How an Australian woman made $1 million in 24hrs

Goat soap is made using milk sourced from a farm in Victoria, Australia. Photo / 123RF

When Melbourne's Danielle Di Pilla came up with the idea for a new kind of soap, she never imagined it would make her rich.

As a pharmacist, she just wanted a product she could recommend to her customers who came in with dry, itchy skin complaints like eczema and psoriasis.

Now, the family business she founded is making a motza selling her goat's milk soap around the world - with A$1 million worth sold into China in just 24 hours.

Di Pilla sold more than 350,000 units of her Goat products during the e-commerce giant Alibaba's 11.11 Singles Day shopping festival, in her second year on the Tmall Global platform.

"We're very happy with the result; we did double (compared to) last year," she told news.com.au.

The decision to launch a Tmall store, giving the brand access to hundreds of millions of Chinese online shoppers, came after strong in-store demand at Chemist Warehouse, where Goat products are exclusively sold in Australia.

"Obviously it's difficult to get into bricks and mortar stores in China, but we were able to leverage our relationship with Chemist Warehouse," Di Pilla said.

The discount chain was the top performing Australian seller during Singles Day, the Chinese online shopping event that began as an unofficial holiday for the nation's many bachelors, for the second year in a row.

It reported sales of almost A$2 million in the first 13 minutes of this year's Singles Day, beating its own record from last year when it took 46 minutes to turn over the same amount.

For Ms Di Pilla, an existing presence on Tmall Global through Chemist Warehouse's store - on which Goat products are among the top sellers - made setting up her own store on the platform a no-brainer.

"It's opened up our product to the whole world," she said.

ACCIDENTAL MILLIONS

Manufactured, packaged and shipped from Victoria using goats milk from a farm at Traralgon, Di Pilla's products have all the qualities needed to capture the interest of the Chinese consumer.

But when she first got the idea for Goat soap back in 2011, the pharmacist was simply looking to fill a gap she observed in the market by chatting to her own customers.

"There wasn't a natural product that I was satisfied with that I could recommend for people with sensitive skin," Di Pilla said.

It's difficult to get into bricks and mortar stores in China, but we were able to leverage our relationship with Chemist Warehouse.

"So I started to research the alternatives that I could offer, and found that goats milk had therapeutic qualities - it's basically the same PH level as human skin."

She took the concept to Chemist Warehouse's buyers, and the rest is history.

"The original Goat soap did really well, and from there we added six extra flavours," she said.

"Then we expanded the range to include body washes, lotions, creams, shampoo and conditioner. We started very slowly, at a pace we could afford."

Half a dozen family members work in the business, which remains privately owned, making up about half of its workforce.

Goat now has more than 40 products in its range, including a recently-launched organic children's line, and a "world first" goats milk sunscreen is on the horizon.

"It was born from an idea and it just evolved," Di Pilla said, asked if she had always harboured entrepreneurial dreams.

"You just become passionate about it, as you start to get the feedback from customers about the benefits you get inspired from that and it spurs you on."

The writer traveled to China courtesy of Alibaba