Chloe Polo Launches Jewelry Subscription Service Meeting Personal Shopping Expectations
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- November 20, 2022
This is where it all began for the brand founder — developing a jewelry subscription service that provides jewelry to subscribers, month after month, personalized to their own taste. During the initial stages of the business, Chloe realized that there was a gap in the market for a jewelry subscription service that bridged the gap between convenience, affordability, and personalization. Chloe Polo launched the business in September of 2022 and has set her sights on growth in the next year.
When everything pointed to the fact that Chloe would be taking a massive gamble if she launched a jewelry subscription brand, she did it anyway. Today, she is gaining traction on social media and press online despite being in the third month of the brand’s existence. Polo provides a glimpse into the brand’s journey and reveals what to expect from the brand in the future.
The brand’s founding story gives insight into the determination of the entrepreneur behind it. This story may inspire other jewelry brand start-ups taking the leap into trading during the current uncertainties faced in the market today.
Considering the current uncertain climate, launching a business is a challenging prospect. In spite of that, why did you go ahead?
When I discussed this idea with my partner, I initially had different ambitions from what you see today. I officially launched in 2022 but the idea came about in the latter part of 2021. After numerous conversations, I came up with the idea of creating a subscription service. Identifying a market gap for a personalized subscription service in this space we decided to be the first brand to at least try our hand at providing a high-quality, affordable service. There are jewelry brands that offer subscription services as an additional service on top of individual sales, I really wanted to focus exclusively on subscriptions to ensure that all of our efforts are devoted to continuously perfecting the subscription packages.
What was your vision when you first realized the idea in 2021 and does it still remain the same today?
People appreciate great quality, design, and more importantly affordability. I truly believe that high-quality jewelry should be accessible to everyone. I wanted to create a brand that enabled women to grow their jewelry collection, without compromising on the quality or design of the pieces. I love jewelry and often found that I’d be buying pieces that didn’t last or were overpriced for the quality received. It is also very important to me to create collections that are personal to each subscriber. Initially, I had wanted to sell individual pieces but I saw that the market had well-established brands that provide that service, and quite frankly, I didn’t have the capital required to compete. I appreciated that proceeding down the route of a subscription model required a lot more research and development, but I feel it’s the best model that represents the brand’s vision.
What would you say has been your greatest achievement so far?
There are lots of achievements, albeit small but I am very proud to have achieved what we have achieved to date! I would say launching the business is the biggest achievement. It took several months of crafting the vision, our positioning, and all that goes into creating a brand, and there were plenty of times in between when I had to go back to the drawing board, but I got to a stage where I had to stop the perfectionist in me from preventing me from launching. I also spent a lot of time sourcing jewelry makers to partner with, which involved spending a considerable amount of time and money on purchasing samples and testing the pieces. This was a long-term dream of mine, so to see it realized, with the support and hard work of the team, is really incredible.
It hasn’t been an easy journey so far, but I am so proud of what we have accomplished to date and cannot wait to see what the future holds for Chloe Polo.
What challenges have you had to overcome so far? How are you overcoming them?
The first challenge was that we were setting up a business in the midst of uncertainty. But I know that there is a market with substantial appetite and through various mediums, the idea has been validated. That said, I had to invest a lot of my own money to get started and to keep going. It is a big risk but it fuels my motivation to succeed all the more. Ultimately, despite being in this current climate, people are looking for more affordable jewelry and aren’t willing to compromise on the quality either. There are also many daily challenges behind the scenes that come with my big ambitions, but I am very thankful to have an amazing team that turns so many of my ideas into realities. I also appreciate the support I receive from my partner, he’s my number one fan and tolerates the many impromptu business meetings we have over dinner!
You started Chloe Polo while working full-time, how did you manage to balance your time?
It was difficult in the early days, but that is to be expected despite what you may read or hear. Having started the journey while working full-time meant that all the spare time I had, went into building Chloe Polo. My full-time job as an Account Director in a fast-paced agency meant that I had spent many long nights and plenty of weekends catching up on tasks that I had to complete. It was tough and tiring but it was worth it as each milestone hit meant that we were one step closer to achieving the goals set out at the start. Admittedly, being a perfectionist did not help! I spent a lot of time building my site and would critique the build and content quite harshly until I realized that not everything will be perfect. I am still trying to balance my work/life, so I try to take time off as often as I can.
In your opinion, what kind of customer experience are modern women today looking for when buying jewelry?
Jewelry purchases tend to be a personal decision, so I wanted to build a brand that reflected this. Apart from quality, affordability, and design, personalization is a key driver for women’s purchasing decisions. From research, we discovered that over 50 percent of women buy jewelry for themselves and like to wear different pieces every time a new occasion arises. It’s one of the areas that I spent a lot of time researching and developing to ensure that we aren’t creating a service that women wouldn’t be interested in or products that women wouldn’t like. Women are also looking to purchase from brands that are sustainable and give back to the environment, so we use 100% eco-friendly packaging and encourage our subscribers to use the packaging to gift items that they may not want to friends and family.
What’s next for Chloe Polo over the next 12 months?
I’ve got a really exciting year ahead — lots of new collections launching that I think our subscribers are going to love. I also plan to collaborate with small independent jewelry brands to launch collections. We also have the brand new Reward Program launching, which is more than just points. We are in the process of perfecting the offering, but it is very exciting to see what we have planned for our subscribers – it’s really our way of giving back!
What is the Reward Program?
After three months of being a subscriber, we send personalized rewards to our subscribers based on their interests. This can range from gift vouchers to their favorite brands or experience days based on individual interests. We wanted to create a program that gave back to our subscribers and found that the point system didn’t really fit with my ideology. Essentially, points give back to the brands by encouraging their customers to spend more to earn more, and I wanted to move away from that.
You can visit Chloe Polo to learn more about the collections. Follow Chloe Polo on Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest news.
