximum suction that it can be. And so we had doctors, engineers on board to help us say, this is what you can do and it's better than what you've currently got. The noise factor, you don't want something that's noisy and scary. The nozzle factor, it needs to. To be different shapes and sizes so it can be used from a teeny, tiny premie baby all the way up to a toddler at three or four years of age. And it needs to come as a kit. I know myself, I was losing nozzles and it didn't have a lid and it got all mucky. And so we needed a carry bag in there, we needed a lid, we needed nozzles that made it from birth all the way through to those years. So I'm a mum and a savvy mum and I knew exactly what I needed to create and I did it.
Nathan Bush: And how did you go from that idea? So I love that idea of bringing all that customer feedback after getting to that proof of concept and going, cool, we've got something here, but it can be better. How did you go from that point to knowing the product that you want to create to finding a manufacturer who could build what you want?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, it's huge. But the Internet is a wonderful thing and boy, you can do. I do my best research at midnight. And I would just be researching different factories in different, you know, lots of different countries buying samples. My doctor and engineer friends back in Australia would pull them apart, look at what they are, you know, do they, more than anything, do these factories have the certification for this medical product required by tga? You know, are we legally allowed to manufacture and bring this product into Australia for distribution?
Nathan Bush: So that would have narrowed your search significantly.
[Voiceover]: Oh my gosh, it did. Alibaba is a minefield. There are so there are thousands of products on there, but only a tiny percentage have the certification required by Australian law. And that's a good thing, right? You know, this is your precious baby. You don't want to be risking, you know, health and safety. So we by chance we came along a factory and it just, I use my, I go by my gut a lot and it just felt like the right fit. They were open to our ideas of what, you know, this base prototype, how we would then create Snotty Boss. I had the name from the get go. I knew I wanted to create a product called Snotty Boss. And we just worked with them until we, we found what it would be. And it, that was back in 2018, 2019. We bought it to market in 2020. And even since then we are adding things, changing things, constantly modifying. Although every, every modification in manufacturing costs a bomb. But if it makes it a better result at the end for the customer, then it's absolutely money well invested.
Nathan Bush: And is that your way of staying ahead of say rip offs other people out there who might be getting your product, pulling it apart and saying yeah, I could manufacture that is it by continually improving the product, is that important?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, that's absolutely one part of it. You know, we, we're not really worried about rip offs as such. You know, because of the strict controls around medical products in Australia, dodgy ones simply can't exist. But you know, in terms of competitors, you know, there are a lot of other aspirator or vaporizer brands on the market and, and that's just a natural part of business. You know, babies are an evergreen target market. So there's always going to be competitors. And actually if you don't have competitors, competitors in your space, there's probably not enough demand for your products. So you know, with the aspirator brands we realize that some people prefer the old school manual type or you know, the parent suction tubes or the cheaper motorized one. And that's fine because if you Try to sell to everybody, you sell to nobody. So we know our niche market, we're confident in our premium product. We focus on, you know, delivering great results for our customers. But I do chuckle when we're at the baby expos, you know, talking face to face with customers, which is one of my favorite things. And they say, oh, I bought one of these cheap ones and it was terrible and I wish I should have just bought yours from the beginning, you know, and that's really nice. Yeah, I feel like. Exactly right. You know, I'm glad you found us in the end but you know, it gives us validation that, that what we're doing and maintaining that quality is absolutely the right fit for our business.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that makes sense. I'm really interested in that window because, you know, I love what you're saying around a recession proof product and you know, a continual market available for you. But my kids are 8 and 9 now, so we're out of that. And you gave me a bit of PTSD talking about childcare, germs and all
[Voiceover]: that sort of stuff.
Nathan Bush: I'm like, well, yes, I remember those days. But say you're that window between 0 and say 4, 5, 4. You've got a limited window there to reach new parents and you know, get them on board with snotty, snotty boss before kind of becomes irrelevant. How do you make sure that you get your brand and the discovery of your brand in front of those in that kind of four year window?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, well, four years is actually a pretty decent window. I'm happy with that. Better than say a breastfeeding product that may only have, you know, six or 12 months. We've, you've really got a good couple of years where this product is going to save you. So that works well for our business model and I guess it's, it just means you have to be everywhere, you know, you have to be omnichannel in your marketing, in the availability of your product. Which is why we are D2C. It's why we've explored the bricks and mortar partnerships that we have done. So, you know, we are on a mission to be the sniffles solution for families, but without doing it in a big corporate sense, doing it with heart, doing it with trust, with honesty, with mums that have walked that journey and know exactly how stressful it is to have a sick baby, because the sick baby part is the guarantee of life. There's no question that little ones are going to get sick and it, we just need to show them that trusting us and paying that premium price is absolutely worth it in the scheme of baby things. It's actually probably the best hundred dollars you'll, you'll ever spend. I still don't think that's a lot of money for something that gives instant relief, constant relief gives everyone a better night's sleep. Maybe I should be charging thousands of dollars for this, for this product, but it means we do have to stretch across the channels lots and lots of touch points. I like the idea of having 12 eggs in 12 different baskets. Not all your eggs, you know, good
Nathan Bush: eggs in good baskets.
[Voiceover]: Ah yes, the good eggs. I love that idea. Just be a good egg in your business and your life. So we've got organic search and organic social media and then obviously paid search and paid social media and you know, with, with Google parents, if they're on Google looking for us, they already know the problem they have. They're, they're in buy mode and they're, you know, when they type it. Luckily our business name is also the product or the problem that they're searching for on Google. That wasn't by accident either, I have to say. So we come up pretty well and we do well with, with Google searches and then, you know, with TikTok or Meta, it's just about creating content that stops the scroll that makes them curious to make them say, what is that? Or it speaks to them in a way that this company understands the pain point that I have, you know, so, you know, social media is the gift that keeps giving. And then as you know, if we get them to our website, that's our shop front. So we are uber focused on building trust. That's why we've got all the banners of all the media and, and the stores that we were in. So people go, okay, this brand is real, they're based in Brisbane, they're real people. And then of course, the testimonials speak for themselves. And then of course, word of mouth is just paved in gold.
Nathan Bush: Yes, I'm really interested in that word of mouth because I had snotty noses recommended to us a bunch of times when we had kids at that age. Do you have any processes or tactics in place to help amplify that word of mouth or do you let it happen naturally?
[Voiceover]: Oh, it'd be nice if you could control everything in business, but you can't. So you've got to make sure when, you know, when people are behind closed doors, they're saying something nice about your business. It's like that, all that age, you know, if you love it, tell everyone Else, you know, tell everyone. But if you don't love it or if something went wrong, please tell us so we've got a chance to fix it. You know, things happen and people need help and that's fine. But I guess you know the big buzzwords there. Loyalty, retention, word of mouth. That is the goose that lays the golden egg. Honestly, Sorry, boss is our hero product. You only need one of them. That's fine, but Mum and Dad's talk, you know, the parent forums are alive and well with, with recommendations and honestly that the amount of love that we, we get online, you know, if you're selling a baby product, you'd better make sure it's good because you will live or die by the sword. Those online forums will, will either amplify your brand and put it up there on a pedestal or they will crucify you. And I am glad to say we're on the pedestal, not on the crucifixion. So return customer rate for our website is around 27%. So that's good. Obviously it's something we want to build even further. But for that one hero product and then those other complementary products that, you know, like balms, essential oils, they're all consumable so people have a reason to keep coming back. But yeah, word of mouth is huge. We want every parent at every local playgroup and daycare center raving about, you know, snotty boss and recommending it. Not because there's anything in that in it for them, just because they, they love it. I recommend brands all the time that I just, I love. I have a good experience and, you know, happy, happy to recommend and people just tag us on social media all the time. Like, honestly, we've got content creators in house, but sometimes it's, you know, they make the best videos and they just post it and it's like, oh my goodness, you know, can we use this in an ad almost is what we're saying to them. It's crazy good. And they're like, yeah, yeah, you know, that's fine. And then of course they become an affiliate. And we haven't even touched on affiliate marketing. We can talk about that later. But affiliate marketing just makes sense for a product like us. Why wouldn't we be sort of saying, yeah, recommend it to your friends and you can have a cut of it as well. Well, and we, we sell more widgets. It's a win, win.
Nathan Bush: How do you do that? Is that, do you put that out there? So say someone creates a great video of a snot sucker it's got the snotty boss featured, might be a bit funny, might be a bit real. And then you go, this is great, they've tagged you in it, Reach out and go, hey, can we use this? And they go, yeah, no worries. And you go, hey, we've got an affiliate model. Is that only for people who are professional content creators or can you do that anymore?
[Voiceover]: It is for anyone because affiliate is about being real and raw. And those micro influencers, even with like a thousand followers, they are a thousand loyal followers, they trust what that person says because they know that they're not doing it for the big bucks, that the hundred thousand or two hundred thousand follower people have nothing against them either. You know, they, they absolutely have a place in this world. But those micro influencers are just gold. We offer them, you know, no pressure. Like join our affiliate program. We've got one of our team members that, you know, introduces them to it and walk them through the process. They can post as much or as little as they like, but they know that when they do, they have a code and when it gets used, they get a clip of that sale. So it's a win for them, it's a win for us, and it's a win for their consumer that bought a really good product and is forever grateful to that person for telling them about it. So, yeah, haven't seen a downside to affiliates yet.
Nathan Bush: What platform are you using to keep that really simple and straightforward?
[Voiceover]: Goaf Pro is what's been recommended to us and it is working really, really well. It's a set and forget, very intuitive, doesn't take a lot of management to keep it running, which is great.
Nathan Bush: Cool. I really interested in what you've been saying around. You've got a niche product, you do it so well, you've got high trust, been in market for a long time, great customer base, you're marketing across all channels to really ensure that you hit people at the right time. Surely there's been a temptation to go broader into breast pumps, into shushes, into baby clothes. Now that you've got the market, you've got the trust.
[Voiceover]: Nope. I'm going to say the riches are in the niches. Like it truly is it. There's enough scope in the niche that we have to make a profitable business and for us to do it well, that's not, that's not always the right decision for other businesses. But I think we would dilute our message if we did start to go too broad. I also never say never either. So in five Years time I might have completely changed my mind and I can do that. But right now where we are, you know, those gadgets for good health, good sleep, the Snickle solutions, that is absolutely where we're focused. And there's still a bit of, there's still a bit of room to move there. You know, what's not to say we can, you know, bring a second aspirator model out. You know, all of those things are in the pipeline, they're all an opportunity. So watch this space.
Nathan Bush: I mean Snotty baby clothes doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?
[Voiceover]: I don't think it'd be a bestseller to be fair.
Nathan Bush: So from a scale perspective is then the focus. We're going to talk about wholesale in a sec because what you're doing there is really interesting is their global ambition as well.
[Voiceover]: Look, every now and again the global genie comes out of the bottle and we say oh maybe we should. And look, we actually already sell, we have an Australian website which is the dot com, but we already have an international website that doesn't sell any other product except Snotty Boss. And so it just chugs away there. So we have, when we launched it, we got inquiry straight away from Iceland, France, Hawaii, Alaska, like South Africa, all these can we buy Snotty Boss? And we honestly, we went oh well our Australian website's not going to facilitate that. I made an international website on a weekend, you know, off a template and it actually converts really well. So we already can send Snotty Boss overseas, but it's all sending it from here in Australia. So I guess the point of international is potentially looking at expansion channels through Amazon. I mean Amazon Australia is very kind to us, we do really well there. So Amazon can be a really safe way to dip your toe into international markets and then the next step would be a like a country based distributor that has the distribution rights for Snotty Boss. They're all on the table, all possible.
Nathan Bush: And by using Amazon to test the waters internationally, are using fulfillment options by Amazon as well?
[Voiceover]: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, definitely the way to go. That's what we do in Australia and that's certainly what we will do when we go overseas to a couple of different countries that Amazon services.
Nathan Bush: From winning the block to establishing a leading personal care brand during COVID it's fair to say that the alike bottom team can do anything that they put their mind to. But as the business grew rapidly, third party applications didn't speak to each other. Managing two separate sites for D2C and wholesale got costly and budgets were blowing out. Sounds like the typical Renault really. But as we know, the Alive body team don't settle for standard renos. That's why they upgraded to Shopify plus, combining D2C and wholesale stores with a unified backend, creating country specific stores and optimizing the customer experience. With Shopify function, they've now got an award winning online home and it's paying off. With three times more customer acquisitions and a 47% increase in conversion rate, it's enough to put a smile on any skeptical judge's face. Check out shopify.com auplus and get in touch with the Aussie Shopify Plus T team to see how Shopify plus can help you get your technical foundations in order. So let's talk about wholesale because we had a great chat about this at the Ecom Social. You're already in stockists like Baby Bunting and Terry White, which is amazing as you've gone from that D2C model. This is your idea, your baby, your product. You've got a lot of trust in this as you are opening it up to those retailers who all have very different experiences, all have very different levels of customer service. How do you assess which retailers fit the snotty noses way of being.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, sure. Are you saying our retailers don't love our product as much as we do? Oh, I'm shocked to hear that considering they've got 5,000 SKUs on the shelf. But getting into wholesale was one of the main reasons that we then got our own branding know, five years ago or so. And by being in the right retailer, it amplifies your brand, it builds trust. If people see that we're in Baby Bunting, we're in Terry White Pharmacy, they immediately go, ah, that must be good then, you know, so that's great. I just need to make sure your numbers work, obviously for a wholesale model, which we do. So Terry White was the first big retailer that we got into about three years ago. And look, the baby buyer and I, he's a lovely guy and we still laugh now about how I almost stalked him through his email inbox when I found out who the baby buyer was in, you know, in that category in Terry White. And I would just drop into his email, you know, every couple of months, oh, hi Nick, just wanted to let you know Snotty boss won this award or hi Nick, just wanted to let you know that we were in Sydney Morning Herald, you know, just bombarding him with different bits of media and different awards we had won. Until finally I Think he honestly said, who is this woman? Who is this brand?
Nathan Bush: How did you get my email?
[Voiceover]: How did you get my email? But you've just got to chip away because the first. If you're a stonemason, the first tap of the rock is not going to bust the rock open. It's the hundredth tap of the rock that's going to bust it open. So you've got to be consistent. You've got to have tenacity. And eventually he took a chance on a spirit small brand like ours and it's paid off for them and us, you know, in spades. We're in the top 10 of baby products in Terry White. You know, nationally. There's been, he emailed me the other day, something like 350% growth in the last 12 months. So it's the right fit for us, you know, at store level. You know, sometimes I'll walk into a local Terry White or one of our reps will go in and there's no stock on the shelf or you know, it's looking. One of our displays is looking a little bit shabby and it's just, that's just life. Pharmacies are busy places and. But it's about building relationships with the, the managers at head office and then the store manager and then the people on the ground to get them loving our product as much as we do. Incentivizing them, you know, gamifying it, you know, do some competition between different Terry White stores to see who does sell the most in a certain campaign promotion or you know, shouting that particular store lunch because they were the top seller of snotty boss in a particular period. So it's about using the carrot, not the stick, you know, to get them coming on board. And look, it's, it's a high price point and a good cash margin for those stores. They'd be crazy not to be promoting it and selling it. And they walk away with a very happy customer. You know, that's got a product that actually works. And what do moms do? They talk. So they say, oh, where did you get that product? Oh, I got it at my local Terry White or I got it at my local Baby Bunty. Great. In they go. And they buy one as well. So yeah, it's a win win. Baby Bunting was a similar story. If I can digress there, that's a recent sort of acquisition. They were creating a marketplace in August of last year. Everyone's got a marketplace these days because it's a good business model for those big businesses. We got added to the marketplace, which means we weren't in store on shelf in the 70 baby bunting stores. We were just on their marketplace. You could buy online, we'd find, fulfill it from our warehouse and we launched and we were on their marketplace for six weeks, six weeks only. And I had a call from the baby Bias to say we'd like to discuss, you know, planogram in store ranging for this product. We can clearly see it's getting the search volume, it's getting the sales volume and by December of last year we were on shelf in 70 baby bunting stores. So it kind of, who knows which touch point made that all happen. I have to have faith in the universe that it was just our journey and our destiny to be there. But you know, that's what I always envisioned four years ago when I bought that product to market that that's where we'd be and that's where we are. So you know, gotta have faith.
Nathan Bush: To get listed originally on the baby bunting marketplace, did you have to go through a lengthy approval process? You know, you're using the, the 100 taps of the stone to get into Terry White. Was it much, much easier to get that original marketplace on?
[Voiceover]: Marketplaces are much easier because there's, there's no risk for the retailer to do that. You just simply go on their online website. They're not holding stock, they're not buying stock, they just take a commission of what is sold there. So it's a very, it's an Amazon model, isn't it? You know, it's very low risk for them, but it gives their customers, the baby bunting customers, the opportunity to source brands that they may not otherwise be able to source or know about. And then of course they take the best selling ones of those and put them in their store. What a smart idea.
Nathan Bush: I can imagine that as other retailers see you being stocked in leading retailers like Baby Bunting and Terry White chemist, that you would get approached as well as approaching others. Are there retailers that you've approached and gone? No, I don't think that fits our model.
[Voiceover]: Absolutely. We walked away from a pharmacy deal last year. It just wasn't the right fit. The numbers didn't add up. And that's not to say say they won't in the future. They just didn't add up there. And I think it's worth holding your ground and maintaining your premium brand and your pricing because if you're just competing on price alone, it's a race to the bottom and nobody wins. That was the right decision for us last year to walk away from a deal. But, you know, the door's always open. You know, we're always ready to chat to any retailer that wants to, to offer something fabulous to their customers. Who doesn't want to make their customers happy.
Nathan Bush: That's right. All right. And obviously with all these different channels opening up Amazon International, great direct channel wholesalers, then that has a big impact on your inventory and your processes to be able to get this product out to all the channels. Understand you've just done a big change around warehousing. Tell us about some of the, the challenges or the steps that you've taken in your journey to kind of be able to scale to that level.
[Voiceover]: Yes, I'm sitting at the growing up table now, Nathan. I'm not at the kitchen bench anymore. You know, they're big decisions where we're not talking a few thousand dollars here. We're talking, you know, seven figures transactions happening there. So you've got to know what you're doing. But if you don't, get a team around you that knows what they're doing, because everyone has a different skill set. I like, you know, chatting to people. I like being on social media. That's, that's my zone of genius. Get other people around you that nerd out on numbers and data and freight and balance sheets and all of those sorts of things. You know, it takes a village to run a business like this. And I've got a good village, although my accountant's constantly chasing me for, you know, for things that I'm not doing properly, but that's okay.
Nathan Bush: So was there a particular moment or time or scenario where you went, I can't do this myself anymore. I need to bring in a GM
[Voiceover]: to help me look, potentially I've been thinking about it for about a year or so, but I think it was a sign from the universe when I heard about a book called Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman. And I heard about it on one podcast and then it was mentioned somewhere else and then I saw it on Amazon or something. I'm like, this is. I need to read this book. What is this all about? And it's that idea of within an organization of, you know, not a startup when there's one or two people, but when you get about five to, you know, 100 people working in your organization, you really need to start putting some structure in place. And we had five people already working in our Brisbane office and a number of different sort of contractors working remotely. And it was just, that was the tipping point where we're going, you know, five to six, I really need someone to help me, to sit at the top of the tree with the me, be my partner. But I am the visionary and they are the integrator. And that's a key Ying and Yang relationship between the heads of a company. And it usually plays out that a visionary is the founder, they're the creative type. You know, sometimes they have attention, an attention span of a flea, which I'm sad to say is sometimes me, you know, I get idea whiplash. Oh, let's do this. Oh, let's try this, you know, and that's great for creativity and social media posts and that's all fun for getting a business off the ground. But at the stage we were, we're talking big deals, you know, serious contracts, a lot at stake. I needed someone with a much more integrated, focused mind to manage all levels of the business, which is, you know, the finance, the inventory, the people and everything that. That trickles down from there. So whilst Hannah and I get along very well, we have completely different zones of genius that are complementary to one another. If I asked Hannah to do a TikTok video, she might melt down before my eyes because that's not her job, that's not what she's here to do, that's my job. But we need to be, you know, we have good communication, we have a weekly wit meeting. So she knows what I'm doing, I know what she's doing, she's managing the team. It just feels like all the trains are focused in the right direction and they're all running on time now that she's here. And it's such a relief. It's kind of like, why didn't I hire her five years ago? But we just weren't there then. We weren't ready when, you know, you know. And I took a long time, you know, a good couple of weeks, months to think about the job description, to find the right person that I was looking for, because that's key. Otherwise you'll get every Tom, Dick and Harry applying for the job. The quality of candidates that we got for that GM position were exceptional. It was a hard decision, but I think I've made the right decision with Hannah. It takes an incredible weight off your shoulders as the founder of the business to know someone else is there for you. And so now there's a team of seven of us in the Brisbane office, which is amazing. And I have to say, we've got people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and we've even got a staff member in her 60s. And it just is a vibe. It just works. Everyone brings a different skill set to the team, but everyone has a core vision and a purpose. They know what we're here to do and that is bring sniffle relief to little Bubs and make families happier. That that is being. Yeah, it's a, it's a good mission statement for sure.
Nathan Bush: And so now you got the team in place, did that. That would have made the warehouse move a breeze, right? It would have been easy, sure.
[Voiceover]: Sat back. It just all happened. Click my fingers. But you know, we, you can look at a warehouse move as some massive task that had, that had to happen. We looked at it as like, what a joy, you know, how lucky are we if we're needing to move warehouse because we, we need more space. That's a good thing, right? Our business is growing. And again, it's a sign from the universe. The place that we were in told us last October, you can no longer get 40 foot container deliveries here on the regular basis that you are. It was a sign from the universe we had to move. We could no longer get our shipping containers dropped there. So, you know, it was, it was time to buy a bigger house. So we did.
Nathan Bush: They said get your snot out of here.
[Voiceover]: Yes, exactly. And that's fine. And you know, I've got my team a very Murray condo types, they love decluttering and organizing and they just were, they were in the zone and we moved in. Are there still boxes to unpack? Heck yeah. But are we getting there? Yes, we are. We've got this beautiful new space. We've got a signature green snot. It's actually not a snot color. It's a beautiful aqua green feature wall. We've even got a boardroom. I mean it's just so exciting. So you've got to look at all of those things as a positive. How lucky we. And we found out yesterday that the people, you know, in the next commercial premises from us, our neighbors are actually another baby brand that have just moved in as well. They're in a non competitive category, of course, you know, and they've just moved in. It's like, of course, you know, I'm sure we'll share war stories over, you know, the baby industry in years to come. You never know. There could be a collaboration coming up there as well. So it just, you have to have faith it all works. It will all work out.
Nathan Bush: What advice would you have for people as they're going through that transition stage? Maybe Upgrading to a bigger warehouse or moving warehouses. Any piece of advice to keep the business operational during that changeover period?
[Voiceover]: I think you've got to let your customers know what's happening. They love a sneak peek behind the scenes to know what's happening for your business. There was no disruption in our service at all. We literally went there, we were at that warehouse on a Friday and by, you know, the Monday we were here, you know, all of our carrier partners. Australia Post is great. You just say it's not a pickup from there, it's a pickup from there. You know, the online world, world keeps moving. Orders can be shipped even if the warehouse is still in a bit of disarray. So there was, there was absolutely no disruption there. We're not Amazon either, though, so, you know, we've got a reasonable size warehouse but not a million million cartons that needed to be transferred over. It all fitted into a couple of truckloads. So that's fine.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. Now tell us about the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. I know that's a cause that's very close to your heart. How does that partnership work?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, absolutely. So we've always had a charity aspect to our business. Even in the early years, it just felt right. And I remember hearing Christy Chong from Modibody speak at a conference.
Nathan Bush: Oh.
[Voiceover]: Back in 2015, I think it was an online retailer. And she spoke about the way they did their, their charity work and it just, it just made so much sense. It was such a good thing to do. That was a win, win for everybody. And I know some families that were affected, you know, had bubs in the NICU for many years. So when I learned about Humpty Dumpty, it just felt like the right fit. So, sorry, I should say before, when we first started doing charity, we would do a different charity every month that we would give a dollar from every sale to that particular charity. And that was great. Oh, my goodness. We worked beautiful, beautiful charities. And they're all so grateful. They're like, oh, wow, that's amazing. So then I had an experience with friends, bubs in nicu and I got to know about Humpty Dumpty foundation and they actually buy a piece of medical equipment for different hospitals all around Australia. The hospitals literally put a website, wish list of the equipment they need on the Humpty Dumpty website. And people can go there and you can, if you can afford it, you can buy the whole machine or you can donate money towards a portion of the machine. And we have bought, like, bought so many machines for this foundation over the years. You know, infant warmers, ventilators, practical things. I'm all about practical things. Right. It just felt like the right fit. And, you know, we give a dollar for every order per month. It's easy. It's real money going to hospitals and families that need it. And it fits with our motto of being a good egg in everything you do. I mean, it's just ironic that it's Humpty Dumpty, you know, the little egg that we're talking about.
Nathan Bush: Don't be a broken egg.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, not a broken egg. Be a good egg and just do your bit. If everyone just did a little bit, you know, you can move mountains when everyone does a bit. So it's the right fit for us.
Nathan Bush: It's beautiful. Love it. Now, I can't leave here without asking you, because I did stalk your TikTok, and you are front and center. You mentioned that. It's part of your job title. You do a great job on there. How does snot work on TikTok?
[Voiceover]: TikTok is so fun. Honestly, it's the best resource for small business. And yes, snot suction is disgusting, but it's intriguing. So it was just made for TikTok, and we have so many customers who create content for us just, you know, for free because they love their product and share it on TikTok. So we started TikTok about over three years ago now because I kept hearing on podcasts and business groups, you know, it's a great way to show the fun side of your business. And, you know, TikTok took off during the pandemic, mainly with, you know, dancing teenagers and crazy cats and. But then we quickly realized that parents were on there, too, and they want to be educated and entertained, so. So that's what we did. And I still hear some business owners, even in 2024, saying, oh, I hate TikTok. It's just so stupid. And I'm like, it's not about your preference for social media. It's about where your customers are. And if your customers are on TikTok, then that's where you need to be, too. And we have fun. You know, we have no rules. The silliest video can get the most attention, and then you can get a piece of highly created content that took you hours to make, and it gets nothing. I mean, it hurts my head. And, you know, we haven't cracked the million view mark yet, but, gosh, we're getting close. And I think we've got a video that's about 850,000 views. And it is the snotty boss suctioning honey mustard sauce off a plate to show people how it suctions. It doesn't even have a baby in the video. It doesn't even have me in the video. That's the one that hit the spot. So who knows?
Nathan Bush: That's bizarre because everything around human behavior goes, well, babies are great for, you know, TikTok and Founders are great people. You're talking about mustard being sucked off a plate.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, maybe it's the asmr, you know, it's the sound of that suction. I won't repeat it here, but, you know, it's pretty satisfying. But we've had lots of fun, you know, baby videos and silly old me dancing in the warehouse. You know that they go well as well. Look, people buy from people. They want to see the business owner, they want to see the peak behind the scenes. I think it's boring me packing a parcel, but apparently other people find it intriguing, so I'm up for all of that. And I've actually learned a lot about TikTok from a couple of local businesses in Queensland. Brookie Bakery and the boys from Lucent Globe on the Gold coast, the twins. I mean, I have learned so much about TikTok by watching their TikTok. You know, the short, sharp transitions, you know, it's just brilliant. It's fun. It's just the way of the future. And I can't wait to see what the next TikTok is like. What's the next thing coming that's going to capture the world's attention like that and be an absolute game changer for business if you use it smartly. I just love it. I mean, maybe it's AI. I love all the, you know, the ideas around AI and what it can do for your business. I. I guess it just reminds you that you've got to keep being ready to change. Like, keep fresh. Keeps you young, you know, just be open. Be open to new ideas, you know, never say never. It's all possible. It actually reminds me of a flash mob we did in Brisbane about five years ago. I don't know if I've ever told you this story, but we got a group of like 50 mums and babies dancing at Southbank in Brisbane, holding their baby on, holding a snot sucker in one, you know, and doing this dance. And it was just silly. It took a lot of effort. But we got on the news and honestly, the PR juice that we got from that was just gold. People still talk to us that was even before TikTok, but people still talk to us about our flush mob that we did in, in Brisbane. And it's, I mean, so fun, so creative. It's the reason you're in business. Right. It's why you don't feel like you've got a real job.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. You're doing the things that you enjoy, that you love on a mission that resonates with you. It's all lining up. So tell me, Laura, what's next? So what does the next 12 months, where's your focus? What things have you got planned for yourself and the team at Snotty Noses?
[Voiceover]: Look, just embracing all the good growth that's happened so far. Take a moment, breathe and work out a plan for the next stage. So you can't just go from one thing to the next to the next to the next. We might need a little bit of time, of stability, but we're always open to, to new opportunities. Yes. There is a new pharmacy deal happening right now that I can't tell you about. Sorry. We'll do an update in a year's time and I'll tell you. But that's exciting. The international thing is exciting. And new products. Oh, that's always. That is always so, so exciting because that's a long process and so when you're bringing something to market, you know, you cross every set of fingers and toes, but you know that you have to have faith that it will be the right decision for the business.
Nathan Bush: Brilliant. All right, Laura, if people have heard this today and they either want to go out and go, God, that's snotty, boss. That's exactly what I need. Where do they go for that? Or if they want to talk to you, what's the best way to go about that?
[Voiceover]: Our socials is where we are, so we've got a team monitoring that. So just Oddynoses Australia, come and say hi, you know, jump onto our website. We're everywhere, just as all good e commerce businesses should be. And if you're at a baby expo around Australia, come and say, say hi as well.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. Laura, I'm so excited to hear from Amy, our producer of the trailer quotes. We call them the trailer quotes, the three that always lead the episode. What she pulls out of this because I think she's got so much to work with here. I've loved hearing your story and excited for what you and the team are going to do moving forward. Brilliant story. Thank you for sharing with us.
[Voiceover]: Thank you, Nathan. It was a pleasure.
Nathan Bush: Great to have you on that to Cut.
[Voiceover]: Thanks.
Nathan Bush: There you go. I love Laura's story so far and how she's so focused on solving one problem for so many people. Brilliant to see and like we said at the start of the episode, she's given our listeners a very special discount. If you have got someone who needs a bit of snot sucking in your life, she has given us 15% off@snottynoses.com just use the code add to cart all one word. That's add to cart at snottynoses to get 15% off your snotty boss. All right, here are the three lessons I took away from this episode. Number one wholesale is gritty. It feels like this is such a big topic for DTC at the moment is how do we get into retailers. But unlike distribution through Amazon Wholesale Retail, it's a gritty game and it occurs over a long time period. There's a lot of guessing email addresses to the right people, giving updates over a long period of time and one on one negotiation to get in. And that's just the start. It's not something that just gets activated as soon as you think of the strategy. If it is on your radar, start those relationships now. Number two, Embracing new trends. I love how hard Laura and the team have embraced TikTok. She hasn't stood back and watched. She's got in and learned the tip around watching what's working for other accounts and then trying a few things yourself is fantastic. Especially, especially when you find the content that you didn't think that will work but actually did. Her example of the slow noises actually worked really well rather than the baby faces that would go against most people's assumptions. But by trying so many things, she found what worked. She's unlocked a gold mine there. And number three, tell your story with energy. I've actually heard Laura tell the snotty noses story a few times, but each time it progresses a little more and I can guarantee that every time she tells it, it's like the first time that she has told it. As a founder or a leader in a business, that is such a fantastic trait to get others as excited as you about the mission no matter how many times you've told the story. 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 au campus now. If you enjoyed today's episode, make 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.
