No Pong is without doubt one of the hottest pure deodorant manufacturers in Australia. They launched on WooCommerce in 2015, and have since grown from a single product to a global enterprise with over 200 SKUs throughout three core markets.
Their progress in recognition was supported by pivotal adjustments to their ecommerce infrastructure, switching hosts and including sources as they had been wanted — a profit that SaaS platforms can’t present.
We not too long ago chatted with Melanie McVean and Chris Caley, co-founders of No Pong, to study extra in regards to the enterprise and their success.
- 200+ energetic SKUs that embrace easy merchandise, bundles, subscriptions, and wholesale merchandise; add or replace merchandise each few months.
- Use a mixture of market and customized extensions for CX, logistics, and advertising.
- Promote to Australia, Canada, and the US.
The corporate started in 2015 when Melanie, who had been making her personal deodorant, gave some to her husband, Chris, for a surf competitors. Impressed by how effectively the home made product labored, Chris and Melanie determined, then and there, to show it right into a enterprise.
Not lengthy after, they launched on WooCommerce with one product offered in singles or as a subscription. They now have their very own warehouse in Australia, provide 11 completely different merchandise (with 200+ energetic SKUs), and assist each their D2C and wholesale prospects with a staff of 20.
No Pong has turn into a family title in Australia, having achieved 63% model consciousness amongst deodorant customers primarily based on a current YouGov survey.* No Pong is broadly accessible round Australia by means of D2C ecommerce, on-line marketplaces, and third-party retail. Additionally they manufacture in Canada for the North American market.
*All figures, except in any other case said, are from YouGov. Complete pattern measurement was 1000 adults. Area work was undertaken between December twelfth and sixteenth of 2025. The figures have been weighted and are consultant of all Australian adults (aged 18+).
No Pong has made full use of WooCommerce’s versatility, flexibility, and scalability. They began small after which upgraded sources and capabilities as wanted — a boon to each financials and the client expertise.
No Pong selected WooCommerce in 2015 as a result of they may get their web site up and operating rapidly (“actually 24 hours”) at a really low price so as to validate whether or not they had a viable enterprise concept.
Because the enterprise grew, they stayed with WooCommerce attributable to its composable nature.
“WooCommerce has afforded us quite a lot of flexibility with our tech stack. Each main ecommerce integration is supported, as are all the logistics, success, and stock administration integrations we use,” stated Melanie.
“Within the uncommon occasion we have to join one thing that’s a bit extra customized, we’ve all the time been capable of finding a approach. We’ve but to hit a tough ‘pc says no’ compatibility situation which is unquestionably a significant profit by way of flexibility.”
“With WooCommerce, actually something is feasible.”
— Chris Caley, Co-founder, No Pong
Progress challenges got here rapidly, and SaaS wasn’t the reply
By 2017, that they had outgrown their preliminary setup. In 2018, they launched in Canada, and regarded migrating to different platforms to assist their progress.
After evaluating each Shopify and BigCommerce over a two-year interval, they met Saucal, an authorized Woo Company Companion — and “one of many really transformational factors in our work trip.”
“We spent an enormous period of time, cash, and sources doing due diligence on Shopify and BigCommerce, solely to seek out ourselves again at WooCommerce,” Melanie shared.
“We discovered the opposite platforms extremely restrictive and costly, with cart and checkout experiences that we didn’t really feel had been best-in-class.”
— Chris Caley, Co-founder, No Pong
Chris and Melanie had been additionally postpone by the SaaS platforms’ considerably larger price for options like transport tables and subscriptions. For companies promoting low-cost merchandise, the share price per order is untenable.
Relatively than migrating platforms, they switched their internet hosting to Kinsta in 2019. The extra sources instantly gave them smoother scalability and higher web site stability.
In 2021, No Pong accomplished a full web site redesign to enhance pace and efficiency, after which migrated to WordPress VIP internet hosting in 2022 for even higher pace, efficiency, and scalability.
Chris and Melanie attribute a lot of their success to a persistent deal with high quality. They’ve stored many enterprise features in-house somewhat than outsourcing to 3rd events to make sure high quality remained excessive.
“Any time you might have a dependency on a 3rd occasion, there’s a danger that after they go down, all of us go down collectively,” Chris famous. “Bringing a few of these features in-house has allowed us to not solely increase the bar, but additionally to lift our degree of management over the outcomes we’re aiming for.”
On the technical facet, the advantages of versatile, high-quality internet hosting and infrastructure are clear.
“The primary variations of our web site had been hosted on low cost, shared internet hosting providers that actually weren’t suited to a scaling order volumes and databases. Our websites are actually hosted on WordPress VIP, and may completely take something we, or our prospects, throw at them.”
The pliability WooCommerce has offered signifies that No Pong could be versatile too — which is essential for monetary and technical viability by means of durations of progress. “We’re continuously revising and renewing our processes. The easy purpose is that each time you scale by an order of magnitude, you principally need to throw out all of your techniques and processes and discover new ones.”
The staff is constantly working to make sure that their web site is a vacation spot that prospects return to. In 2026, they’re engaged on one other web site redesign to enhance the cellular expertise, restructuring the positioning to enhance conversion charges, and constructing some enjoyable UI/UX options that reward person habits.
Now and all the time, No Pong focuses on making merchandise that their prospects love whereas offering distinctive customer support alongside the way in which.
“Having that belief, credibility, and assist from our prospects is without doubt one of the methods we really feel we are able to future-proof ourselves in opposition to the inevitable tide of change.”
Vanessa has spent her profession writing useful issues for individuals throughout the tech area. Outdoors of labor, she enjoys coaching for triathlon, rotating by means of hobbies, and exploring new locations each city and pure. She has two fluffy cats, maintains a couple of succulents, and has far too many books on her TBR shelf.
