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.
Australia Post launched its 'shop front' in July 2014 and recruited smaller retailers like the Olive Oil Skin Care Company to sell products through its store.
Olive Oil Skincare set up an e-commerce store on T-mall. Source: Supplied
"We supplied the product and [Australia Post] produced all the photographs that were needed. They had own camera shoots. And that was basically it," Frank says.
"Through their system of delivery we able to dispatch product and be in China within two or three days."
Sales to China now make up a third of the Olive Oil Skin Care Co's total business.
Frank says the natural quality of his products - which include soaps, lotions, and balms - are partly why they're popular with Chinese consumers; everything is made using olive oil produced from the family grove in Hillston, Central New South Wales. He says Australia's reputation for having a clean environment and well-regulated business sector is also appealing. "The credibility that Australian products have with China is that what's on the label is what you're going to get."
However, the exposure his products have gained from appearing on T-mall is potentially more lucrative than current online sales. Frank says he's now fielding requests from Chinese retailers who are interested in getting his product in their stores around the country.
"We're talking to companies that have chains of 300, 400 hyper supermarkets," he says. "One company alone has two and a half thousand outlets in China only focusing on beauty and health care products and nothing else. How has this come about? Through exposure of our products on T-mall."
Australian products have a good reputation among Chinese consumers. Source: Supplied
To meet the growing demand, Frank says the company will have to look at increasing machinery - and there are other olive groves the company can draw on for its oil if required.
The business now turns over just over $1 million dollars a year - but with the increasing interest from Chinese retailers, Frank's confident that will only grow.
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