Sold my house to fund my business: The story of beauty brand Coco & Eve founder Emily Hamilton

All business founders make sacrifices, but not all would go as far as selling their house to fund their new venture. 

But that’s exactly what Melbourne entrepreneur Emily Hamilton did in 2019 to fund Coco & Eve, the beauty brand she had founded 12 months earlier. 

The funds from the house’s sale went towards research and development (R&D), clinical and consumer trials, and supporting 12 product launches per year for the fast-growing brand. 

Hamilton was inspired to found the business in 2018 following a trip to Bali. Her goal was to bottle up the magic of the popular holiday destination by combining tropical ingredients with some serious science to develop unique beauty products. 

The brand sources tropical Balinese ingredients for its formulas, from coconut oil and cocoa to mangoes, papayas, and guava. All of its packaging is 100% recyclable and 100% of the brand’s cardboard and paper are sourced from sustainably managed forests (FSC Certified).

Five years on from launch and the multi-award-winning brand’s hair, tan and body products are sold in 38 cities via the Coco & Eve website, in brick-and-mortar stores and on Amazon, and the brand boasts an impressive 976,000 followers on Instagram. 

Following its achievement of a 240% sales increase from 2021-2022, in late March this year Coco & Eve announced it had nine new product launches scheduled for 2023, including the brand’s debut into the skincare and SPF categories.

It’s all part of an aggressive growth strategy that also includes expanding internationally into the US and the UK. The brand is chasing another year of triple-digit growth, launching its vegan and cruelty-free hair, tan and body products into 452 Ulta stores in the US and over 100 Boots stores throughout the UK, as well as into premium UK retailer Space NK.

Meanwhile in Australia, Coco & Eve products are stocked in Priceline, Myer and Adore Beauty.

Hamilton recently spoke with SmartCompany Plus about how she has grown and expanded the brand from the ground up since 2018, and why she was thinking global from day one. 

Global appeal

For many new Australian brands, making inroads in the local market is the logical first step. But Hamilton started out with a clear mission to launch “globally successful products”. 

“When we created the brand and the products, we always had in mind they would have a global appeal,” she says. 

In fact, Coco & Eve’s product launch strategy is specifically set up to facilitate this. 

“First, our products go through global compliance to ensure we can sell in as many countries as possible,” Hamilton explains. 

“Then we look to launch digital first, building our own website, Amazon and retail partnerships online.

“We followed the same strategy for both the UK and US and it has been a great driver of growth as both markets represent a huge opportunity for any beauty brand.”

Similarly, Hamilton intentionally set out to build an omnichannel retail operation from the start, with digital distribution as the first port of call for the product range, which was developed with customer feedback in mind. 

“We had a goal to be a truly omnichannel brand with revenue coming from three different retail channels,” she says, adding that Coco & Eve initially set up its own e-commerce storefront, starting selling via Amazon, and worked with select e-commerce retailers. 

“The current focus is to expand physical distribution into stores, as it costs a lot more to set up and you need a full assortment of products.”

While Coco & Eve is still entirely self-funded and 100% owned by Hamilton, the business operations are controlled by Supernova, a global consumer retail platform based in Singapore that connects 38 countries and seven warehouses to offer e-commerce and retail services.

“It is all one company and we created two global brands,” she says. 

Advice for getting started

Hamilton is a firm believer that everyone should try their hand at running a business.

“It is easy to start a business these days so you should really experiment and give it a go, at least once in your life,” she says. 

As to how one does that, Hamilton shares the following pointers:

1. Understand your target audience from your real life experience, from your career or as a consumer.

2. Using some insider knowledge of an area is always an important edge when launching a new business.

3. It is important to use your experience or research to understand their needs as well as pain points. What type of new products are they interested in? What price are they willing to pay? This understanding will help you craft a strategy.

4. Create a brand identity and unique product strategy.

5. Creating a brand story can really resonate with customers as you can take them on a journey with you, creating the brand, the inspiration behind the products and the mission that drives your brand.

6. From the product side, you need to work out how to stand out in a crowded market.

Mixing the virtual with the physical (retail)

Coco & Eve’s hair, tan and body products have also had viral success on TikTok, where its account currently has close to 234,000 followers.

One bottle of its best-selling Sunny Honey fake tan sells every 20 seconds, and the brand’s Antioxidant Face Tanning Micromist made more than $5.4 million in sales after 120,000 units sold in just four months, during the January to April 2023 period. 

But despite the online success, Hamilton believes brick-and-mortar expansion in the digital age is still important for brands, especially those that sell beauty products. 

“For beauty products it is critical, people want to touch, feel and smell the products,” she says. 

“Buying beauty in stores is still a very highly regarded experience. It not only allows consumers to experience your product but also gives it credibility when reaching new customers.”