Fastlane Ventures, in partnership with Springstar, launches Juvalia&YOU
to encourage internet entrepreneurship in Russia
Fast Lane Ventures, the leading Russian developer of internet companies, announces the launch of the second joint project in its portfolio[1], Juvalia&YOU, an international social selling company for jewellery and accessories. Juvalia&YOU has been developed in cooperation with the German company Springstar. Together with the Russian launch of Juvalia&YOU, the same companies started operating in Germany, Brazil and India.
Not only is the business model of Juvalia&YOU unique in Fast Lane Ventures’ portfolio, but it is also an innovative business in the Russian market. The site uses the technology of social selling which combines direct sales with e-commerce, retail merchandising and social media.
Fast Lane Venture’s analysts estimate that the size of the Russian fashion jewellery market and network marketing market is both about $3 billion. Juvalia&YOU is entering this unique segment and aims to utilise this huge potential by bringing both markets together. The company expects that the innovative method of selling fashion jewellery through the site will enable them to generate $2 million by the end of 2012,increase this figure in 10 times at least in 2013, and become an undisputable leader in the market of social selling in 5 years’ time.
The company’s target audience are women aged between 25-35, living in Moscow, St Petersburg and other regions of Russia[2], are active internet users and who want to become an entrepreneur with flexible working hours and possibility to work from home. Juvalia&YOU provides all users with the opportunity to build their own business by selling Juvalia&YOU’s line of jewellery, both online and in person, irrespective of their professional background or age.
The site works by users signing up and becoming ‘stylists’. To become a stylist, users purchase a starter kit, which is currently priced at 2,990 RUR ($100). The starter kit has all the materials a stylist needs to support their first step into the business. It includes a training session, a collection of fashion jewellery (valued around $400) and access to their own Juvalia&YOU webpage (e.g. www.juvalia.ru/name). This page is designed as the social media platform where stylists can showcase and promote the fashion jewellery, follow up with customers, organise StyleShows, manage communication with fellow stylists and contact potential customers. For each sales stylists get a commission starting from 25%.
Pieces of fashion jewellery can be purchased directly through the webpage which is a classical e-commerce method (estimated 15 per cent of sales) or at style shows that will be organised by stylists (estimated 85 per cent of sales). The price for the jewellery varies from 500 to 7,000 RUB ($15-200), 50 percent of all items cost 1,500 RUB ($45).
Christian Graggaber, CEO of Juvalia&YOU, said:
“Our mission is to leverage the increasing opportunity of entrepreneurship in Russia and attract young and dynamic women who are looking to build their own business while keeping the flexibility they need because of other obligations. Our objective is to significantly increase the market share of fashion jewellery sales in Russia and become the leader in this segment. The new technology of social selling as well as the high quality product will help us to achieve this goal.”
Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures, commented:
“Juvalia&YOU is the new pearl in our portfolio and reinforces our commitment to the development of e-commerce and internet entrepreneurship in Russia. This project is based on a proven business model and we expect to see it become the leading social selling company for jewellery. We anticipate that within the first three years the site will attract around 10,000 stylists in Russia alone. I am also extremely pleased we have the support of Springstar for the project.”
The site is constantly updated with the latest jewellery collections, making it an attractive investment. Juvalia&YOU is refreshed with four major international collections every year and not only will both customers and stylists gain access to the new collections as soon as they are available; they can also review and purchase items from previous collections. The site uses carefully chosen suppliers, who have to sign a code of conduct before their items are used. The vast majority of the jewellery is Juvalia & You branded, however a small proportion will represent designer brands, like “Princess Kimi” from Bali, which is currently on offer.