1. What’s the quick origin story of your brand, and what makes your product or positioning genuinely different from other options in your niche?

Aida Rejzovic: Sassy Organics was born from my own personal journey. After experiencing health issues in 2012, I started paying much closer attention to the ingredients in everyday products — skincare, beauty, cleaning products, supplements and everything we bring into our homes. I realised how confusing and time-consuming it was for customers to find products that were genuinely healthier, ethical and aligned with their values.

That is what led me to launch Sassy Organics in 2016.

Today, Sassy Organics is an Australian online store offering more than 2,500 products from over 130 brands across skincare, beauty, health, home and lifestyle. What makes us different is that we are not just another online retailer. We are 100% vegan and cruelty-free, and every brand we stock is carefully considered before it reaches our store.

Our positioning is built around trust. We do the label-checking so our customers don’t have to. For busy customers who want to live a healthier, more conscious lifestyle, Sassy Organics is a one-stop shop where they can feel confident that the products have already been vetted.

We are also a purpose-driven business. Supporting charities, reducing animal cruelty, encouraging more conscious consumption and making ethical living easier are all central to why we exist.

2. Since launch, what have been the 1-2 real turning points for your brand-specific decisions, pivots, or experiments that noticeably changed your growth or profitability-and what did you learn from them?

Aida Rejzovic: One of the biggest turning points was expanding Sassy Organics from a smaller organic beauty store into a broader healthy living destination. In the early days, the focus was very much on skincare and beauty, but over time I realised our customers wanted more than that. They wanted safer, more conscious options for many areas of their lives — including home, health, baby, men’s products, dental care, gifts and low-waste products.

That shift helped us become more useful to our customers. Instead of only solving one problem, we became a trusted place they could come back to again and again for different needs. The key lesson was that growth does not always come from chasing trends. Sometimes it comes from listening very closely to your existing customers and making their lives easier.

Another major turning point has been investing more deeply in organic search, educational content and email marketing. In ecommerce, it is easy to rely heavily on paid advertising, but we have learned that long-term growth comes from building trust before the customer is ready to buy. Helpful content, strong product pages, honest recommendations and a good email experience all play a major role in that.

The lesson for me has been that sustainable ecommerce growth is not just about getting more traffic. It is about attracting the right customer, helping them make a confident decision, and giving them a reason to come back.

3. Which 2-3 channels drive most of your revenue right now (for example SEO, paid social, email, marketplaces, influencers), and what have you learned about making those channels work in your category?

Aida Rejzovic: The main channels for us are SEO, email marketing and paid social.

SEO is very important because our customers are often researching before they buy. They may be looking for the best natural sunscreen, a pregnancy-safe skincare product, a vegan collagen alternative, a natural deodorant that actually works, or a solution for sensitive skin. In our category, content needs to be helpful, specific and trustworthy. Generic content does not work as well anymore. Customers want clear guidance, product education and honest recommendations.

Email marketing is also one of our most important channels. It allows us to build relationships with customers beyond the first visit. We use email to introduce new products, share offers, educate customers and remind them of the values behind Sassy Organics. What works best for us is keeping the tone personal and helpful rather than overly sales-focused.

Paid social is useful for visibility, new product launches and bringing new customers into the brand, but it works best when the rest of the customer journey is strong. The product page, email follow-up, reviews, trust signals and repeat purchase experience all matter. Paid ads alone are not enough if the website and retention strategy are not doing their job.

4. How are you thinking about search in 2026 – Google, AI assistants like ChatGPT, and other discovery platforms? What, if anything, have you changed in your content or site to stay visible as AI search grows?

Aida Rejzovic: Search is changing very quickly. Customers are no longer only typing short keywords into Google. They are asking more detailed questions, comparing options, using AI assistants like ChatGPT, and expecting faster, more personalised answers.

For Sassy Organics, this means our content needs to be much more useful and specific. We are focusing on creating content that answers real customer questions, not just content written for keywords. That includes more educational category pages, better product descriptions, comparison-style content, ingredient explanations, buying guides and clear recommendations based on customer needs.

We are also thinking more about authority and trust. AI search is likely to favour brands that have clear expertise, consistent information and content that genuinely helps people make decisions. In our category, where customers care about ingredients, ethics, safety and effectiveness, this is especially important.

5. What do you do to turn first‑time buyers into repeat customers and advocates? Are there specific experiences, content, or community touches that work especially well for you?

Aida Rejzovic: For us, turning first-time buyers into repeat customers starts with trust. Customers need to feel confident that we care about what we stock and that they can rely on us to offer products that align with their values.

We focus on making the experience helpful from the beginning. That includes clear product information, honest recommendations, carefully curated brands, fast support and follow-up emails that feel useful rather than pushy.

Our email marketing plays a big role in retention. We use welcome emails, abandoned cart flows, post-purchase communication, product education, offers and loyalty reminders to stay connected with customers. We also have a rewards program, which gives customers another reason to return.

Community is also very important. Many of our customers are not just buying a product — they are trying to make better choices for their health, their family, animals and the environment. When they feel that Sassy Organics shares those values, they are more likely to come back and recommend us to others.

What works especially well is being genuine. Customers can tell when a business is only trying to sell to them. I try to communicate in a way that feels personal, practical and honest — whether that is through emails, product recommendations or social media. I think that human connection matters more than ever in ecommerce.

6. If you had to write a short playbook for an ecommerce founder one stage behind you, what would you double down on over the next 12 months – and what would you stop doing entirely?

Aida Rejzovic: I would double down on trust, retention and content.

First, make your website genuinely helpful. Your product pages, category pages and blog content should answer the questions your customers are already asking. Do not just describe the product — explain who it is for, what problem it solves, how to use it and why it is different.

Second, build your email list and look after it properly. Email is one of the most valuable assets an ecommerce business can have, but it needs to feel personal and useful. Welcome emails, abandoned cart emails, post-purchase emails, loyalty reminders and helpful product education can make a big difference.

Third, focus on repeat customers. Acquiring new customers is expensive, so you need to give people a reason to come back. That may be through loyalty programs, great customer service, thoughtful recommendations, rewards, helpful content or simply making the shopping experience easier.

What I would stop doing is chasing every trend or platform without a clear strategy. It is very easy as a founder to feel like you need to be everywhere — every social platform, every ad strategy, every new tool. But that can quickly become overwhelming and unprofitable. I would stop doing things that create noise but do not build trust, revenue or customer loyalty.

The most important thing is to understand your customer deeply and build the business around serving them better.