37 PROFILE What plans do you have moving forward? This year, we plan to launch more crystal mixes and craft kits and for sure will be expanding our own brand of Zodiac crystals. We’re currently carrying out our R & D for ceramic hotfix flatback pearls. When we sold Swarovski, they were a great seller, very popular with the couture costume and wedding dress designers along with wedding stationery designers too. We hope to have these launched within the next month or two. Our Zodiac range of crystals are a fantastic alternative to the top quality Austrian crystals. At the beginning of this year, we sent out a questionnaire to all our customers who had purchased from the Zodiac range, the feedback was amazing with 97 per cent of our customers saying they’d recommend Zodiac to their friends. The quality of the Zodiac range is excellent, you won’t find them being scratched easily, they don’t come away from the foil backs and they really do sparkle! Our most popular colour is the AB (Aurora Borealis). In the office we have our favourites personal faves…. Peacock Blue, Green Volcano, the new Purple Velvet, Light Pink AB and Moonlight. As the Zodiac is our own brand of crystal, we’re able to offer great discounts to retail customers, we also offer a fulfilment service whereby you supply us with your own branded bags and we will label and put your chosen amount of crystals in your bag. Hobby & crafts have boomed over the last two years! How has this affected Crystal Parade? We have many customers wanting to give their clothing an original look! For example, if they’re going to a festival and want plenty of blng; we’ve just put a thunder bolt on a pair of wellies for a pop concert! Harry Styles is all about the sparkle and we’ve had lots of customers wanting to recreate Harry’s look from the sparkly glasses to the love heart dungarees. How would you advise customers wanting to stock your product? We currently have a handful of retailers stocking our range of crystals and tools, they really do see the benefits of stocking the crystals as the audience for crystals is so diverse from a nail artist, make-up artist to a milliner and crafter - everyone loves a touch of sparkle and quite often crystals are an impulse purchase. It’s all about inspiring your customers, you just need an eye-catching item/craft project on display and it becomes a talking point. If you’re a fabric, craft or wool shop, crystals are an easy upsell. Prices for 100 Zodiac rhinestones starts at £2! You can offer crystal workshops, once shown how easy it is to embellish with the right tools your customers will be hooked and back for more - they’ll spread the word too. We’re happy to come along to your shop premises and can even hold a crystal workshop free of charge. What does the future hold for Crystal Parade? The future is looking exciting with new opportunities for us all to share the sparkle and bring something new and innovative to our customers. CRYSTAL PARADE +44 (0)1926 485 038 sales@crystalparade.co.uk www.crystalparade.co.uk
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