Instagram post behind Sydney woman’s huge sunnies sales spike
A Bondi accessory brand managed to make a whopping $15,000 in half a day after a particular item caught the attention of a popular influencer.
Lifestyle
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Alex Nieuwenhuys had no idea what was going on when her phone began to “go off” in the early hours of a Saturday morning.
The 41-year-old, from Bondi in Sydney’s east, is the owner of a small accessory business called Rhodin, which she founded back in 2018.
And while her brand has attracted the likes of Aussie celebrities including Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson, Maria Thattil and Dannii Minogue – it hasn’t cracked the overseas market.
Well, not until earlier this year when her site suddenly crashed after it was inundated with hundreds of customer orders mainly from the US.
After some digging, she discovered US-based influencer and business woman Sascha Barboza had purchased a pair of her $79 RC Caramel Blush Wing sunnies.
Moments after the Venezuelan fitness star shared snaps of her new buy with her 4.9 million Instagram followers, tagging the brand on her Instagram Stories, Alex’s website “blew up”, resulting in $15,000 worth of sales in just 12 hours.
Rhodin’s Instagram following also increased by more than 1000 followers, a growth of almost 10 per cent in 24 hours.
“It wasn’t until I did some customer research that I had found out Sascha’s name,” Alex told news.com.au.
“I had a look through my customer order log and found she had made an order back in January 2022.”
Alex, who started the business from her dining room table, said she was “shocked” and “surprised” at how quickly sales spiked following the influencer’s post.
“My partner works night shift and happened to notice my phone notifications were flashing like crazy. He woke me up at around 3am and said ‘something major is going on with your website’.”
“There was so much traffic. I could not even open up the online app to check.”
Alex said the site kept shutting down due to the amount of traffic it was generating.
“I looked to see if I was tagged in something and couldn’t find anything and thought ‘this is weird’,” she said.
“I ended up doing a quick survey with some customers and they told me they saw the sunnies on ‘Sascha Fitness’.
“I immediately went on Instagram and noticed she has 4.9 million followers. I then looked in my order book and found she had made a purchase in January.”
A shocked Alex said she reached out to the popular nutritionist and coach to thank her.
“I told her we’ve had such an incredible response and it means the world to my little business and she replied saying she ‘loves my pieces so much’ and that they’re ‘so cool’ and how she couldn’t find anything like it in the market.”
Sascha has since purchased another two pairs of sunnies from the local business.
“I feel really proud and excited that a small brand like mine can have such an impact and especially from the US,” Alex told news.com.au.
While the blush pink sunnies have completely sold out, Alex has a pre order option for customers.
The 41-year-old who works in tourism, took a punt and launched the business four years ago from her Bondi home.
Alex said it represents her love of travel, style and design, while also paying homage to her European roots. She named it after her grandmother.
“I invested a solid amount and used a phased approach and with every sale – invested that money straight back into new designs, new ad spend or content creation,” she explained.
“I feel so proud and definitely have those ‘pinch me moments’ where I think, ‘wow, this is what I have built from scratch’.”
Off the back of Sascha’s post, Rhodin has now gone global, sending orders to Norway, England, Portugal, Mexico and Columbia.
Originally published as Instagram post behind Sydney woman’s huge sunnies sales spike
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