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* Hello Uyen, thank you for accepting the invitation to chat with Brands Vietnam. Let's start with a familiar question of the series: If Shimmer were a person, how would you describe that person?
Hi Minh, I would describe Shimmer as a young, feminine, dreamy girl, not too noisy and bustling but a bit "lowkey". She loves and appreciates minimalist details around life and especially always cherishes a dream about small, sparkling things. This Shimmer girl is also my sister when she was 22 years old (laughs).
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Shimmer is like a young girl, feminine, full of dreams, not too loud and bustling but a bit "lowkey".
* Is this passion for sparkling things the reason you launched Shimmer Silver 10 years ago?
Regarding the reason for its birth, it actually comes more from personal needs. At that time, silver jewelry on the Vietnamese market had very few design innovations. While minimalist jewelry was a trend abroad, there were not many places in the country pursuing this style. Therefore, young people who want to buy have to buy from abroad at very high prices.
In addition, she also often wondered why neighboring countries such as Thailand and Cambodia have strengths in silver but Vietnam does not, while if silver jewelry was produced in Vietnam, the price would be more affordable. From there, she searched for a workshop to make minimal jewelry and was surprised to have many friends around her asking where to buy them, so she thought about producing more to sell at the flea market. That's when Shimmer was born, with a name that means sparkling - according to her interests and dreams.
At that time, local brands also began to emerge and social networks also appeared, so people started naming brands, making their own logos and posting product images on Facebook and Instagram. The most difficult thing for her at that time was convincing the factory because they were not familiar with minimalist design, so when she gave her samples, they were confused about the designs being too thin and small. But when they saw that she came back to order more, they knew they could sell them, so they took those samples and remade them and sold them at their store at the market.
That's when she started thinking seriously about branding, because she simply wanted her products to be respected, sold more kindly and not have their designs "borrowed" anymore.
Shimmer started out selling minimal jewelry at flea markets.
* At that time, did Shimmer determine the segment, audience or positioning from the beginning?
Shimmer was built similarly to her personalities, so from the early days the brand personality and design direction were quite clear. Thanks to that, Shimmer automatically "attracts" young people with the same personality and "frequency" as itself.
Plus, Shimmer was born in the context of people's high demand for minimal and mini ring-style women's silver jewelry due to the influence of US-UK, but the domestic market could not meet it. At that time, e-commerce channels were not yet developed, so customers did not have too many choices. Therefore, the fact that Shimmer follows a minimalist orientation that is not currently popular in the Vietnamese market has helped create a competitive advantage right from the beginning.
Shimmer is positioned as a quality and on-trend jewelry brand. The team always chose 925 silver for production and meticulously designed the packaging while at that time there were many "fine" jewelry items - made of many types of metals and bad chemicals so they were cheap but not durable.
Shimmer's customers at that time were young, 20-22 year olds who liked silver jewelry with minimalist design and high convenience. These young people are introverted and do not like to talk about themselves too much, but let small, delicate jewelry do the talking. In addition to young Vietnamese customers, from the early days Shimmer also had a number of foreign customers who liked Vietnamese designed jewelry.
Luckily, Shimmer was well received, so in the second year her team had its first physical store on Ly Tu Trong street. True to the brand personality, the Shimmer team meticulously takes care of every little thing in the store to give buyers the best experience. Each box and display bar must also be made of high-quality wood, and the team carefully selects each scent and music in the store.
This step is Shimmer's first memorable milestone because for the first time customers experience a neat silver jewelry store in a minimal style, and feel secure when seeing the products with their own eyes and experiencing it firsthand.
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True to the brand's personality, Shimmer meticulously takes care of every detail in the store to give buyers the best experience.
* When mentioning Shimmer's positioning, you mentioned the keyword "catching the trend", so how does Ms. Uyen "catch the trend" without losing the brand personality while developing sustainably?
Before following trends, a jewelry brand must still do the basic things it has committed to customers. Specifically, Shimmer is committed to 100% choosing high-quality silver, 925 silver from Vietnam, gemstones of clear origin, the most meticulous packaging possible and protecting the interests of buyers.
Next, I think an important factor is sufficient and deep understanding. When you have enough knowledge, you will be able to integrate trends into brand attributes. For example, energy stones have been a long-standing trend in the industry, but she also spent 3-4 years researching before launching energy stone products. Because the brand must understand deeply enough to help customers understand the product most accurately.
Ultimately, she thinks the brand must maintain the same consistent personality as in the early days. Even though Shimmer is a version of her, no matter how old she gets, Shimmer will always be a youthful, dreamy girl who appreciates small and simple things. Therefore, no matter how it updates trends, Shimmer cannot stray far from this positioning.
All of the above ideas are what she calls a guideline for everyone at Shimmer so that the team has synchronization, especially when the number of personnel is increasing. She believes that it is necessary to build a solid foundation for the brand, like having a solid launch pad, then the rocket can fly high. If you do everything to increase sales at first but go further and further away from your core values, it is very dangerous.
* With this orientation, what product strategy does Shimmer have?
Every month Shimmer launches a collection to keep up with domestic and foreign women's jewelry trends. Each collection is carefully invested in concept and image to maintain Shimmer's existing competitive advantage. In addition to seasonal collections like this, Shimmer also builds a signature product - a Shimmer product that is always welcomed by customers.
Purity Bangle – Signature bracelet version with lotus-inspired design.
Specifically, on January 1 every year, Shimmer will launch the Signature ring version with a design inspired by motifs from familiar objects in Vietnamese life and traditions. For example, the familiar red bricks, or the motifs in the Hue royal court, the pagodas and temples in Hanoi...
For this Shimmer Signature product line, in addition to spending time researching the design for a year, Shimmer always updates new techniques of the jewelry industry on the market such as adding mother-of-pearl or abalone shells to the jewelry. Fashionability in Shimmer's design must be accompanied by convenience, so the team always tests the product before launch by trying it on for a period of time to see if there is any inconvenience.
* Over the past 10 years, has Shimmer's product strategy changed at all?
The slowdown during the pandemic has given her the opportunity to look back at Shimmer. She realized that when there are so many collections, it is sometimes difficult to have a common point that stands out in the minds of customers. Therefore, she focuses on quality rather than quantity of products and gradually pays attention to brand storytelling to connect customers and make them remember more.
In addition, another big change of Shimmer after COVID-19 is expanding sales channels to e-commerce platforms. Especially with Shopee and TikTok, she once thought that these two channels were not suitable for Shimmer's price segment and customer base, so there was no need to focus.
But during the COVID-19 period, only e-commerce platforms could deliver goods, so she had to change her strategic thinking to create new opportunities for Shimmer. At that time, the Shimmer team also had to start educating themselves about the pricing strategy of products on the exchange and building short video content on TikTok.
* Having owned a certain customer file over time, how has Shimmer communicated to keep customers and find new customers?
Today's user trend is that they like to be fast and they want to update their knowledge or information from content, so Shimmer started to find out what customers want to know and hear. If you want to talk about the brand, you can let the products, experiences and values brought to customers "do the talking". Even customers can speak for Shimmer because Word-of-mouth is still the best way to build loyal customers and attract potential new customers.
Regarding communication direction, she wants Shimmer to follow the communication style of a slow fashion brand - a brand with a model of producing high quality products with low productivity and focusing on product sustainability. Although this direction has many disadvantages, thanks to being consistent with it for 10 years, she discovered that Shimmer still attracts many new customers in the right target audience - customers who understand the value of designer jewelry and handmade, willing to pay high prices and wait to get your favorite products.
For customers who have not accepted Shimmer, she and her team must try to find a better way to talk about the brand, so that customers understand the value Shimmer brings. That is also a daily challenge and the biggest task of her communications and marketing team.
* For now, we have talked about Shimmer's 10-year story and the concerns at the present time, so now let's talk a little about the future. I wonder if she has any new direction or big plans in the near future for her "brainchild" Shimmer?
She still only continues to try for one single goal: Shimmer can provide domestic customers with the highest quality handmade silverware on the market. Next, she also wants more foreigners to know that in Southeast Asia There is also very good and beautiful Vietnamese silver jewelry in addition to Thailand and Cambodia.
In fact, Shimmer still serves many international customers through its website. Many people have offered to let her sell on foreign websites such as Japan, Singapore or even sell in concept stores in the UK, but there is no choice that she feels secure about.
* After today's conversation, the keyword that I remember most will probably be the word steadfast, steadfast with the brand's dream, with the guideline that I have set for the brand and even if I have to be flexible in changing To keep up with trends and the market, we must still steadfastly maintain the core values of the brand. Only then can the brand go a long way, develop sustainably and attract customers who are in tune with its brand.
Thank you very much Uyen for your extremely interesting shares!
Gooodbye and see you again in the next episode of the Inside Local Brands' Masterminds series.
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