At Glitters n Sparkles, if the assortment of gorgeous jewelry doesn’t immediately catch your eye, the unbelievably low prices certainly will! Thanks to proprietors, Shree and Poongothai, when you purchase form the store you’re treated to the best bargains in town.

Tell us about Glitters and Sparkles, and why you chose to start the store online?

Poongothai (aka Poongo) and I were toying with the idea of starting a business for some time, we were thinking of all sorts of things and suddenly we thought “Why not Jewelry?” We both adore jewelry and an online store seemed like the perfect venue as we didn’t have to worry about the huge investment we’d have to make with a physical store. With an online store, we also have lower fixed costs (e.g. rent, labour) which let us pass on the cost savings to our customers in the form of lower prices.

Describe some of the different collections you have?

We started off with a small vintage collection of earrings and necklaces and then quickly moved into bracelets and rings and a few pendants. We also expanded our vintage collection and started featuring other modern every day wear collections, a limited collection of Gold plated jewelry and some ethnic Indian pieces too.  

How do you select each piece and where are they sourced from?

Our jewelry comes from all over the world and extremely quality-conscious manufacturers. The items don’t make it to our store unless we both are happy with the quality. We also pick interesting things when we are traveling. When we handpick our items, the first question, we ask ourselves is whether WE would like to wear the particular item or not. Does it seem like value-for-money? We are proud to say that we do not stock up on accessories which we ourselves would never wear.

Does the store offer any special deals/discounts?

When we started the store, we put up an introductory offer, letting customers bargain on items that they like and buy it at a price which was pocket (or purse) friendly to both of us. This offer was a huge hit with customers and it was the perfect WIN-WIN situation so we thought we’d keep the concept! Therefore we are a 99% negotiable store. It is only a few of our more expensive items, such as those which are gold / white gold plated and also items which are super cheap that have no room for bargaining.

How does the sale and delivery procedure work?

Customers send an email or an fb message outlining their order along with the prices that they propose against ours. Once we have fixed the prices, they deposit the money into our bank account and we post it to them within a day. The items will ideally reach them within 2-3 working days. Upon special request we do offer courier services. Because of our rock-bottom prices, we do charge a postage amount (inclusive of padded packaging) and for courier services too.

How have sales been since starting the store and what has the customer feedback been like?

Sales have been great and customers love the bargaining aspect of it all. Many people commend the fact that our prices are very reasonable and that we have such a vast collection. They also like the fact that the items that we send out look exactly like the real product. 95% of our items are photographed by Poongothai who takes special care to make sure that the picture gives customers the best idea of what the product will look like in real life. We try our best to accommodate special requests for sold out items, faster delivery and even bigger discounts!

What can we expect from the store in the future?

We are planning to move into some ethnic and traditional wear collections and of course plenty more of the everyday wear range at even more budget-friendly prices. Our customers can definitely expect bigger and better bargains!

You can find the store at www.facebook.com/GlittersnSparkles.lk

By Lake Argent