This is Zanui.com.au – average staff age 27 – the brainchild of former Booz and Co consultant Dean Kelly and ex-Morgan Stanley banker, Joakim Broms. At 32 and 31 respectively, Zanui’s co-founders laughingly describe themselves as veterans, even if the business has only been going for just over a year.

In that short time Zanui has become a strong online competitor to bricks and mortar retailers of household goods and furniture, putting on 50 staff and enjoying explosive growth.

From the start, Kelly is keen to differentiate his and Broms’ company from online discounters and 'end of season' websites which proliferate on the internet. Zanui, which also offers children's and baby goods, is the online version of any similar, well-stocked retailer – competitive in price, able to offer a wide range of brands (650 at last count) and with plans to bring out its own furniture line.

The Zanui team is made up of young men and women who have swapped the corporate experience for an entrepreneurial one. Kelly says his head of operations is ex-Goldman Sachs, the head of marketing worked for management consultants McKinsey and the head buyer originally hails from Macquarie Bank.

In essence, Kelly and Broms are marketing to people like them. The target market is up and coming young singles, couples and families – couples furnishing their first or second homes, college students moving into their first flat or campus digs. The market they’re seeking is internet savvy and style conscious. In short, an aspirational clientele who know their brands.

It is no surprise, then, that singers Guy Sebastian and X-Factor winner Sammy Jade have decked out their entire homes with Zanui products. Sebastian’s home has already featured on Channel 7’s Better Homes and Gardens and Jade’s apartment is due for broadcast on a future segment.

Kelly’s plan was always to set up a one-stop internet shop – that is, re-directing to Zanui an online market for goods that has hitherto been heavily fragmented. “The point is to drive people who might have shopped locally or at Amazon.com into the arms of Zanui and keep them there,” he says. To do this, the initial internet 'experience' has to be second to none.

“Our market demands a great online experience and we are way ahead of our competitors in technology terms,” Kelly says. “We plan to help buyers with their decisions using style guides and room suggestions as well as blogs. This is about getting the website functioning perfectly and getting it ready for scale without having the corresponding drop in customer service.”

The two partners initially sought the investment and e-commerce expertise of German internet fund Rocket Internet, which helped them to zero in on online buyers of particular goods. The Zanui website has reached 300,000 hits in one month and Kelly says it has enjoyed “double digit” revenue growth since arriving on the scene in early 2012. Kelly does not proffer exact figures.

It is well known that online retailers are at war with their offline brethren. Some suppliers have been pressured not to supply online by their long-standing retail customers. Kelly is quick to add that the vast majority of goods wholesalers enthusiastically signed on to Zanui.

“Offline retailers are portraying us as discounters with virtually no overheads. This is simply untrue,” Kelly says. “We have 50 staff, a warehouse, as well as development, operations and customer management teams. We spend significant amounts of money on online marketing. We are tapping the very best in global e-commerce expertise. None of these things come cheaply.”

Initially the company offered electronics and a few other lines but quickly dropped those products which offered little margin. Kelly says if something isn’t working, be prepared to jettison it.

“When you start out you may want to do so many things but in the end you will be asking where is every dollar better spent,” he says.

Logistics is another challenge but Kelly rates customer service as the highest mountain to climb. Not all online players will know how to deal with a sudden surge in demand. “You have to know when you’re able to drive the extra business. You have to be ready for scale. If you aren’t, the likelihood is you’ll end up giving people a poor experience.”