Luxey Cup targets multimillion-dollar revenue following major early success

The husband and wife duo behind a Coolum e-commerce business is aiming to more than triple the million-dollar revenue it made in its first year. Read how here:

A mum and dad who turned a hobby into a garage business three years ago are now eyeing off an annual revenue of $3.5m-$4m this year.

Luxey Cup co-founders Sandra-Lea and Andrew Murray have established their boutique reusable coffee cup business into a multimillion-dollar empire since humble beginnings in Caloundra in July, 2019.

Mrs Murray used to run a home-based earring business which made about $150,000 a year before she teamed up with her husband who has a background in civil construction as the pair sought more fulfilment from their work.

The couple dipped into their savings to create a prototype of their cup design with their manufacturers in China in early 2019 before launching a Kickstarter campaign which raised $40,000 to get their product market-ready.

Early high demand for their reusable coffee cups saw them relocate to Noosa a few months later where they rapidly outgrew their two warehouses.

Since then the couple have recently moved into their new Coolum Beach worksite where they will now be making all of their cups using a $150,000 automatic machine.

Mrs Murray said producing their goods on the Coast would enable them to increase their profit margins after Covid-19 triggered overseas shipping issues along with a rise in import and manufacturing costs.

“We couldn’t keep doing what we were doing overseas because there was absolutely zero margin in the product because we were bringing in 20ft containers which used to cost around $2500 – $3000 to ship it here and now in the middle of Covid it was costing $10,000,” Mrs Murray said.

Luxey Cup’s reusable coffee cups are made using borosilicate glass and medical/food grade silicone for the base.

“It’s just too risky so we thought we’ve got to do this here.

“I was very hesitant to start because you can buy the machine but not the thousands of years of manufacturing experience China experts in, but I trusted Andy and he’s nailing it.

“We can make them in 12 hours and we don’t pay for any imports, shipping, it’s amazing.”

After their first year of operating Luxey Cup the pair turned over $1m in annual revenue and made double that the following year.

Based on past performance figures and their current sales the couple projected an annual revenue of $3.5m to $4m this year.

The majority of Luxey Cup’s customer base was in Melbourne followed by Sydney and Brisbane with their key demographic being females aged from their late 20s to mid 40s.

The company was also enjoying growing sales in 20 countries across North America, Europe and Asia.

Luxey Cup has a follower base of over 60,000 on Instagram which has enabled the brand to expand its reach interstate and internationally.

Mrs Murray said they worked with social media influencers on the platform to help promote their brand and has most recently started working with Sarah Days who boasts over 1.2 million Instagram followers and 1.5 million YouTube subscribers.

“We work with up to five high profile influencers a year, but we don’t try to make it the basis,” she said.

Sandra-Lea Murray holding one of her reusable Luxey coffee cups

“I feel that Instagram can be taken away very quickly and as long as you’ve done your work on your own platform you’re safe. Yes, these influencers are awesome, but we don’t do it heavily, we’re very selective with who we use.”

Along with the couple’s colourful range of various sized reusable coffee cups which are their major seller they also have a variety of other accessories and items to complement them.

The eco-conscious duo use environmentally-friendly materials for their products as well as recyclable packing for orders.

Later this year, Luxey Cup plans to launch more products and wholesale to overseas stockists on top of the 20 they currently have nationally.

Originally published as Luxey Cup targets multimillion-dollar revenue following major early success