Building a Fashion Accessories Marketplace from London: Kiyan Foroughi, CEO of Boticca (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What did you do to address that issue?

Kiyan Foroughi: Before I jump into that, there’s one thing I want to add. I told you about my professional background. In terms of my family heritage, I come from a background of jewelry. I’m the fourth generation in the luxury industry on my mother’s side. I’m the third generation when it comes to jewelry. My grandfather was a gemologist. He was an agent for a bunch of luxury brands in Iran before the revolution. I grew up around jewelry specifically. It’s an area I know really well. I spent summers in my grandfather’s workshop learning about the different properties of stones and stone-setting techniques. When I came across this designer, it was very much a perfect marriage between my professional background and my personal heritage.

To answer your question, I went back immediately after this encounter and started doing research. I said to myself, “Surely, there has to be a destination in the web that allows upcoming designers and brands of fashion accessories to sell their products to customers all over the world.” The Internet had been around for a while already. There had to be a platform. Lo and behold, there wasn’t. There were a lot of crafts marketplaces but there was no quality destination with a curation process where brands were selected based on the strength of their product, story, and their future potential. That’s how Boticca was born.

Boticca is a global curated marketplace that allows you to discover the world’s best independent designers of fashion accessories, learn their stories through the editorials and the content on our website, and purchase directly from their studios. At the end of the day, we are a marketplace. When you buy from us, you’re buying directly form the designer who is the one who’s shipping the piece via our partnership with DHL who goes and picks it up from them.

Sramana Mitra: I think you provided very good context on why Boticca. In terms of the business model, are the designers shipping directly to consumers or are you providing any kind of help in that area?

Kiyan Foroughi: We do provide some assistance. We have a partnership with DHL. DHL goes to the studio, workshop, or office of the designer or the brand. They pick up the order, and send it to the end customer. It’s still coming directly from the brand but we’re assisting them by providing them with our DHL partnerships. The reason we’re doing this is to ensure a great customer experience.

Sramana Mitra: You have a relationship with DHL. DHL does the shipping. They’re drop-shipping from the designer’s end and not from a warehouse from your end.

Kiyan Foroughi: That’s absolutely correct.

Sramana Mitra: In terms of merchandising, are you doing jewelry only?

Kiyan Foroughi: Right now, we’re accessories only. We don’t have clothes or shoes. We do the full range in terms of accessories. Jewelry is a big category for us but we’re also very big on bags, scarves, and hats. We also have other technology accessories like laptop cases and phone cases. We are planning, later on this year, to expand into other categories. Categories such as watches, small home accessories as well as beauty products.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Building a Fashion Accessories Marketplace from London: Kiyan Foroughi, CEO of Boticca
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