Olive Oil Skincare started out as a home remedy for psoriasis. Today it
turns over $1 million a year, and has Chinese buyers hooked on its
beauty & skincare range.
Coming from an Italian background, Frank Granziera jokes he was born to eat and drink olive oil.
But making a business out of olive oil was never something he planned.
His business Olive Oil Skin Care Company got its start five years ago
when a relative was searching for a solution for her psoriasis.
"They tried everything, nothing would work," Frank says.
"So they did a bit of research, looked through books and saw ah, olive oil!"
With a pot and pan in the kitchen, they made an olive oil soap.
"Lo and behold the psoriasis disappeared. So what that led to was, 'hey we have a product here.'"
Initially, they assumed their main market would be here in Australia, so exporting wasn't on the radar.
But a proposal from Australia Post changed their fortunes and opened up the Chinese market.
"Australia Post developed their T-mall site," Frank says, referring
to the Chinese e-commerce site operated by the Alibaba Group. "They were
looking for some very Australian-made products to put on the site. And
we were approached by Australia Post out of the blue."
T-mall Global provides a platform for Chinese consumers to buy
international, branded products, straight from the retailers. Businesses
operate a virtual 'shop front' on the site, which Alibaba says averages
100 million unique visitors per day. More