Aussie camel milk skincare products selected for Amazon Launchpad

Summer Land Camels joins the likes of Sydney-based Nexba and VITAMAN, Byron Bay's Salt Gypsy, Melbourne's SODA and Lyre's in Amazon's initiative for homegrown innovative products. 

Amazon Australia has selected a Queensland-based camel milk skincare product line for its Launchpad program to help startups and entrepreneurs bring their wares to market.

Summer Land Camels of Harrisville, just south of Ipswich in South East Queensland, will be one of more than 150 local and international brands to be featured on the platform.

The company was chosen for its unique range of pure camel milk skincare products, and was considered market-ready by Amazon after recently completing Brisbane Marketing's six-week Future Food Global Markets and Investor Readiness program.

Co-founder Jeff Flood took part in the Future Food Initiative to further his company's vision to support human health through camel milk.

"Many people aren't aware of the positive health benefits of camel milk. We use a gentle manufacturing process to deliver the purest whole camel milk, which is rich in vitamins, minerals, essential fats and disease-fighting immune proteins," he says.

"The Future Food Initiative gave valuable insight into what it takes to tap into wider markets and helped Summer Land Camels get noticed by Amazon Australia.

"Our food, beverage and pure and natural skin care products are stocked across Australia and sold online nationally, but we see great potential in international markets such as Asia, the EU and USA."

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner congratulates the group on its achievement.

"There is a hunger from local businesses such as Summer Land Camels to reach new markets with quality products from across the region, and an enormous potential for them to become $100 million+ companies," he says.

"The Future Food Initiative generated $29 million for the local economy in its first year, with hundreds of entrepreneurs and businesses participating in the range of industry development programs, workshops and seminars on offer."

Summer Land Camels' products will also be showcased at a food tradeshow in Asia after it won the Future Food pitch competition at Brisbane's Regional Flavours food festival in July.

Research commissioned by Amazon Australia and conducted by AlphaBeta has found that 68 per cent of small to medium sized retailers (SMEs) with high-growth aspirations plan for online channels to be an important part of increasing sales.

However, 21 per cent aren't confident using digital tools. SME's cited lack of capability to understand and implement digital tools (36 per cent), lack of skills to implement digital tools (29 per cent), and the costs of developing an e-commerce channel (36 per cent) as key barriers to growth.

"Australian inventors and entrepreneurs are responsible for some of the most innovative consumer products in the world from the electric drill right through to Vegemite," says Amazon Australia country manager Rocco Braeuniger.

"We're excited to work with the next-generation of local entrepreneurs on bringing their innovative products to millions of customers - from Lyre's Non Alcoholic Sprits Co, through to sustainable swimwear brand, Salt Gypsy from Byron Bay.

"We know that product creation is only one part of the equation in launching a product and that marketing, logistics and finding an audience can be just as challenging. With Amazon Launchpad, we have a program that will help ease some of these challenges for startups and entrepreneurs alike, allowing them to focus on growing their businesses and freeing up time for future innovation."

Supporting the launch, the Australian Made Campaign's chief executive Ben Lazzaro is excited about the program. 

"We are excited by the introduction of Amazon Australia's Launchpad program. It has the potential to provide enormous opportunity for Australian manufacturers looking to leverage Amazon Australia's growing ecommerce offering and expand their reach, while making genuine Aussie products more accessible to consumers," says Lazzaro.

Another company selected for Amazon Launchpad is Beach House Group, an LA-based company co-founded by Australian entrepreneurs Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish as well as American co-founders PJ Brice and Shaun Neff.

Beach House is responsible for socially-conscious skin care brand, Marlowe and pay it forward, stationery brand, Yoobi.

"We've had huge success in leveraging Amazon Launchpad in the U.S. to grow customer purchases, in part due to the marketing support we receive from the Amazon Launchpad team," says Kalish.

"We are excited to 'return home' and bring our products to Aussies from skincare to stationery via the Australian Launchpad store. With the support of Launchpad, we also have more time to focus on our love of innovation and how we can bring the next big thing to market."

To dial up the homegrown presence, in-depth story videos will feature on-site for brands including:

Beach House Group - co-founded by a pair of serial Aussie entrepreneurs responsible for brands including Marlowe and Yoobi.

Lyres - a range of craft non-alcoholic classic spirits, made in Melbourne.

Nexba - Australia's first naturally sugar free drink brand.

Salt Gypsy - A Byron Bay based, ethically designed surfwear brand, made in Australia.

SODA - Shades Stylish sunglasses and summer gear, designed in Melbourne.

VITAMAN - Skincare and haircare solutions for men, made from Australian botanicals in Sydney.

Business News Australia