Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - January / February 2021

153 RETAILER INTERVIEW Tell us a bit about your online store and how you came to open the business. SO JUST SHOP is a jewellery, homeware and accessories marketplace (direct to consumer and wholesale) working with women-led artisan groups in vulnerable communities across the world. I started the business because, after many years working in international development, economic empowerment of women is key to increasing access to healthcare and education for themselves and their families. Why did you decide to open an online store instead of on the high street? Cost was a main driver – although marketing expenses may outweigh this in the longer term! What challenges were overcome when the company was starting out? There many and they were varied! Identifying artisan groups and working with their skills to design a contemporary product that still reflected their traditional practices. Investment (always investment!), navigating social media – as a start-up you have to become jack-of-all trades until you can afford to hire! Identifying our customer base and how to reach them – not to mention general political and environmental factors affecting our artisans; we’ve had typhoons, re-elections, power cuts and now COVID! What is your customer base? For wholesale it is varied, we’ve had orders from larger retailers, including Bloomingdales, Anthropologie and Topshop, we sell through a number of museums, including the Tate, British Museum and Eden Project, we’ve just done a lovely project with World Wildlife Fund – making an Elephant Christmas decoration for its Save the Elephant Campaign, alongside corporate gifting and selling into an number of smaller gift shops. What’s your USP? Translating traditional skills into contemporary designs and knowing exactly who made our products and how – the individual stories behind the women. What are your current bestselling lines? The Kavita necklace outsells most things! Our jewellery is most popular with retailers, but homeware is on the increase and we are expanding our collection in 2021. Are you active on social media, and how do you use it for your business? Yes, we are, social media is a great way to showcase our products and the stories, but it also has an amplification effect if you work with others – we are currently taking part in the #shopethicalinstead campaign. What brands do you stock and why? All of our brands are from small women-led businesses globally. I I I 