Refill idea a winner
BURLEIGH HEADS-based cult skincare brand MooGoo will take its refill station idea to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne after customers spread the word about benefits including discounts and waste reduction.
MooGoo, which was developed by ex-RAAF pilot Craig Jones after he went searching for a product to help his mother with psoriasis, offers customers 30% off retail prices at the refill station events. Customers only need to bring a reusable container to fill with MooGoo shampoo, conditioner, body wash, bubble bath, and/ or moisturiser.
Mr Jones said MooGoo had a massive response to its first refill event earlier this year.
“One of the reasons we did it here was to see how many people were interested so we could go to other cities and be prepared and have the right amount of stock,” he said. “I think we had about 250 people and we sold out of at least one of the creams, some of the shampoos, so it went really well.”
Yesterday, a second refill event was held at the company’s base in Burleigh Heads.
Mr Jones said it was surprising how many people were interested in the event for environmental reasons, namely reducing the amount of plastic bottles used and thrown away.
“It is not like it was in the 1990s,” he said. “Most people are very concerned about the environment, I don’t think its just a particular group of people any more.
“”Everyone reads about plastic in the ocean, global warming, the icecaps melting, so nearly everyone is an environmentalist now.”
Mr Jones said the company has always had environmentalism at its heart.
He said the next step was to make the tubes, used to store the products such as the creams, from sugar cane resin.
“All our plastic, hopefully, if it all works out, will have a sugar cane resin base,” he said.
“That is quite a new technology, but the most environmentally friendly way we think we can do it.”
Mr Jones said he is planning to take the refill station idea to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
“Hopefully within the next month we will be able to do it,” Mr Jones said.
Since launching 12 years ago, MooGoo has grown to be stocked in about 2500 locations. In the past year alone sales have grown more than 40 per cent.