Archive for the ‘Online Sales’ Category

Online store lets Aussies buy American without the huge markup (also rakes in money for mum)

Friday, July 5th, 2013

Started in 2007 by Dr Carolina Tillett in Bendigo, Price USA is a site that lets Australians purchase things from the USA helping them to save a lot of money and allowing them to purchase items only available in the USA.

Working with partners in the USA, Price USA simply asks customers to fill out an order form on the website indicating what they want and from where. The US-based agents then buy the goods, package them up and ship them straight to the customer’s door.

Tillett charges the buyer 5 per cent of the total order price to handle the transaction and is raking in close to six figures every year from the comfort of her own home with relatively few business costs.

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Online discount party supply store brings in big bucks for stay at home mum

Thursday, July 4th, 2013

When stay at home mum Kristy decided to have friends purchase children’s party supplies and ship them to Australia so she could re-sell them in the country, she was only expecting to take in maybe an extra $50 per week.

Well, she’s getting a lot more than that, bringing in a tidy six-figure profit every year.

Starting out with an eBay story, she eventually switched to selling from her own website www.discountpartysupplies.com.au and started pulling in a quarter of a million dollars, all from her spare bedroom and all without borrowing a single cent.

To read more about this story, click here.

Australia is world leader in online startups

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013

Australia is leading the way across the globe for new online businesses.

The amount of internet start-ups increased 200% from 2010 to 2012, outpacing both the United States and Britain by four times. However, that doesn’t mean that these new businesses are automatically booming. Many of them incur losses in the first few years of operating until they gain momentum and start making profit.

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Website retailer rakes it in buying and selling virtual properties

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013

Flippa is the premier site in the world dedicated to being a marketplace for buying and selling websites.

Founded in Melbourne in 2009 by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle, the site has over 200,000 registered users buying and selling websites.

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SurfStitch rides wave to success

Monday, July 1st, 2013

Garnering 30 million site visits and over 250 million page views since its launch in 2008 by Justin Cameron and Lex Pederson, SurfStitch, an online retailer that specialises in surf gear that is headquartered on the Gold Coast, is one of Australia’s most highly trafficked eCommerce sites and has pulled in $30 million in revenue for the company.

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The Iconic online retailer’s push to be number one finally catches up to it

Saturday, June 29th, 2013

The online retailer The Iconic (officially named Internet Services Australia 1 Pty Ltd in Australia) that popped up in 2011 and started laying waste to its bricks and mortar competitors is now itself in trouble.

Recent reports have emerged that The Iconic, which promises excellent service and speedy delivery as its selling points, isĀ hemorrhaging both money and staff as it tries to cut costs to stop the bleeding.

From August 2011 to December 2012, Iconic had revenue of $30.6 million but a loss of more than $44.7 million.

The company’s owners, the German Samwer brothers have used a similar model of doing business that has led to great success in Germany, India, Singapore, Poland and the Philippines through their head company, Rocket Internet.

Internal documents from the company that had been obtained by the media show that the company’s business plan is to jump into new markets and become number one at any cost using the promise of free, overnight delivery.

And whilst it has worked in other markets, it seems to have stumbled in Australia so far.

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Catch of the Day reels in major revenue

Wednesday, June 26th, 2013

The online coupon site CatchOfTheDay.com.au, founded by Gabby Leibovich, netted an increase in revenue of 62% in 2012 to $230 million.

The site, which has distribution centres in Braeside and Truganina, Victoria, started in 2006 and has been going strong ever since.

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Australia’s National Broadband Network could lead to boom for online startups

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

As Australia continues to roll out its $38 billion National Broadband Network, which will bring high-speed internet to almost all the 23 million population of the country, some government higher ups are predicting a boom in online and high tech businesses.

“As the rollout of the NBN continues, the capacity for start-up companies, particularly in the tech and digital sectors, to create game-changing businesses and applications is unprecedented,” said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, recently.

Currently, online and high-tech start-ups only account for about 0.1% of GDP and 9,500 jobs. But the sector is growing rapidly and a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) suggests it could account for 4% of GDP and 540,000 jobs by 2033.

The rise of young startups has seen them start to populate the ranks of the Business Review Weekly Young Rich List, which ranks the wealthiest people in the country under 41.

The list includes 24 tech and online startup company founders, including: software entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar at the top; PC Tools founder Simon Clausen at No. 4; serial entrepreneur specialising in online retail sites Ruslan Kogan at No. 8; Bigcommerce founders Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani at No. 10; and freelancer.com founder Matt Barrie at No. 50.

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Shoes of Prey makes anyone a fashion designer

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

Founded in 2009 by former Google employees Jodie Fox, Michael Fox and Mike Knapp, Shoes of Prey allows people to design their own women’s shoes using a virtual 3D designer that lets them pick style, shape, height and materials. The shoes are then custom made and shipped anywhere in the world within a few weeks.

The Sydney-based company reportedly received $3 million in funding last year.

To read more about this story, click here and here.

Kogan Technologies takes on big retailers, wins

Monday, June 24th, 2013

Founded in 2006 by Ruslan Kogen and headquartered in Melbourne, Kogan Technologies is an Australian consumer electronics manufacturer and retailer.

The company’s business model is to sell products direct from Asia to customers in Australia and the United Kingdom, bypassing the industry’s usual middlemen.

Kogan Technologies’ 2012 revenue was $100 million.

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