Swedish born Kristina Karlsson came to Australia in 1995 and fell in love with the country. By 1999 she had decided to adopt Australia as her new home and once this decision had been made, she began to consider pursuing her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Karlsson had always wanted to own her own business and she knew she wanted to do something that involved Swedish design, kept her in touch with her family and friends in Sweden and could earn her at least $500 a week. It was also important to her that whatever she did ignited her passion. She would soon find out that through retail, she would achieve so much more.
To take the first step, Karlsson went out to buy stationery to set up her home office, but she quickly realised that everything was price driven and of poor quality. Karlsson had a love of stationery and felt disappointed with what was on offer. Being used to the attractive home office products available in Sweden, she identified a gap in the market and decided to further investigate whether there was a niche for designer stationery in Australia.
Karlsson organised 350 people into 40 focus groups, took some designed boxes and stationery along, and asked participants what they thought. At the time a “work from home” trend was emerging and Karlsson discovered that people responded positively to the idea of attractive products that would organise and de-clutter their home office spaces.
Once Karlsson established there was a demand for her product line, she started a small scale manufacturing operation wholesaling to other stores. Not long after she decided to establish an online business selling products directly to consumers.
“We quickly realised that consumers wanted the convenience of being able to buy kikki.K products online, so we developed an easy to use online sales process that provided a great service for people who preferred to shop at home,” she recalls.
Karlsson came up with the label kikki.K for her range of stationery, which was named after her childhood nickname and her last initial. The idea for the logo was drawn on a serviette one night over three bottles of wine with a friend who worked as a designer. Karlsson’s friend suggested they put it on her computer and since then the logo has remained the same.
In 2001 Karlsson opened up her first kikki.K store in Melbourne Central. The store showcased her stationery products as designer accessories and presented them in a setting that reflected her vision of what a home office could be. The store’s concept sparked interest among design-conscious consumers and quickly gained popularity.
When the business started, Karlsson found herself doing everything from working in the store, to managing accounts and payroll, to designing products.
Karlsson entered the business with no formal training, no skills in finance, accounting or bookkeeping, no prior knowledge of marketing or of how to run a retail store. She says she had no idea about recruiting employees or performance management, had never heard of logistics, didn’t know how to put together a product development schedule, negotiate a lease, build a website or write a position description. What’s more, English was Kristina’s second language.
Perhaps Karlsson’s biggest challenge however, was accessing capital.
“Having limited financial resources to start and grow my business was probably the hardest challenge I faced in getting kikki.K off the ground. I borrowed $3000 from my partner Paul to finance my first product range. The banks certainly weren’t too supportive in our early years. They needed high levels of security which we couldn’t give, so we sold our home to fund the first store opening in 2001,” she says.
Despite the adversities she faced, Kristina Karlsson had a great idea, a clear vision and enough enthusiasm and determination to overcome any obstacles before her.
In the early stages of her business, Karlsson continued to work in a hotel doing breakfast shifts before putting a full day in at kikki.K and on weekends she worked as a waitress. She also did a “start your own business” course to give her the basic knowledge to run her own retail business.
It wasn’t long before Karlsson’s efforts were noticed and within six months of opening, kikki.K received the prestigious City of Melbourne Lord Mayor’s Innovation Award.
“We knew we had something unique, and something that people responded to. But to receive the award from the Lord Mayor really cemented the fact that we had something special and it really was just the beginning,” Karlsson recounts.
And the beginning it was.
Not long after being named Melbourne’s most innovative business, Karlsson was approached by Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre to set up a store and by Christmas that year the second kikki.K was opened, proving an even bigger success than her first store.
By 2005, there were kikki.K boutiques in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The following year, the business went gangbusters with the opening of eight new stores including a foray into the international market in Auckland.
Today kikki.K has 26 stores including four in New Zealand as well as over 120 stockists throughout the world. The business has not only expanded geographically, but it has grown its product range to over 2700 items including notebooks, greeting cards, pens and wrapping paper.
Karlsson has also won a string of accolades since receiving the Innovation Award including Telstra National Young Business Woman of the Year, Most Successful Newcomer in the Swedish Business in Australia Awards, and was recently named Best Small Business in the Ethnic Business Awards.
We asked Karlsson what she thinks has been integral to her success. In her reply, she tells us that her passion for what she does and her hunger to succeed have been the driving forces behind her achievements:
“My passion for kikki.K has never wavered. Sure there have been many challenging times; however growing a business involves investing so much of your effort and energy. You sacrifice so much and go through many ups and downs – so you grow a very close emotional and intuitive attachment.”
Despite her attachment to the business, Karlsson has had to learn to let go and delegate so she can strategically drive the business. She says this was crucial in taking her business to the next level.
“At some point if you want to grow your business and have a life – no matter what level your emotional attachment is – you need to hire other people, let go and clearly delegate responsibility to them. Then you have to give them the support they need to get their jobs done.”
Karlsson also came to the realisation that it was not only people within her business that could help her achieve her goals, but equally important were the contacts around her.
“You can’t do everything yourself. Through networking I came across many people who were extremely supportive. I was surprised as to how many people were happy to help and through these people I gained a lot of knowledge that was crucial to the business.”
For those who want to pursue a similar path, Karlsson emphasises the importance of having a burning desire to realise that goal as well as a clear vision of how to get there. When interviewed for a book called Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed Karlsson told the author that one of the key factors stopping people from becoming successful entrepreneurs is a lack of a really strong desire. In her view, without that hunger to succeed it would be impossible to stay focused and weather the highs and lows of running a business. She also suggests that a good idea is equally important.
Karlsson adds that one of the keys to having a clear vision is to put your plans down on paper as a business plan – this enables you to crystallise your thoughts and it facilitates a reference point when putting your ideas into action. However, she points out that business plans must be flexible so that if something is not working, the business can adapt accordingly. Inevitable to running any business are taking risks and making decisions, and Karlsson says that if you want to succeed, you need to embrace this reality. She believes that no decision is a bad decision, because experience is the mother of all teachers and it’s amazing how quickly you learn.
In Karlsson’s case, through her lessons of trial and error she has quite clearly gained some entrepreneurial nous enabling her to run a successful retail chain in Australia and branch out beyond our shores. She says it’s been tough, but she has remained tenacious and her focus has never faltered. As Karlsson’s business continues to flourish, the question begs – what next? “One day we’d love to have stores all around the world in our favourite cities such as New York, Paris or Copenhagen,” she replies.
A number of larger competitors have made offers of up to $40 million for her business, but so far, Karlsson hasn’t budged.
From her account, she seems more than content growing her business even further, designing more stationery and opening more kikki.K stores around the world. No doubt, stationery lovers far and wide are equally happy.
