Online jewellery retailer AstleyClarke.com recorded a 30 percent
sales rise this past Christmas and a 63 percent like-for-like
sales rise on own-label fine jewellery for January 2010. The
relaunch of its website in October 2009 was credited with helping
to increase sales and brand awareness in the run up to Christmas.
Currently AstleyClarke.com has 80,000 unique visitors a month,
which the company hopes to grow to 120,000 during the second half
of the year.
The enhanced brand awareness, coupled with a 2009 Walpole award
for best luxury brand online, contributed to increased interest
from international markets. Overseas sales now account for 15
percent of total orders, and according to a spokeswoman, this has
been a solely organic rise: “To date, we have not actively
marketed the brand overseas, but the beauty of ecommerce is that
it is accessible anywhere in the world”. She did confirm,
however, that Astley Clarke is planning to boost its overseas
presence this year, but says that the business is taking a
cautious approach, “we still have exciting work to do in
the UK in developing our brand further-we are keen to get this to
a level that we are happy with before embarking on overseas
strategy”. Most of Astley Clarke’s international orders
come from the US, China, Australia, Russia, and the United Arab
Emirates.
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