List of access keys Homepage Site Map Search ContactUs Skip to main content

Natureshop cracks the online shopping code

By Nick Smith

Conrad Cranfield, the co-founder of Natureshop, the country’s fastest growing exporter as measured by the Deloitte Fast 50, has a distinct take on companies that use their New Zealand credentials in overseas markets: some of them may be over-doing it.

Shopping online at Natureshop

Buying decisions are often based on more prosaic values than the power of the 100% Pure New Zealand brand, he explains.

“Europeans know that if they’re buying online outside the European community there’s a high chance they’re going to get stung with a big duty charge and then VAT (value added tax),” Cranfield says.

“In America, they’re very insular and by far their preferred buying pattern is to buy from US companies.

As founder of the country’s fastest growing exporter and second-fastest growing company in the country for the past three years, Cranfield has the track record to make that judgment.

Natureshop also scored a third Deloitte title: fastest growing retail or consumer products business.

The online retailer has recorded 1,106 percent growth, second only to domestically-based Telecom Rentals (1,897 percent).

From initial revenue of $400,000 in the first six months to $2.5m in the first year and $5m the following year, Natureshop is on track to record $8m turnover in this financial year.

Such rocket-propelled growth has, he readily admits, produced mistakes. Early on, the company wasn’t carrying enough stock to meet demand and got caught short. But that early misstep was addressed and today, customer service is the central pillar of Natureshop’s success.

Cranfield has a background in e-commerce, search engine marketing and web development, skills complemented by his wife Natalie’s expertise in advertising, graphic design and branding.

He is engagingly frank that he didn’t know what he wanted to sell, simply that he wanted to be in the online retail space. Cranfield had become frustrated in previous employment when he was unable to put some of his ideas into practice.

“I can only be happy that they didn’t take it up and we did it ourselves,” he comments.