An online marketplace spruiking regional and rural businesses has facilitated $10 million in revenue for SMEs just two years after its launch, but as swathes of inland Australia pick up the pieces from consecutive flood disasters, there’s never been a more important time to Buy From The Bush.
Grace Brennan tells SmartCompany she launched Buy From The Bush — then a humble Instagram page — from her kitchen table in 2019. She was moved to do something to help after years of droughts had left founders struggling a world away from the consumer frenzy of the cities.
“It was not intended to be a business, just a hopeful movement to connect city and country at a time the bush needed greater visibility,” Brennan recalled.
“After a year of running a social media account, with support from PayPal we launched an online marketplace and began generating revenue for the first time (commission on sales).”
The agtech marketplace officially launched in 2020 “off the back of crazy PR and broad support from PayPal”, Brennan recalls, going live with more than 1000 products and more than 100 sellers from regional and rural areas.
Fast-forward to today, and Buy From The Bush has received more than 2000 applications from businesses all over the country hoping to join the lucrative marketplace, with 300 rural sellers and an eyewatering 16,000 products for sale.
But don’t call it your average e-commerce platform, Brennan says. Buy From The Bush is a purpose-driven business with four female staff in regional Australia working towards an ambitious goal to “crisis-proof rural Australia by enabling small business and empowering founders”.
“More than an e-commerce platform, we are a community. I invest as much energy in fostering connections and storytelling as I do selling products,” Brennan said.
But plenty of product is flying out the door too. Since 2019, Buy From The Bush has facilitated more than $10 million in sales for SMEs, with more than $700,000 worth of gift vouchers sold so far. Basically, business is booming.
As swathes of NSW languish under what has shaped up to be the most expensive natural disaster in Australia’s history, Brennan says parts of her vast community are still doing it extremely tough, as ongoing cleanups prove no easy thing to juggle with orders to fulfil.
“It takes sensitivity and thinking creatively about how to meet their needs while servicing our customers,” she said.
That’s why Brennan says she’s thrilled to take Buy From The Bush on the road with her to Sydney, with a handful of sellers setting up stalls filled to the brim with regional wares for a two-day shopping bonanza at Christmas Market at The Rocks.
“Connecting with a Sydney customer base can make a huge difference to small bush businesses at any time but especially in the wake of recent floods,” Brennan said.
“Many businesses have been cut off from town, affected by reduced postal services, homeschooling children and feeling the pressure of the impact of the floods on their family farming businesses.”
Brennan adds that foot traffic and cashflow have slowed in many rural and regional communities as folks pick up the pieces of the flood disasters, and attracting new eyeballs and new loyal customers can be the difference between make or break for some SMEs.
But Brennan urges regional and rural people thinking of starting their own business to not be deterred and go for it. She says the “bush has a great story to tell” and that story should go global.
“Forget the modesty that runs deep in rural communities and think about showing off what makes your product or service unique to someone sitting on the other side of the world,” Brennan advised.
Emma Elsworthy is Climate Editor at Crikey, SmartCompany, and The Mandarin, and writes daily morning newsletter the Worm. Before joining Crikey in 2021, Emma was a breaking news reporter in ABC’s Sydney newsroom, a journalist at BBC Australia, and a journalist in Fairfax Media’s regional network. She was part of a team awarded a Walkley for coverage of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire crisis, and won the Australian Press Council prize in 2013.
