Back in 2017, I was interviewed for a documentary series on Foxtel, Industry Leaders. One of the questions asked was how I choose the brands we work with at Shop Naturally. It's a very personal experience for me to do this, and there are varying criteria. At the time of filming, I wasn't sure how much of this portion of the interview would actually be included, so I documented my process in this blog post.

Over the course of the seven years since I was interviewed for this Foxtel business show, things have changed a little (not much), so I have updated this blog so you can feel confident choosing products from our store.

We are privately owned and the decisions are 100% mine

First off, I wanted to make it clear that the decisions are mine and mine alone. We are not a publicly listed company. There's no share holders. No parent company. No business partner to argue with. We are not owned by a corporation who have other brands in the market to push through my store. We do not have a financial stake in ANY brand we sell in the store except for our home brand, The Happy Sparrow.

We are not the distributors for any brand in our store. I do not answer to anyone but our customers and my conscience. The wallet doesn't get a look in. If I like them and their products are a good fit for us, we stock them. If they're not, I don't. If I change my mind down the track, I can do that too.

At the time of the original post in 2017, there was a moral tug of war going on with organic tea brand Pukka being bought out by the giant, Unilever, who test on animals. While the tea won't be, and it will remain organic and wild harvested, that choice to keep it on the shelves or remove it will always be made in conjunction with our customers. Fast forward to 2024 and we did remove it from the store under 12 months after the buy out. The decision was driven by our customers because they didn't have confidence in the new owners and our sales dropped accordingly. The brand has since picked up wide spread market share outside the eco health & wellbeing space and is readily available in major stores.

The ethics of the companies we work with are important

We proudly work with large brands and small ones. The large brands we work with have amazing products on offer, and it's these brands we're usually able to arrange amazing deals with. There's power in volume. We're still pretty selective about the large brands we worth with, and their charity programs are always a deciding factor if there are two brands competing for my attention. Those who earn should give back. We do it here and we expect our major suppliers to do the same.

Fast forward to 2024 and we are seeing both large and small brands struggle and quite a few close their doors, which is sad. This is one reason we do our absolute best to support small brands, and in turn, in the grand scheme of things, we are a small business ourselves. We're still in the same warehouse we moved in to 12 months after opening with a small team and loyal customers, for which we are eternally grateful.

bulk laundry powder from abode

The profit margin is never a factor if it's an important product

While we are running a business here and we do need to stay afloat, if a product is really important to us and it doesn't make us any money, we still stock them. The best example of this is the bulk sized natural cleaning products we sell. They have the worst profit margin of anything we sell, we get slugged with freight charges when they arrive IN to our warehouse and also OUT as they leave. Even though our freight charges are high on these orders, they're still less than what we actually pay.

They take up more room than their $ value on the shelves and they take longer to handle than everything else in store because of their weight and size. Sometimes when deliveries arrive there's over 1 tonne of them arrive in the door at the same time. They take hours to unpack and put away.

99% of the grief I get through customer service are complaints about freight or handling of bulk cleaning products. Our life would be a lot easier if we stopped selling them, and trust me, I've come close on many occasions. The thing is, they are what started this store. My own struggles with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and the grief caused in my life from not being able to wash my clothing or bed linen in something I didn't react to was too much. If there's people that need them, we'll sell them, zero profit and all.

I'm not interested in using fear to sell natural products

We sell a handful of products that have a small amount of a lab derived preservative in them. We don't allow it in children's products, but in an adult product, especially in wash offs, there are a small selection of products that allow it. Why? A lot of people are on a budget and don't react to them. Choice is important. Fear is a loathesome yet very effective marketing tool.

We trust that our customers are savvy enough to make their own minds up about what is right for them and their family and what isn't. We are full disclosure and will happily answer any questions you have about any ingredient in any product we sell.

For example, when buying natural shampoo in our store, we are a completely sulfate free store, but a handful of brands use lab derived preservatives, but we also do not allow any lab derived scents, which is a rule across the whole store.

When it comes to natural nail polish, there actually isn't one if we're being 100% honest (which we always are). The best option is the low tox '10 free' formula from Hanami. For most people, these are fine. If you have chemical sensitivities, we urge you to buff your nails and live with them looking natural. As someone who lives with some low level chemical sensitivities, I choose not to wear any nail polish. I am a rare little thing that reacts to more than most.

Got a question? Please ask.

We are happy to answer any pre-sales question for you, even if it includes the phrase "we don't think this product is right for you".