As a busy mum, Nabula Brdar found nutrition labels on foods hard to decipher and confusing. What if there was an app to help customers select healthier, additive-free, and affordable supermarket food choices to feed their families? Brdar teamed with Rebel Tidmarsh to create Supermarket Swap, an app that does just that. To date, the app has catalogued more than 2000 products stocked across Australia’s largest supermarkets and has built a community of informed and health-conscious consumers around it. Inside Small Business talked with Brdar and Tidmarsh to discover their story… For this week’s f ..read more

Online wine shop Just Wines has acquired craft spirit subscription service Liquor Loot, which entered voluntary administration last month. Liquor Loot tapped Andrew Spring, partner at business turnaround and insolvency specialist Jirsch Sutherland, as the voluntary administrator. Last year, Spring arranged the sale of Sans Drink to Just Wines.  “In the case of Liquor Loot – and, previously, Sans Drinks – we have acted like a ‘matchmaker’ in a way, in that we have brought two synergistic businesses together and helped effect a sale,” Spring said. “The voluntary administration process takes ..read more

GrtWines, described as “a pioneering Web3 wine marketplace” allows wine enthusiasts worldwide to discover high-value wines with investment potential, invest in them, collect, store or trade them – or even have them shipped to their home for consumption.  Founded by Jonathan Slone, its CEO, wine expert (pictured above) and negociant Mathieu Chadronnier and wine critic James Suckling, the concept uses the blockchain to ascribe digital tokens for each bottle. Through tokenising real bottles of wines, GrtWines “revolutionises the way people discover, collect and relish in their favourite bott ..read more

Former MySale CEO Kalman Polak and ex-Catch beauty category manager Sarah Frazer are teaming up to launch an online space offering discounts and hard-to-find beauty brands. The website – Ontrendbeauty.com.au – is a response to consumer demand for the best big brand products for less, said Polak, co-owner of On Trend Beauty. “We know customers are paying too much at the checkout both online and in-store, and we know we can make a big impact on the beauty category.” Frazer, director and co-owner of On Trend Beauty, said she brings her over 15 years of experience in the beauty industry to the ven ..read more

Fiji Kava has received approval to list its products on Walmart’s e-commerce platform in the US. The listing marks a milestone for the kava drink, known for its relaxing and sedative effects, after a positive sales performance on Amazon. “Walmart approached us in light of the outstanding sales performance of our Fiji Kava Instant Kava 150 grams on Amazon.com where we constantly maintain our position as the top-selling instant kava product, experiencing rapid sales growth culminating in a record-breaking month in January,” said Anthony Noble, CEO of The Calmer Co, the company behind the Fiji Ka ..read more

Despite economic pressures impacting Australian consumers, e-commerce shopping in Australia is expected to grow to to $64.14 billion this year. Surging popularity and mainstream uptake of marketplace shopping in Australia will also see a projected 94 per cent of people buy from platforms like Amazon, Catch, Temu, and Ebay over the coming year. The findings were revealed as part of Pattern’s sixth annual ‘Marketplace Consumer Trends Report – 2024,’ which discovered, in an industry first, that Amazon has overtaken Ebay to become the leading marketplace in Australia. Amazon now outperforms all ot ..read more

Amid the UK’s cosmetic waste concerns, startup Boop steps in to source surplus or overrun beauty products directly from brands to sell them at discounted prices. Boop saves beauty products from brands such as Aromatherapy Associates and John Master’s Organics from going to landfills and offers them to customers up to 50 per cent off. In addition, Boop will donate products to four charities, namely In Kind Direct, Beauty Banks, Look Good Feel Better and The Hygiene Bank, to further help prevent unnecessary waste. “A huge number of beauty products are destroyed each year by manufacturers and ret ..read more

Cindi Shaw founded To Get based on her belief that we should all be buying local to support our communities – and knowing that many shoppers want to support and purchase artisan food from purveyors in their areas. “With the support of UNSW Founders’ New Wave program, I was able to start testing the concept for To Get in 2021, in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs,” Shaw explains. “We are finding that shoppers are now purchasing items online that they previously would only select in-store – online grocery shopping has increased by more than 25 per cent recently – and we know that they also prefer to purc ..read more

This week, Australian retail giant Woolworths Group launched the MarketPlus initiative – a unification of the back-end processes across its online marketplaces – in an effort to make it easier for third-party partners to sell across its channels. The initiative encompasses Woolworths’ Everyday Market, the newly launched Big W Market, and the recently purchased MyDeal marketplace, with the aim of helping these destinations stand out from the competition by providing more opportunities for both potential sellers and customers across its platforms.  According to Woolworths MarketPlus general ..read more

Online marketplace Beer Fans is set to expand its offering to New Zealand, launching a local website next month. The company says it is dedicated to “fostering connections” between these local breweries and a global audience of beer enthusiasts. The marketplace website will showcase New Zealand’s finest breweries and its merchandise products, initially taking on domestic orders with plans to extend to international shipping next year. Beer Fans founder Joe Cook said he is looking to forging new partnerships in the market. “By providing a platform that not only promotes beer but also fosters a ..read more