10 Most Successful Online Businesses of 2016

This list of 10 most successful online businesses of 2016 will be different from other lists you can find online, only because we looked in other direction.

When we think of successful online businesses first things that come to one’s mind are Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc. but there are so many more successful business stories. When we say that this list will be different from other lists it means we will focus on businesses that sold out their products almost immediately after posting them online. Instead of looking who earned more money, we will arrange this list by the number of Instagram followers just so we can have a clear pattern. You don’t have to earn millions in order to have a successful online business, what is important is that people want more and more of what you are offering. If you’re looking for inspiration and business idea you should also read our list 10 Most Profitable Small Businesses to Start in 2015. Even though the list was conducted in 2015 you can easily apply most of the ideas in 2017.

It was not intentional to put mostly women on our list of most successful online businesses of 2016, but we have to admit women were thriving and still are in online businesses. It may be the influence of the third-wave feminism or it is simply because we choose whose improvement we’re going to follow, we unintentionally miss other trending topics. Of course, if there was a successful online business (we’re sure there is) that slipped our attention please let us know in the comments. We are more than happy to create larger lists and thus promote the success of other people. We have a bit of everything on our list, from powerful women thriving in silence to online sensations. In order to make this list, we looked at the different sites of companies and other individuals and followed the interest of people in their products. We linked each business to their official website. After reading some interesting recommendations about successful online websites on I-D, Timberland, Vogue, Garden Tribe, Vanity Fair, etc. we decided to put all these successful online stories on one place. Every item on our list quickly sold out in 2016, so the restocks are frequent and popularity is rising. We are proud that our list of most successful online businesses of 2016 includes people who promote equality, women empowerment, kindness and other positive qualities.

10. Amber Ibbarreche

37,4 k followers

Amber Ibbarreche is an artist, writer and designer, perfect combo. She sells her clothes with her inspirational political, feminist and adorable and funny writings. There are t-shirts and baseball caps on her site that are hand stitched by Amber all for the purpose of raising funds for the earthquake in Nepal.

9. Califia Farms

60,6 k followers

Califia Farms ranks 9th in our list of most successful online businesses of 2016. It believes that our world needs a ‘healthier, plant-based food system.’ Their products are all natural and GMO-free which is absolutely what our bodies need. Califia Farms CEO Greg Steltenpohl was named to 2016 Specialty Food Hall of Fame.

8. Aleksandra Zee

77,5 k followers

We are continuing our list of most successful online businesses of 2016 with Aleksandra Zee who builds beautiful wooden wall hangings. We like to think of her as the golden girl. Goldish hair, goldish wooden wall hangings, goldish Instagram style, everything’s goldish about this girl. What we love most about Aleksandra Zee is the diligence and love she invests in her job, she’s a beautiful role model you want your children to look up to. You can order her beautiful wooden wall hangings online, we have a feeling all the positive vibes come together with her piece of art.

7. Pop and Suki

100k followers

Poppy Jamie and Suki Waterhouse took everyone by surprise when two best friends launched their website selling bags and other accessories. What makes Pop and Suki bags so special that they sell out really quickly is because they sell personal camera bags, you can actually choose what’s going to be printed at the bottom of the bag. Their goal is to give community high quality products at lower prices, of course they give so much more than quality, since Poppy and Suki are best friends, they promote the beauty friendship before anything. And now, let’s see what else we have on our list of most successful online businesses of 2016.

6. Letterfolk

159 k followers

As they said on the site, letter boards are not new but they we use them today is. We used seeing letter boards in coffee shops menus, but today they are in our homes spreading positive vibes which is the mission of young married couple, Johnny and Joanna, who started this small business adventure. Everything that is positive and spreads kindness deserves to be on our list of 10 most successful online businesses of 2016.

5. Tentsile

167k followers

We are continuing our list of most successful online businesses of 2016 with Tentsile that really bloomed in 2016, and they are not slowing down. Even though they started working few years ago, these lightweight, portable tree houses are improving every year and 2016 was not an exception. You can read from their site ‘And in the summer of 2016, Tentsile broadened its tree planting efforts by teaming up with EdenProjects, which aims to reduce extreme poverty and restore healthy forests in Haiti, Madagascar and Nepal by employing local villagers to plant millions of trees.’ Fun fact, for each tent sold they plant three trees.

4. Floret Flowers

405 k followers

Floret Flowers family is described on their site as a family run flower farm specializing in growing unique, uncommon and heirloom flowers. They have absolutely one of the most beautiful sites we ever seen and we don’t know is it because you can feel their family love or because of the beautiful pictures of flowers they have, or maybe both. On Instagram you can spot some beautiful pictures of their family land full of colorful flowers that can give you somewhat Zen experience just by staring at the pictures. Erin Benzakein and her family first lived in Seattle when she and her husband decided in 2001 to move to a small farm in Washington’s Skagit Valley to pursue a slower and simpler lifestyle where she and her family could connect with the nature every day. She always dreamed of having a beautiful garden, so when her garden overflowed the first season she shared the bounty with her friends and family and she loved the notion of giving away. Soon after, people heard about abundant plot and asked if they can order flower and rest is the history. After gaining so much success they decided to share their knowledge with, Erin states on her site that they “also teach workshops for fellow farmers, designers, and flower lovers so students can explore our fields, and learn our farming methods as well as how to arrange with local, seasonal material.” Now you can shop her book Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Seasonal Blooms. Floret Flowers ‘offers more than 100 hard-to-find flower varieties sourced from the finest seed breeders in the world.’ Their love for their business is what makes them one of the most successful online businesses of 2016.

3. The Bucket List Family

563k followers

We like to think of the Bucket List Family that ranks third in our list of most successful online businesses of 2016 is more like a successful family story, but we should definitely pay more attention to the business skills they have. They call themselves a Gee family and their online business fame is only growing since they started. Settie and Garret are a young married couple with two children and with one large bucket list. They decided to travel around the world with their children in order to start a family tradition and memories and just share kindness around the world. They are perfect I know, but before I continue with their current successful online business we should tell you that Garret is the founder of the Scan app that he sold to Snapchat. However they decided that the money they earned from the app will be untouched during their adventures. Their YouTube videos and pictures on Instagram are so mesmerizing that at one point you have to ask yourself how do they do it if they don’t spend the money they got from Snapchat? To fund their expedition they sold all their belongings, cars, furniture, etc. Their adventures became so popular they created a huge fan base who patiently wait for weekly videos. So the Gee family being the business family they are came up with great idea of selling head bands to the world. The Adventure Band comes in 5 colors and fans are obsessed with it and we don’t blame them. A portion of the money they earn is being donated to support Safe in School campaign with Effect.org, meanwhile the other portion of the money will fund their future adventures. Now that’s what we call a brilliant successful online business.  When you visit their blog and Instagram try not to be jealous as we were.

2. Chiara Ferragni

8,7 M followers

The former law student is no longer a fashion blogger with tremendous influence on a social media but extremely successful Italian businesswoman. In 2009 she launched a blog called The Blonde Salad, even though at the time blogs were not so successful as they are today, Chiara that ranks second in our list of most successful online businesses of 2016 managed to create one of most popular blogs ever. Even Forbes named Chiara as one of the most influential personalities of the international fashion world. Sharing her pictures from her adventures all over the world attracted people who started following her every step. People wanted to be like her, dress like her and travel the world like her. Now being the businesswoman she is, she took an opportunity in 2012 to launch her namesake brand – Chiara Ferragni shoe collection. Soon after that she started reaching millions of followers on social networks, first magazine cover, etc. and in 2016 she became the face of Pantene and Amazon international campaigns. With the help of her team she gave a transformation to her blog and now it’s more a lifestyle magazine. Needless to say, she has one of the most successful online business today and you can shop everything from her site (it is a bit pricey though).

1. Kylie Jenner Cosmetics

12,6 M followers

Love her or hate her she is the number one girl who left everyone jaw dropping with her online business platform in 2016. Leaving aside to think of her as a public figure, part of the ‘Kardashian Klan’, she is one remarkable business girl who made millions thanks to her online business. Since people were obsessed with her lips and make-up skills, instead of shying away she used the attention of media to create her own line of lipsticks and later blushes, eyeliners, etc. After announcing the lipkit on her site, her products sold in 30 seconds! There were so many people trying to buy Kylie’s lipkits they even broke the site. Now you know why she took number one spot on our 10 most successful online businesses of 2016.