If you haven’t heard of Chouchou Intimates yet, it’s likely you soon will.
It was November 2019, just a few months before the global pandemic, when Tina Grasso began her own intimates business from her kitchen table. Fast forward to now, and one of the world’s biggest TikTok stars, Addison Rae, is posting about Grasso’s (cute AF) lingerie on her own Instagram.
It’s an unbelievable story, but one that inspires hope for small businesses everywhere, and shows the true power of social media, when it comes to business growth.
Born out of her own “desperate need for high quality, affordable intimates, that were comfortable enough for every day, but cute enough for date night”, Chouchou Intimates takes iconic lingerie styles and re-invents them for the modern girl, challenging the typical notions of what is “sexy”.
Starting a small business just before a global pandemic hit, with all its uncertainty — the supply chain crisis, shipping delays and financial hardship — was no easy feat. Still, though, Grasso managed it, so well in fact that the brand was noticed by an international social media star.
The order came through on a Sunday afternoon, and when Tina Grasso saw the name “Addison Rae“, she thought it was a coincidence. It had to be.
“When the order from Addison Rae came through I was in disbelief, part of me didn’t believe it was really her,” Grasso tells POPSUGAR Australia. “We are truly a small business — I still embroider and pack every order by myself!”
It wasn’t until later that night, when printing out the orders in preparation for Monday, that Grasso saw Addison’s address was from Los Angeles. She started to panic.
“We spent over an hour trying to research the address, checking the fraud filters, etc, to see if any of the details were flagged,” she recalls, “but everything looked legitimate.”
“I could also see in Shopify that she came directly to the store via Instagram. But since we had under 8,000 followers at the time, and don’t advertise in the US, I couldn’t (and still can’t) figure out how she found the page.”
Ah, the magic of social media, right? Sometimes, when the algorithms work for us, it’s truly amazing how the power of social media can impact someone’s business success.
“She ordered pieces from our best-selling Audrey collection (the first collection I ever designed) and even personalised the products.”
“Obviously, I wrote her a personalised card and told her to DM us if she liked the products. Shortly after the order was delivered, I received a message from her saying she was obsessed with the products. I couldn’t believe it.”
Not only did she love the products, but she shared them on her own socials — tagging Chouchou — and exposing this Australian small business to her following of over 40 million.
“It’s crazy to think someone with 40 million followers could find a small Australian brand with less than 10k followers and like their products enough to make a purchase — not to mention then share it on their socials,” Grasso says.
A modern success story, at its best.
Things we’ve learnt:
- Never underestimate the power of social media.
- Follow your dreams, no matter how big or small they may seem.
- It’s time to buy some cute new lingerie.
Shop all Chouchou‘s collections here.
