In the Sydney suburb of Rosebery, there’s a warehouse store filled with furniture, dangling plants, and the kind of homewares you see in fancy magazines.
While it’s seen fewer customers in-person since the coronavirus pandemic began, the Koskela store has already doubled all of last year’s sales as people spend more time at home and more money on their home.
Koskela co-founder Sasha Titchkosky has also noticed a change in the nature of customer inquiries.
“We're starting to see people question the origins of their products and really wanting to start to get behind Australian Made,” she told SBS News.
“That’s been something we’ve done since we started 20 years ago when it was pretty novel to want to manufacture in Australia.”
Koskela’s 30 employees aren’t the only ones benefiting from Ms Titchkosky’s desire to keep things local.
The Koskela store in Rosebery. Source: Facebook/Koskela
“We work with about 30 different manufacturers and artisans right across Australia and each of them has 10 or 20 staff. That’s about 300 to 600 jobs that we’re helping to support in Australia,” she said.
With unemployment expected to peak at 10 per cent in Australia, Australian Made CEO Ben Lazzaro says people are becoming more conscious about where the money they have is going.
“The penny has dropped. We're acknowledging our overreliance on imported products and the knock-on effect that has on our economy,” he said.
“There's not one of us that doesn't know someone who has lost a job or is on reduced hours, so the impacts of our purchasing decisions, we're all taking a little bit more care about where our dollars are going and what purchasing decisions we're making.”
Since April, Australian Made has had more than two million page visits on its website, with people spending 30 per cent more time on the site than they used to.
To keep up with the increase in online shopping during the pandemic, Australian Made recently teamed up with eBay, its first partnership with an e-commerce marketplace.
“Consumers are doing their research, they're seeking out Aussie products. Partnerships like that are helping get Aussie manufacturers into the hands of consumers that want them the most,” Mr Lazzaro said.
While more consumers are shifting to products made in Australia, businesses are also re-evaluating their supply chains.
Boat repairer Aidan Smith now only sources supplies from Australia. Source: SBS News
As the pandemic put Aidan Smith’s job as a rowing teacher on hold, he had more time to focus on his boat repairs business.
He used to source 20 per cent of his supplies from overseas - now he only buys Australian.
“We can all help each other weather the storm,” he said.
“But also it's a matter of convenience. A lot of stores had to close or reduce their trading hours - obviously the closer it is to me, the quicker the shipping will be as well.”
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
