A homegrown, eco-friendly brand has beaten huge retail names on the national stage, highlighting the booming e-commerce industry operating on the Sunshine Coast.
Coast-based e-commerce business Go For Zero surpassed names including The Iconic and BookTopia to top the list of Inside Retail’s 2023 Top 50 People in e-commerce.
Go For Zero founder Ellie Degraeve started the business from her bedroom in 2018 and grew her value-driven brand to a national customer base with 2000 products.
The online retailer, which offers toxin- and waste-free products aimed at helping people reduce their environmental impact, took out the award for raising the bar for Australian entrepreneurs.
“I want to rewrite the rules of retail,” she said.
“Businesses can and should be a force for good. Retail should be honest and transparent and give back to the community.”
Mrs Degraeve said that without e-commerce, her business would not have grown so rapidly.
“Combining e-commerce with bricks and mortar is absolutely the way of the future,” she said.
“e-commerce gives you a platform with a broader reach and the opportunity to grow internationally tomorrow, but combining it with traditional stores means customers can still fulfil their need to see and hold your products.”
Go For Zero has big plans of expanding, with Mrs Degraeve establishing a wholesale relationship with one of the country’s largest retailers and moving towards building a mobile app that will enable customers to track their environmental impact.
Go For Zero is joined by a host of successful e-commerce businesses that operate out of the Sunshine Coast.
Kunda Park-based brand Billy J was founded by CEO Leanne Hancey in 2014 and has grown into one of Australia’s largest online clothing stores.
The multimillion-dollar business employs 75 staff, opened a flagship store in 2020, and has plans of expanding into a bigger warehouse and a new office space this year.
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Founded by Stacey Hollands in 2014, clean beauty business Lust Minerals experienced more than 487 per cent growth in just one year to become a global brand based out of Birtinya.
The 2023 Inside Australian Online Shopping report says that on average, 5.6 million households shopped online every month, with Queenslanders leading the charge with a year-on-year growth of 11 per cent.
A total of 28 per cent of all online shoppers are identified as savvy shoppers aged between 25 and 54 who live in regional Australia and lead busy lives, while 16 per cent are named as super shoppers aged between 18-44 who are responsible for half of the total online shopping volumes.
Caloundra Chamber president Michael Shadforth said the Coast is home to e-commerce’s key customer base, including those identified as savvy and super shoppers.
“This is an incredible opportunity for the Sunshine Coast to understand these businesses and build the talent pool required so they can grow,” he said.
“There are e-commerce businesses hidden throughout the Coast that are doing more business than we will ever comprehend and boosting our economy.”
Mr Shadforth said enhancing the already strong e-commerce industry in the region would help cement the Coast as not only a great place to live but also a place where a person can succeed in traditional business and become a global leader in e-commerce.
“Our values, long held on the Sunshine Coast, are now the most important to the new consumer and e-commerce businesses,” he said.
“So, businesses that base themselves here and show their alignment to those values will grow quickly and Go For Zero is a perfect example.
“Leading social commentator Bernard Salt called the Sunshine Coast ‘the entrepreneurship capital of Australia’ and he is right.”
Mrs Degraeve said the Sunshine Coast was perfectly situated to be a base for her business and other e-commerce ventures.
“I absolutely think there will be so many entrepreneurs attracted to start e-commerce businesses on the Sunshine Coast because of how beautiful it is and the lifestyle it provides, “she said.
“The freedom e-commerce provides means you can work from where and whenever you want, and the Sunshine Coast is a beautiful place to do that.”
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