Celeste Robertson Interview Natural Supply Co

Interview Questions

Who are you, and what business did you start?

I’m Celeste Robertson, and I co-founded Natural Supply Co: an online boutique that stocks the best, most luxe natural and organic products for the whole family. We also offer an extensive range of plastic-free, zero-waste goodies.

What’s your backstory, and how did you develop the idea?

I’ve worked in the beauty and online retail for a long time, and my best friend, Catherine Brooks, asked if I’d be interested in starting an online store with her in the wellness sector. Catherine has Multiple Sclerosis and was looking into the effects of all the chemicals we use daily in personal care and home cleaning products; so many of these contain toxic chemicals which affect our reproductive and endocrine systems, not to mention carcinogenic ingredients. We decided to start our store to help make it easier for people to get better informed and make better choices.

Describe the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the product.

We don’t create our products – we buy them from existing makers. We ensure the ingredients in the ranges we stock measure up to our standards and are designed and packaged eco-friendly. We also love to support women in business.

Describe the process of launching the online store/business.

I had some contacts from working in online beauty previously, and I was also responsible for bringing in new brands, so I knew how to contact brands we wanted to stock and explain why they should get on board the Natural Supply Co train.

I used Shopify to set up our site, and Catherine’s brother and sister-in-law – talented architects with a flair for design – created our logo and branding.

It all happened quickly, and we launched six weeks after our first discussion, the day after I returned from my honeymoon! My new in-laws spent a lot of time collecting parcels from the post office for us while we lived it up in Hawaii! We could barely get inside the front door of all the boxes crowding the entryway.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

I am not too humble to say that our customer service is excellent. We reply to emails quickly, love chatting with our customers on social media, and send orders out quickly. Products are wrapped, and we handwrite a note to all customers, including a sample of a new product to try. It is something we appreciate! As a result, we have an excellent customer retention rate of 50-60% most months.

How are you doing today, and what does the future look like?

Natural Supply Co is almost 4 ½, but we are still in our infancy. We don’t pay for advertising in any form (except for retargeting to customers on social media), and we do everything ourselves; social media, order packing, website updates, customer service, etc.

Our focus this year will be on growing corporate gifting (through our Gift Concierge service: https://naturalsupplyco.com/pages/gift-concierge), and we’re hoping to run more events in the Geelong region.

My original co-founder, Catherine, exited the business in 2018 to focus on her family and her law career. For the past three years, I have had a different friend and partner in the industry, Sarah Scott. We both love what we do and look forward to what the future holds for Natural Supply Co, but we both have young families, so we’re happy to continue with slow growth.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

I’ve been learning about SEO (search engine optimization) over the past few months, and it’s been helpful for me, not just in terms of reaching new audiences but also because I know that the more I work at this, the more customers I’ll be able to acquire without paying for advertising. This is an enormous help with a shoestring budget!

Additionally, I’ve always advocated for supporting small businesses, but this has reached a whole new level since running Natural Supply Co; I can’t express how valuable it is to help others who are also trying to earn a living out of their passions.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We use Shopify for our site and Klaviyo for email campaigns. We recently switched from MailChimp, and the support has been excellent; we have been able to set up lots of automation as well, which has been great.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to start or are just beginning?

Make sure you have found a niche or can do something better than the existing crowd, and, most importantly, be genuine and authentic, ALWAYS – people can smell a rat.

Where can we go to learn more about you?

Please check out the following:

https://naturalsupplyco.com/pages/about-us

https://www.facebook.com/naturalsupplyco

https://www.instagram.com/naturalsupplyco