Aussie mum behind $6million-a-year company forced to sell the family home and is on the brink of bankruptcy after a $15,000-a-month website upgrade goes horribly wrong
An Australian beauty entrepreneur is is fighting to save her business after a website upgrade she says triggered years of financial fallout.
Briony Kennedy founded Adorn Cosmetics in 2008, a Melbourne-based ethical make-up and skincare brand which turned over $6million a year in its prime.
But her once-thriving business faced significant challenges after she upgraded from Magento Open Source to Adobe’s paid Commerce Platform in 2021.
Ms Kennedy signed up to pay $15,000 a month after Adobe projected revenue growth of between 34 per cent and 94 per cent if she moved to Convert Digital.
A press release issued by Adobe at the time said the platform would allow more targeted marketing campaigns for Adorn’s email database and almost 100,000 social media followers.
But Ms Kennedy is now pursuing legal action against the US software company, claiming the transition saw a negative impact on her business.
‘I wanted to know that my data was secure,’ the mother-of-three told the Daily Mail when asked why she chose Adobe for the upgrade.
‘Later down the track, I found out that the website I was already using would have sufficed.’
Briony Kennedy (pictured) founded Adorn Cosmetics in 2008, a Melbourne-based ethical make-up and skincare brand which turned over $6million a year in its prime
But she said her business faced significant challenges after she upgraded from a basic website to Adobe’s Commerce Platform in 2021
Ms Kennedy said sales fell by 30 per cent when the new site eventually launched following a series of delays and what she described as high staff turnover at Convert Digital.
‘It was an absolute s***show,’ she said.
‘What was supposed to take three months took nine months to launch with nothing but tears from my staff.
‘It was one problem after another. My team and I weren’t given the credentials By Convent Digital as promised, or access to fully see what was going wrong.
‘There were so many things they had not set up.
‘All it did was cause the demise of my business and 18 years of hard work.’
She claimed she also spent $1million on Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns that she said did not direct customers back to the Adorn Cosmetics website.
Locked into the contract as costs mounted, Ms Kennedy said she was forced to slash her workforce from 15 to four and sell the family home.
The mum-of-three (left) is speaking out after a website upgrade ended in financial disaster
By the time Ms Kennedy abandoned Adobe and started afresh with a new website (pictured) on Shopify, she was riddled with debt
By the time Ms Kennedy abandoned Adobe and started afresh with a new website on Shopify last year, she said she was riddled with debt.
While she was reluctant to provide an exact figure, she told the Daily Mail the losses ran into the millions.
She has since launched legal action against Adobe after mediation talks failed.
‘I’ve got nothing to lose as I’ve already lost everything,’ she said.
As she fights to keep her business alive, support from existing customers and the addition of 100 new customers within 48 hours this week has given her renewed hope.
Ms Kennedy shared her story to warn other small business owners to do their due diligence when considering their online presence.
‘Find out what the worst-case scenario is. If things are working, don’t chase the new shiny thing,’ she said.
The Daily Mail also contacted Adobe for comment.
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