Nourishing communities
In the postcard-perfect Tasmanian countryside lies one of Australia’ s most charming e Commerce success stories. Working from a renovated 70-year-old apple shed in the Huon Valley, Ben Crowley, Director, and the team at Bulk Nutrients research, develop an
EXPRESS SUCCESS
When Ben, annoyed at paying inflated prices for imported supplements, decided to start making and selling his own products, it began as an operation that involved simply repacking raw ingredients. In those early days, Ben would take parcels to the local Post Office to send individual orders. But once he paired the business with effective eCommerce, it grew quickly in volume and sophistication. In 2011, after he signed up with Australia Post’s eParcel service, his company traded $180,000. Now, Bulk Nutrients is set to trade more than $3 million this financial year, with around 240,000 parcels shipped annually – an average of 75 tonnes of supplements sent out across Australia every month.
NO BARRIERS FOR RURAL BUSINESSES
Ben attributes much of his company’s success to a laser focus on customer service, which includes the opportunity for shoppers to enjoy a live chat with real employees who know the products intimately. The advantages to Ben and his staff of having the manufacturing and warehouse operations in the middle of a rural location are obvious. But he didn’t want his lifestyle choice to disadvantage his customers so he worked with StarTrack and Australia Post to improve his dispatch and delivery times. “Australia Post offered us two daily pick-ups: a big truck at 3pm and another van at 5pm, every weekday,” says Ben. “The better our service through them,
the stronger our growth.” Ben says 70 per cent of Bulk Nutrients’ customers now choose Express Post, shipped thanks to a partnership between Australia Post, StarTrack and Qantas Freight that gives customers access to six dedicated freighters, which means around 80 per cent of the company’s Australian customers are receiving their orders within one to two days. “I chuckle when I see competitors in suburban Sydney and Melbourne offffering same-day dispatch for a 2pm order,” says Ben. “We’re rural and can offffer that at 4.45pm!”
PACKAGING EFFICIENCIES EVERY WHICH WAY
“From our customers’ perspective, it’s very important that they can return incorrect or damaged orders to us with minimal fuss,” says Ben. If there’s a problem with an order – which, he adds, doesn’t happen often – the customer contacts Bulk Nutrients, whose customer service team uses the original consignment number on the Australia Post website. That gets the customer information “pre-populated”, allowing Bulk Nutrients to swiftly resend a replacement product with a consignment note for the customer to send the original one back by popping it in a post box. “We can even organise for Australia Post to pick it up from them if that’s required,” says Ben. Customers also have improved visibility as their keenly awaited whey proteins wing their way across Australia. Australia Post and StarTrack have played a critical role in Bulk Nutrients’ journey as a growing eCommerce company based in a rural area. “Our customer service starts with a good website, helpful advice and fast response times from our team but it’s critical this continues all the way through to delivering the parcel,” says Ben. “That’s why it’s been so important that we have a delivery partner with similar standards to us.”