Australia's Oldest Online Pet Supply Retailer Turns 20!

The year was 1999. The world was worried about Y2K, eBay had just launched in Australia and brothers Mark and Steven Perissinotto were preparing to launch Australia’s first online pet supplies business.

Now twenty years and over 2.5 million orders later, VetShop Australia will celebrate over 100 dog years of business on the 17th of November.

Like many great businesses, Steven says it all started over the table at a big family lunch.

“We came up with the idea over lunch and were able to launch VetShopAustralia three months later,” Mr.Perissinotto said.

 The brothers saw the huge opportunity the internet provided, and started the business part-time out of the back of veterinarian Mark’s Nambour clinic.

 “We were working fifty hours a week at our original jobs and then putting in another twenty or so hours to only be getting ten orders per day,” Mark Perissinotto said.

 “Success didn’t come to us overnight, running your own business is always ninety percent perspiration, ten percent inspiration” said Steven.

 The breakthrough came in 2001 when, recognising high levels of interest from US buyers, the international website changed its currency to USD and sales instantly grew around 10-12% month-on-month between 2001-2006.

This success enabled Mark to leave his veterinary practice in 2005 and saw Steven leave law in 2007 to allow them to concentrate on the business full time.

In 2009, the business moved from Image Flat to a larger premises at Forest Glen where it remains today, shipping orders to over 1 million customers in over 70 countries.

Over the years, the business has picked up a number of awards including a Telstra Business People’s Choice Award in 2011, Power Retail Top 100 Retailer in 2017 and the Top 150 in 2018.

Both Mark and Steven have also been nominated for a variety of awards. Mark was a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2015 and Steven was recently named as one of the Top 50 People in E-Commerce by Internet Retailing.

VetShop Australia has also been the sponsor of the Surfing Dog Championships, held as part of the Noosa Festival of Surfing, since 2012.

About VetShopAustralia

VetShopAustralia is an online pet retailer that has been proudly serving Australian pet owners since 1999.  With its head office and distribution centre located in Forest Glen, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, VetShop Australia stock a huge range of over 1000 pet-related products; including international brand name animal health products such as NexGard, Bravecto, Revolution, Advocate, Hills and Royal Canin. 

Awards

2009 – AIMIA Online Retailer of The Year

2011 – QLD Telstra Business Award People’s Choice

2013, 2014, 2016 & 2017 – Word of Mouth Service Award - Queensland

2015 – EY Entrepreneur of The Year Finalist (Mark)

2016 – St. George Business Champion

2017 – Power Retail Top 100 Retailer

2017 – Golden Brontos Most Successful Campaign Finalist

2017 – Google Regional Online Heroes (Steven)

2018 – Power Retail Top 150 Retailers

2019 – Internet Retailing Top 50 in e-Commerce (Steven)

Sponsorship

2012 - 2020 -Sponsor of the largest Surfing Dog Competition in the world, VetShopAustralia Surfing Dog Championships, part of the Noosa Festival of Surfing