FASHIONISTA FINDS RIGHT FIT POST-PANDEMIC
FASHION entrepreneur Sarah Timmerman’s Beginning Boutique is turning over about $30m a year as the online retailer expands to the US.
The business, started by Ms Timmerman from her parent’s home in 2008 when she was a 21-year-old with no fashion experience, now has 20,000 to 30,000 orders a month.
The brand had a core focus on going out and festival attire but pivoted when the pandemic hit, with
Ms Timmerman saying new lifestyle choices changed the business completely.
“Our core market was all about going out and doing fun things, but I think our lifestyle is very different now, so we have had to change our product offerings and how our staff work,” she said.
“It is a totally different market now and the transition from Millennials to Gen Z, I would say we are a totally different business than what we were pre-covid.”
The online retail pioneer now employs 70 staff at her head office and warehouse in Brisbane, stocking more than 5000 products.
Up to 50 per cent of the orders these days are destined for US customers and she is growing that market daily.
Like most businesses, Beginning Boutique has also struggled with rapidly rising inflation and global supply chain issues.
“We have had supply issues with China doing hard shutdowns due to
Covid, affecting several factories at once,” she said.
“Shipping is phenomenally expensive. It has increased by three times (the amount) in the past two years.”
She said the company would continue to grow in Australia, New Zealand and the US over the next 12 months and had no immediate plans to push into new markets.
“Expansion for us is about customers rather than geography,” she said.