Scaling success: How Royal Essence achieved 4X growth with the help of technology

When Royal Essence launched in Sydney in 2016, co-founders Hannah and Paul Chamberlain had a vision to create memorable products that would delight consumers.

Five years on, and that vision has grown into a multinational operation that’s taking international markets by storm. Year on year, Royal Essence has grown its revenue by 400%.    

The product that’s driving this frenzied growth? 

Bath bombs — but with a twist. 

Each Royal Essence bath bomb contains a surprise — a piece of jewellery which varies in price from $90 to $5,000. 

Each ‘ring bath bomb’ retails for $27.97, and it’s a lucky dip as to what you’re going to get. So far, Royal Essence has given over $100,000 worth of gold rings to winners from Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA. 

It’s an offering that blends self-care with surprise and chance — and it’s proven incredibly popular in the market. 

Royal Essence has enjoyed viral TikTok fame, amassed more than 19,000 reviews and grown into a seven-figure e-commerce business in just a few years.

So what’s the secret to their meteoric growth? 

Relying on technology partners to do the heavy lifting.

From inventory management, to logistics and accounting, Royal Essence uses software partners, such as Xero, for their accounting and to automate time-consuming daily tasks. 

That way, its founders can get out of the weeds and focus on strategically growing the business. 

Tech partners kickstart growth

One of those key software partners is DEAR Inventory, a cloud-based inventory management system that makes it easy for the Royal Essence team to track orders and gain visibility of stock levels at all times. 

“What DEAR does is beautiful for today’s economy,” explains Doug LaBahn, CMO of DEAR Systems. 

“We give you more places to sell your product and keep track of it all. If you want to sell in store or on your website, you can do that and keep track of your inventory.” 

For SMEs looking to scale, DEAR also integrates with accounting software Xero to provide a single source of truth and end-to-end support of the sales cycle. 

It’s a pairing that’s proven successful in kickstarting high-growth businesses like Royal Essence. 

LaBahn says “year over year, the average customer that’s using both Xero and DEAR together grew by 20%. The average growth rate in Australia is 2%.”

Streamlined processes boost international success 

Royal Essence’s seamless tech integrations were especially important after its products took off in the UK market.

It was over Valentine’s day that its signature bath bombs and candles caught the attention of TikTok.

That month turned out to be one of the best on record, with Royal Essence bringing in $1.3M in revenue, $900k of which was from the UK market alone. 

Thanks to the powerful integration of their accounting and inventory tech, Paul and Hannah were able to fulfil these orders without breaking stride. 

“All of our ordering from overseas is done through DEAR, so I can see how the whole logistic chain operates, just by sitting in my home office,” explains Hannah. 

“We can see what’s being manufactured, the expense, and how we’re going to distribute these products.” 

Josh Drummond, DEAR content and SEO lead, adds that integrating with Xero allows Royal Essence to “really seamlessly” merge their accounting needs with their inventory management, track landed costs, and manage compliance obligations with “really high quality data.” 

“They always know exactly how much is being made, where it is, and how much they’re selling. 

There’s no big end of year [tax] stuff, it’s all happening day to day.” 

Replicating success: “You can’t do everything”

Technology has made it simple for Royal Essence to scale their success around the globe. 

“We’re looking to add another location — the Netherlands — and it’s so simple. We can simply add our location, integrate that into Shopify, it syncs from that system through to DEAR. We essentially don’t have to think about it after that,” explains Paul. 

So how can SMEs replicate this success and scale into new markets? 

Establish clear processes, then let technology and industry experts like DEAR and Xero do the rest. 

“When you’re looking to scale, get your processes in place,” says Paul. 

“Know what you enjoy doing, know what you’re good at and stick to it, then outsource the rest. 

He adds that when he and Hannah started the business, they made “the big mistake” of trying to do everything. 

“We could never go past a certain point until we outsourced our shipping, outsourced manufacturing, and focused on marketing,” he says. 

Hannah adds that “as a founder, you get pulled up by thinking ‘I’ll do everything because I know what’s best.’”

“It’s a trap because you can’t do everything. Find people who are really good at their jobs and outsource.” 

Find, choose and buy the right apps for your business in the Xero App Store. Visit apps.xero.com.