Alexis Jae’s family had been in the jewelry business for over 75 years. Noticing potential in ecommerce, Jae took it upon herself to build a brand that reached a wider audience and has thrived ever since.
Whether it’s clothing, food or jewelry, being in a family business comes with its perks and challenges. Alexis Jae’s family had been in the jewelry business for decades, and although the brand wasn’t exactly struggling, Jae wanted to take the knowledge she’d been taught and apply it to the growing ecommerce space. Jae shares her experience in the new book The Ultimate Guide To Shopify by Jason R. Rich.
The Ultimate Guide To Shopify from Entrepreneur Press offers all the tools and guidance you need to start and run your own ecommerce business. With proven marketing strategies that will boost sales, tactics to differentiate your website and advice from industry experts, The Ultimate Guide To Shopify sets you up for success when starting an online business. Read on for an excerpted interview from the book with ecommerce veteran Jae, who took her family’s jewelry business to the next level using Shopify. Jae discusses the decision to start an ecommerce brand, how she reached her target audience and the value of investing time and money into expanding your brand.
Meet Alexis Jae, whose family has been in the jewelry business for more than 75 years. When she entered her family’s occupation, she started her own business by establishing an ecommerce website via Shopify, allowing her company to reach a much larger audience with its jewelry staples such as gold hoop earrings and statement necklaces.
Knowing that differentiating her products and establishing a reputable brand was essential, Jae immediately adopted a variety of business practices and policies that set her jewelry apart. Her website allows customers to purchase high-quality, custom-designed gold jewelry (or jewelry that’s part of her website’s curated collection) for less than half of what they’d pay at a retail store. This includes items that Alexis Jae has chosen to showcase and sell from her online store. In addition, 25 percent of the company’s profits from every sale are donated directly to A Cure in Our Lifetime , an organization raising funds for breast cancer education and research. Plus, all the 14K and 18K gold used to create the jewelry is 100 percent recycled, while all stones used are natural, untreated, and ethically sourced. Alexis Jae also sells unique pieces designed by its customers. When you visit Alexis Jae’s website (which displays her logo at the top center of the browser window), you’ll immediately notice its intentionally simple design and white background, which allows her to put more visual emphasis on the jewelry, as opposed to a site with an overabundance of graphics, animations, and complex menus.
Q: What made you want to start an ecommerce website?
My family’s been manufacturing fine jewelry for retail stores for generations. After graduating from college, I worked in the finance industry for several years but quit my job to create a website that sells jewelry directly to consumers online. Originally, I selected Squarespace as our ecommerce platform because I liked the website design tools it offered, but after launching a website there, it got no traction. When I did more research, I learned about Shopify and discovered it offered much better SEO tools and the ability to link directly with Google . When I switched to Shopify, the migration process was easy. Within a month, I had the new website up and running.
Q: How did you decide on the appearance of your website?
I knew the look for the website that I was striving for. I had the whole thing planned out in my head and then on paper. It was then a matter of choosing the right Shopify theme and adapting it to encompass my vision for the site.
Q: What steps did you take to define your target audience when you first got started?
When the website was being hosted by Squarespace, we mainly focused on orders from friends and family, as well as their referrals, and whomever else discovered our site. Once we launched our website on Shopify and began using their analytics tools, we discovered that our jewelry not only resonates with urban women, but also with men from less densely populated areas who are shopping for gifts, and who want beautiful and high-quality jewelry, as opposed to name-brand jewelry. Early on, using the analytics tools provided by Shopify and Google, we learned a […]
source How One Woman Turned Her Family Jewelry Business Into An Internet Sensation
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