What was your motivation for starting a new business - GEMHYPE.COM?
It was high time to introduce e-commerce technologies into our traditional gemstone sector and to work on this hand in hand with our parent company HC Arnoldi. Our dynamic and modern approach with GEMHYPE.COM brings a breath of fresh air into the traditional structures of a 100-year-old gemstone cutting company.
What were your biggest challenges in starting up the company? Do you have any tips for people who want to start a business?
We had to learn so many new things during the founding process. These were, above all, bureaucratic issues we had to settle and which were not always easy. Then, of course, it brings a lot of organisational work and many decisions to take. We had to grow into all of our new tasks step by step.
Our tip: If you have a vision or an idea of starting your own business, follow it little by little, don't be afraid of the challenges you will have to tackle. The bureaucratic difficulties are feasible, you just have to get through them! It definitely makes sense to exchange ideas with other founders and to be in contact with experienced people. We discussed things with several entrepreneurs who are successfully running their own businesses, which was helpful. Of course we also contacted our notary for advice.
How do you benefit from your family business HC Arnoldi ?
Thanks to the vast know-how and experience in our family business we have direct insights into the market situation. Especially in regard to rough stone purchasing and sales management. This helps us identify trends quickly and we can react accordingly. Prior to starting up our business, we worked intensively on customer’s expectations and needs. The creation of our online store for gemstones is the result of this work. Of course, the big collection of ready-cut gemstones of HC Arnoldi is a great advantage and allows us to react immediately to special customer requests. In addition, we have access to a relatively comprehensive warehouse of rough stones and, most importantly, to our cutting workshop directly in the company building. With the know-how and experience of HC Arnoldi and the modern digital approach of GEMHYPE.COM we have created the perfect mix of tradition that meets innovation.
Which target group do you address with your online shop for gemstones?
GEMHYPE.COM is a B2B-online shop, which means that we serve businesses in the gemstone industry, mainly goldsmiths, designers, dealers and jewelers - no private clients. Business customers get full access to the online store through registration. We often receive registration requests from private individuals, which we are unfortunately unable to accept. In order to not have to decline private customers who are interested in our gemstones, we have created the possibility to involve them by matching them up with one of our registered goldsmiths. Of course we are interested in reaching out to our customers worldwide. At present, our website and service is also available in English. We are glad to say that we have several newly acquired customers that come from countries like Japan and the Philippines.
What was your highlight so far?
It is hard to define one special highlight - there are many. Especially at the beginning we were extremely happy about every single order that had been placed. Also, we are proud to say that we are able to work with great customers who gave us their confidence from the very beginning, which was extremely motivating.
Isaline: I am very grateful for the confidence we get from new customers, it's a big acknowledgement. It’s also fascinating and rewarding to see how interactive our customers are, especially on Instagram. We have customers who have ordered gemstones from our shop and then make unboxing videos and share them with their community on Instagram! Being in close contact with our customers, I am always extremely happy to see things like this happening.
Find GEMHYPE.COM on Instagram!
Carl-Philip: My personal highlight is to see how much effort our team has put into the project and how fast we have been able to grow in the first year. It's impressive how everybody does its best to make the shop and the service as simple, efficient and attractive as possible for our customers.
Where would you see yourself with the online shop in two years?
We hope to be fully established in the gemstone industry with GEMHYPE.COM in two years.
High on our to-do list is expanding our product range. The goal is that whatever our customer looks for, he finds in our shop. We also want to become more present and visible on social media channels. We want to fully grow into and be in flow with the gemstone industry. If we manage to surprise our community from time to time, we can say that we have achieved something. We are definitely full of ideas and already waiting to share a new project we have currently in the pipeline. ;-) So stay curious and stay on track!