Q&A with Joshua James Jewellery

Give me a brief description of your business?

Joshua James Jewellery has been on the go for 10 years, and we mainly sell branded products, although we’ve started going heavily into our own brands over the last 12 months. Our biggest brands are the usual suspects: Nomination, ChloBo and Swarovski, among others.

What is your current e-commerce set-up?
Our current website is run on the Visualsoft platform.

Why do you feel your e-commerce business has been a success?

We put a lot of focus on the online aspect of our business. We’re constantly testing and developing our site, checking what works and what doesn’t. That applies to the basics of how the site looks and all the way down to the brands that the customers are enjoying on the site. Our latest development that has seen amazing success so far has been tapping into the demand for personalised items.

We now have over 100 items on the site which can be engraved, with more being added every day, whereas this time last year we had the products and not the capability. It’s this kind of responsiveness and willingness to change that has allowed us to thrive for over 10 years now.

What has been your biggest e-commerce accomplishment so far?

So far this year, our biggest accomplishment would be the increased turnover due lockdown. Our turnover increased by 122% in April compared to last year. We have seen unparalleled levels of sales throughout lockdown, with year-on-year sales up over 100%.

Given the restrictions in place, this put a lot of pressure on our small team, but despite this, we managed to maintain our operating standards with orders being processed and dispatched within 48 hours.

Tell me about the design of your website?

Our website is designed with the customer in mind, and we conduct user testing regularly to make sure we’re always up to date with what our customers want. It can be difficult with a lot of different brands on-site to keep a consistent and stylish look, whilst making it easily navigable for customers, so this is what we’ve put a focus on.

As soon as you come onto our site you’ll find a clear and sleek homepage, with very clear navigation, highlighting the most popular products and brands to make it as easy as possible for them to find what they’re looking for.

What’s your plan for the next year?
Our current focus going forward into the next year is to develop our own brands and product ranges.

Shaun Bell, managing director of Joshua James Jewellery