Equivalent to Kitsy Lane?

[Hayley]

Hi all

Just looking for some advice about any opportunities similar to Kitsy Lane here in the UK. Kitsy Lane is a direct sales opportunity, which works by selling jewellery though an online boutique that the Kitsy Lane company provide. It's just for residents in the US, so I was wondering if there is an equivalent in the UK?

What I like about Kitsy Lane, is that there's no set up cost whatsoever and all you have to do (although I'm sure it's not easy), is get traffic to your boutique. You get paid 25% commission on sales and you can build a team of others which you can then earn from too. To me it sounds like a good business model, because you're not required to host parties which means you really can work from home with it.

Has anyone heard of anything similar here?

Thanks in advance,

Hayley

 

[Jon]

I think EllieHall runs a similar business model around jewellery where you direct people through to your selling subsite

I will drop her a PM to come and post

 

[Hayley]

Thanks Jon! Really like the new site by the way.

 

[EllieHall]

Hi Hayley,

I work for South Hill Designs in the UK. It's not identical, since you do need to buy initial product, but it works on a combined model of parties and the online boutique, and there's no requirement to do physical parties at all.

There's mention in some of our training literature of a joining option without a kit, I'll see if I can find out if that's still an option. Otherwise our cheaper kit costs about £65 - I'd argue for the more expensive kit at £200 though, you'll need a fair number of product options to showcase for Pinterest/Facebook etc to create interest and drive to your store.

If you like jewellery the SHD is a good direct selling company - we've got a good quality product that is reasonably priced, a good unique selling point, and our commissions structure is very good. I looked at going independent and I wouldn't be making much more as a solo importer, would have to hold a lot more stock, would need to get it all checked and certified as it's all imported and would need to produce my own web store and marketing materials.

Happy to answer any specific questions you might have.

Ellie Hall
South Hill Designs Independent Artist

 

[Hayley]

Hi Ellie

Thanks for this, I've just had a look at the site. It looks interesting, am I right in thinking that customers mix and match components to make their own jewellery? If I'm honest, I'm not too keen on paying out for a kit as ideally I'm looking for something that I can promote online. Do you get your own store or do you promote the main store?

How much do you make from it (if you don't mind me asking!)

Many thanks

Hayley

 

[EllieHall]

Yes, there's a fair chunk of accessories that aren't customised, but the main product is the lockets which are customised with screens/coins and charms, and the individuality and customisability is part of the USP.

You need to promote the online store which is corporate controlled, but the flip side is no maintenance or setup. There's an ongoing charge of about £8 a month for the store and access to all the resources for use on your own site. We've got a new tool coming soon (end quarter I think) which is an online locket designer - we're all hoping we can use that to design and sell specific looks on our FB pages and personal sites. I also do sales via PayPal which ship through me as well as directing people to the store.

At the moment I make a couple of hundred pounds a month, because I keep slacking off on promoting my site and making sure my hype stays high. I don't do parties (because I suck at booking them, I'd like to do some!). The company is very new in the UK, and we're all waiting to see what the Christmas sales pattern will be like.

 

[EllieHall]

There isn't a no kit option any more unfortunately. The kits are very good value however!

There's a special promotion which finishes tonight where if you get the £200 kit you get an extra special gift worth nearly £150 as well, which makes it amazing value for money but not so great if you don't want to handle any product. I do think I do better with my own photoshoots rather than reusing corporate stock images, even if they're technically better because they're not taken in my front room with an iPhone

 

[sparkleandshine]

I was interested in joining Kitsy Lane too but unfortunately they never launched in the UK. I doubt they ever will now as the guys who set the business up have now moved on to a new business Chelsea Row, which is a return to jewellery selling via party plan in the same way as Stella & Dot, Ice, and countless other mlms. Maybe they thought if the model isn't broke why try and fix it. I don't think the online boutiques mlm model took off for them as well as they thought it would so it was probably easier for them to just go back to party plan. But a shame for those of us who don't like party plan and would have liked the opportunity to have a go at something different.