In the last two years, Wellington skincare company Trilogy has increased sales by a whopping 690 percent– making it the third fastest growing business on the latest Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 Index. Run by sisters Sarah Gibbs and Catherine Wells, Trilogy only opened its doors in 2003 but already exports to Australia, France, the UK, Canada, the US, and Singapore.
I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies 
In the last two years, Wellington skincare company Trilogy has increased sales by a whopping 690 percent– making it the third fastest growing business on the latest Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 Index. Run by sisters Sarah Gibbs and Catherine Wells, Trilogy only opened its doors in 2003 but already exports to Australia, France, the UK, Canada, the US, and Singapore.
Trilogy’s leap from being a producer of natural skincare products for the domestic and Australian markets to becoming a global exporter happened relatively quickly and painlessly. The strategy Gibbs and Wells adopted to make this leap offers lessons for other New Zealand entrepreneurs wanting to take a good business idea to the next level.
Sarah Gibbs says that from day one Trilogy was set up to be a global export business. All the formulations for the skincare products were created to be compliant with regulatory requirements in key markets such as Europe, the US and Japan.
An experienced (and expensive) design agency was hired to develop the branding and packaging, to ensure it would work with the target audience and in international markets.
And when the product was finally ready, it was launched simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand.
To help the company grow faster and reduce the need to build a big infrastructure, Gibbs and Wells outsourced the distribution and day-today ordering of the product in most markets. But they retained final say on where Trilogy was stocked to protect the reputation of the brand. The sisters instead concentrated their efforts on market development – flying around the world knocking on the doors of prestigious department stores whose endorsement could raise the profile of their products.
The strategy worked, with Trilogy’s products now being found in influential stores such as Selfridges in the UK, Printemps in France and Myer in Australia. Trilogy has also featured in fashion and beauty magazines around the world.
Looking back, Sarah Gibbs says the best decision she and her sister made was developing a product and packaging that from day one could be exported. That made expanding into new markets relatively easy.
Their biggest mistake in the early days was not researching potential distribution partners thoroughly enough before deciding to work with them. Choosing the right distribution partners has been the most challenging and risky part of the expansion, Sarah Gibbs says.“We’ve learnt by experience that you’ve got to be very selective and not just work with someone because you are excited that they approached you. You’ve got to do a lot of research on potential distribution partners; I couldn’t overstate the importance of that.”
As for the advice she’d give another entrepreneur wanting to expand an export business – “be persistent and patient” and “do what you’re good at, and outsource the things you can’t do to consultants”.
