Baby goods retailer Metro Baby on track for $10m turnover

A Melbourne woman who launched a retail business from home at the start of the pandemic is on track to generate annual sales of $10m.

LING Fung has turned her once home-based side hustle into a $10m-a-year retail star.

The 29-year-old launched her baby goods store in March 2020 after having her first child.

“I had my first daughter and I realised there was no store or website that had everything I wanted to look at,” she said.

With no e-commerce experience, just sales experience from working her family's business, Ms Fung who was still working full-time started the online business from home.

Since then, her Metro Baby business has had more than 70,000 orders and she says it will crack $10m in revenue this financial year. The business employs 13 staff and stocks more than 3400 items across its online and a bricks and mortar store she opened in Melbourne this year.

Metro Baby founder Ling Fung.

“I just started looking at some brands and started the business online out of my home,” she said. “When it first started we had one dedicated room and as the business grew through Covid the hallways and every single room including the garage was full of stock” she said.
Ms Fung decided to open the first Metro Baby retail store in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in March this year to give her customers the ability to view a wider range of products.
“We decided to open a physical store as customers want to see things in person and having your first kid is such a big milestone in your life and they want to spend time looking around and see the full range that is available” she said.

Inside the Metro Baby store in Richmond.

Metro Baby is a registered NDIS provider and has around 10 exclusively stocked products.
Ms Fung says Metro Baby has expansion plans over the next 12 months in the NDIS and older children’s markets.
“We would like to keep growing in-store, online and have more brand offerings for our customers including growing up with the customer base, so not just selling things for babies but older kids as well.
“NDIS is definitely something we want to focus more on as there are not many NDIS providers in this kind range for babies, so we would love to be one of the main suppliers for that market” she said.

Metro Baby founder Ling Fung with her children.

Her success comes as retailers continue to defy market expectations.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data, released on Wednesday, showed national turnover rose for a fifth consecutive month to a record high in May.
Retail sales were up by 0.9 per cent month-on-month in May on a seasonally-adjusted basis to $34.2bn, which was higher than a 0.4 per cent rise tipped by markets. It follows rises of 0.9 per cent in April, 1.6 per cent in March, 1.8 per cent in February and 1.6 per cent in January. Across the year retail sales surged 10.4 per cent.
VanEck head of investments Russel Chesler said the strong retail figures mean the Reserve Bank will probably increase the official cash rate by 50 basis points at its meeting on Tuesday.
“Spending is likely to keep going at a robust until interest rates are at such a level that is starts to affect people’s ability to spend, but we certainly aren’t there yet,” he said.
According to the ABS, the only sector to have reduced spending in May was clothing, footwear and personal accessories which fell 1.4 per cent.

Originally published as Baby goods retailer Metro Baby on track for $10m turnover