São Paulo – It was by chance that São Paulo-based company AF Mix’s semi-precious jewellery started being shipped from Brazil to other countries. Through its Portuguese-only e-shop, the company began receiving orders from abroad, and now exports account for 10% of sales.
The main export target is Chile, but the company also sells to Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, says partner Ulisses Courel. He says AF Mix has sold sporadically to Lebanon and England as well. “Brazilian semi-precious jewellery is quite famous. The demand was there, so I put up a banner in English on the site announcing that we exported to all countries,” he says.
According to Courel, the items are bathed in precious metals, which leave gold or silver layers measuring five to seven millimetres. The items include earrings, necklaces, rings, pendants, wedding rings, chains and bracelets, amounting to 3,500 units per month. “Our quality is very high,” says the businessman.
In Brazil, the company sells to stores and natural persons. It only exports to resellers, however. Average prices range from 15 to 50 reals (US$ 7 to US$ 25), wholesale, and gold-plated items account for 80% of both domestic and international sales.
Courel explains that the interest of foreign buyers led the company to open two new e-shops, one in Spanish, targeting Chile, and another in English for the general international market. “As soon as the e-shops are up we will start promoting them. With them, I want to at least double the share of exports [in revenues],” he says. The website in Spanish is scheduled to be up in September, and the one in English, in October.
According to the businessman, the English site will open up new export vistas for AF Mix, including the possibility of further sales to the Arab world. “The two occasions in which we sold to Lebanon have led us to believe that the market is plentiful. Right now, our main obstacle is language. I know it’s a market to be tapped into, and after we launch our website in English we will develop a strategy for the region,” he says.
AF Mix is based in the city of Mauá, in the state of São Paulo, has 13 employees, and posted revenues of 500,000 reals (roughly US$ 246,300 at current exchange rates) in 2011.
Contact
AF Mix (e-shop)
www.afmix.com.br
Email: contato@afmix.com.br
Tel.: +55 11 3522-7387
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
