Case Study: Ceramics Brand
After her job in fashion was cancelled due to Covid-19, London-based Lucia set up a ceramics company selling Spanish influenced tableware.
Background
Lucia started her ceramics business a few months after her fashion job fell through due to the pandemic. Her new job was due to start in March 2020 but was cancelled due to Covid-19. This left Lucia with no career prospects for the near future, so she decided to set up her own business venture.
The inspiration for Lucia’s ceramics came from childhood summers spent escaping London for the South of Spain. Her mother grew up near Triana which used to be home to Seville's famous tile workshops and potteries, and the family often visited the area. Lucia drew on her degree in fine arts and textiles and setting about her first collection, commissioning her tableware from a family of Spanish artisans.
Lucia’s parents gave her £10,000 towards the start-up costs on condition that she found a business coach to support her. I was recommended to Lucia by a family friend, and we bonded over our love of all things Spanish.
A Strategic Approach
During our monthly coaching sessions, I followed a similar strategic planning process with Lucia to the one I used as a Chief Executive. The aim was to answer the following four seemingly simple questions in order to come up with a strategic roadmap and action plan for her startup:
Where are you now?
Where are you going?
Which recommendations will best support you in bridging the gap?
How will you measure progress towards that envisioned future?
Lucia’s Start-up Journey
When I first met Lucia, she’d already started work on developing her brand strategy and designing her first collection:
I got Lucia to carry out more detailed market research and write a business plan.
Lucia spent time refining her brand strategy and putting together more detailed customer personas.
She commissioned a website. When it comes to building an online store, I always advise retail clients that Shopify is the simplest way to start. For a small monthly fee, Lucia got all the beginner-friendly marketing and sales tools she could possibly need to start, grow and scale her business.
We explored how Lucia would be able to increase production and expand her product range to ensure she truly had a scalable business.
We put together a marketing strategy which included owned, earned and paid elements.
We made sure her collection was beautifully photographed because items can seem overpriced when they’re not photographed properly.
The Results
Lucia did a soft launch of her business in September and launched her website in October in time for Christmas. She has since launched three collections, each of which has sold out. She has also been featured in several magazines, leading to sales and driving traffic to her website. The increase in her profile from this publicity has enabled her to start building up a portfolio of wholesale stockists. The business is breaking even, and she is paying herself a small salary. Profits are being reinvested to speed up production of Lucia’s beautiful tableware because it sells out so quickly.
Work With Me
Have you enjoyed this case study? Has it helped you to see what’s possible for your business?
If you’d like my advice and guidance to help you on your startup journey, here’s how you can book a call to discuss working with me. I’d love to help you launch a successful and profitable business like Lucia’s.
What Lucia says…
"It's been a fantastic 18 months of working with Denyse, and the results have been remarkable. Her deep-seated passion for empowering female founders, coupled with her vast expertise and empathetic nature, have given me the confidence to persevere. Opting to invest in her services was undoubtedly the smartest move I could have made for my fledgling business."
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