Get to know anihana founder, Sophie Cooper

At eight months pregnant, Sophie Cooper decided to buy a soap manufacturing business. This move marked the inception of anihana, a sustainable bath and hair product brand that’s taken the world by storm. Following the national Deloitte Fast 50 celebration where anihana took home three awards, we spoke to founder and Smile Director, Sophie Cooper, to find out more about how anihana came to be, and what it is about their product that has made them so successful around the world.

Congratulations on taking home not one, but three awards at this year’s Fast 50 celebration! What do these awards mean to the team?

We’re still on a high to be honest! We really weren’t expecting to rank so highly, and to come away with two awards as well - the team is super proud.

Can you tell us a bit about how anihana was born?

anihana itself is only three and a half years old, but the journey began about eight and a half years ago. I’d been a florist for ten years, working for someone with a florist shop and a soap manufacturing business. During this time, I completely fell in love with her soap products and when the opportunity came up to buy the business a few years in, it was just too exciting to pass up - even though I was eight months pregnant at the time. So, a few months later I had a baby and a business! I created my own brand a couple of years later (initially called Ahhh) and it’s been hectic since then.

What was the thought process behind the name change and subsequent rebrand to anihana?

Originally, I didn’t want to change the name. I was attached to Ahhh because for me it was really our “why”; it was the reaction I had when using our products, and the reaction I wanted our customers to have. But it was time for a change! We went through a few name ideas, and even tried to trademark some of them, but at the last minute I thought of our daughter’s middle name, anihana. It seemed only fitting as a name that my husband and I were both very connected to, and it also happened to be the time that he joined the business full time.

How does anihana make a splash in a crowded market?

We always knew we wouldn’t have the biggest marketing budget out there, so our packaging and product needed to be disruptive. Natural products don’t have to be boring, and we wanted our product to stand out. So, we’ve relied heavily on bright, fun packaging and our product. When our customers buy our product, they love it, and they come back to buy more of it.

You’ve obviously raised growth capital over the last few years – what avenues have you explored for raising capital, and what sort of lessons have you learned along the way?

Now this is a hot topic - we’re trying to raise at the moment! Before we rebranded, we were approached Snowball Effect. At the time we actually hadn’t thought about raising, but we knew we wanted to go global and we’d need money to do that. It was a good decision - we brought on about ten investors and having them along the journey has been great.

The market now is so different to what it was three to four years ago, so it’s been quite hard this time around. I think investors in New Zealand are quite scared by our growth. It’s a lot of work too – like having a full-time job on top of your day job!

anihana has really made an impact across the US. How did that come about?

The US came about earlier than expected. We planned to launch in Australia first, and then to target the US, but Target US loved our product and put it in 300 stores straight away, which happened to be at the same time we were launching in Priceline in Australia, which just so happened to be during a COVID-19 lockdown! Target has been an amazing partner, we’re now in 1600 stores around the US, and our shower steamers and bath bombs fly off the shelves.

How do you think your customer preferences have changed since launching and how do you remain relevant to your customer?

It’s only been a few years but we’re finding our products that are doing well are impulse-driven and affordable. We launched at the right time, during the pandemic, when spa and wellness trends were taking off. People these days are looking for treats that don’t break the bank, and I always say our shower steamers are cheaper than a coffee! But there will be a time when we’ll need to look at whether our products are still relevant. We’ve just introduced a single serve bath salt sachet, which is quite different to the big packets you usually see. The early signs are that it’s doing really well, so it’ll just be staying on top of new formats and being innovative.

What piece of advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?

Our launch in Walmart in the US was a learning experience. We saw it as an amazing opportunity, but we should’ve paid more attention to who shops there; the Walmart shopper is very different to the Target shopper, and it’s quite a different shopping experience overall. We had a really experienced sales agent helping us with Target but we really should’ve done the same for Walmart. So having the right people in market is key.

How important is having a good team?

For me, it’s really the most important thing. Since I’ve switched from CEO to Smile Director, I’m a lot happier. I know what I’m good at – which isn’t doing board reports – so now I can focus on the creative part which is what I love. It’s been so great learning from my team – I’m in awe of how cool and smart they all are!

From a personal perspective, how do you balance it all (work, life, parenting), is there a golden secret?

Oh, I wish! I don’t think I do it very well at all and always have mum guilt for missing school activities. I try to make it to as many as I can, but it’s hard. At least the kids have grown up seeing my work hard and I’m sure they’ll be proud one day.

I’ve only recently started being a bit more balanced with things; I take Fridays off now which has been a game-changer and gives me the space to spend the weekend with my children, instead of cleaning and tidying. But I’m only able to do that because I have an amazing team! We’ve just rolled out a “Summer Fridays” trial at anihana, so everyone will have the opportunity to knock off early on a Friday over summer to enjoy the sunshine.

What’s next for anihana?

The US is still a huge opportunity for us. When we look at the size of it, we’ve only just scratched the surface. We’re also looking at new markets, particularly South East Asia and the UK.