Now in our fourth month of selling the Harvestcare brand, I’m constantly being surprised by who is my customer. Of course, the original plan was target hotels and tourism places when I pivoted during the Covid lockdown to what I thought would be a direct to consumer model. That too has changed.

It’s proven to be hard to sell directly to consumers with a “Made in Canberra” brand without spending a fortunate on advertising and even that hasn’t been that great of a return on investment so far. Then there was the free delivery in the ACT offer which has also costed me a lot of time and petrol despite the higher margins.

So a while ago, I redirected my energy more towards growing my stockists. I thought that I would be able to target natural health stores fairly easily. However, they have actually proven to be the hardest ones to get into so far. One said that he didn’t think his customers would buy my products, and didn’t answer my question when I asked why.

As Covid lockdowns are again in parts of Victoria and News South Wales, potential retailers at gift shops are still being super cautious right now as can be expected. Some have told me that it’s also still quite slow even during school holidays.

So frustrated, I’ve been trying other channels over the last few weeks. I never pictured the brand getting into IGAs or Capital Chemist, but somehow it has happened, and I’m extremely grateful. They say that they and their customers want to support local businesses, and that’s why they said yes.

The good thing is that there are quite a few independent chemists and supermarkets that could say yes now that I’m targeting them.

It’s it funny. I guess I really didn’t know who my customer is. So, it’s good that I kept trying.