You’ve probably never heard of Zoe Boikou, but if you’re a make-up manic — chances are you’ve helped the young entrepreneur make millions from a business that started in her lounge room. It started in 2008, when a building frustration over the lack of high quality and affordable make-up brushes in Germany, sent her on the search for something better elsewhere.
“No shop sold any affordable and quality make-up brushes,” Ms Boikou, the founder of global make-up brand ZOEVA told news.com.au from Germany.
“I wasn’t in a position where I could spend a lot of money, and so I sat down and thought about how I could change the situation. I had no history in make-up, and no experience in developing brushes. But I knew what I liked, and I appreciated good products.”
Zoe Boikou’s make-up brand ZOEVA started in 2008 in her lounge room, and is now one of the biggest selling brush products in Sephora in Australia. It was a slow burn for Ms Boikou to start making a significant income off the brushes initially.
“When the sales started to get bigger about three years after I started the store, I had to find a manufacturer who could include a logo and make the brushes look more professional. After some YouTube [beauty blogger] recommendations, the sales of the brushes started to get overwhelming. It’s a very tough world [cosmetics] but I was very persistent, and I would read a lot. I had to teach myself how this world works.”
“At the time, I didn’t realise how a product could be marketed through social media. I kept wondering how my business was growing each day with more and more orders. That’s when I realised lots of people were buying the products, and recommending them on YouTube and other social media outlets, and their followers wanted to buy my products as well.”
Ms Boikou, who says she has a “100 per cent hands on involvement with the company” has seen her initial 10 brush collection grow to an expansive 67 pieces. According to Ms Boikou, the ZOEVA brushes pass through at least 30 stages of production to create just one tool, and are made using goat hair.Social media has had a strong influence on beauty and personal care in Australia, with consumers, particularly from the younger generation, increasingly living their lives online.
“Many companies have built a strong base of social media followers, supporting growth and encouraging brand loyalty. Social media is impacting consumer behaviour, with consumers frequently sharing their product experiences and looking to achieve the perfect and flawless look in images they share. An obsession with image and a desire to look photo-ready at all times has led to manufacturers launching products targeting this trend.”
“The eye shadow palettes are very popular” Ms Boikou said. “But we like to keep our product very simple. So all we have is the brushes, the eyeshadow palettes, and now experimenting with the strobe highlighting gel and lip products. We don’t offer everything, because we want to focus on just a few so we get them right. Our attention to detail and design is something very special about ZOEVA.”
Read more on news.com.au.
