Nine years ago Aberdeen woman Jade Maclaren made the decision to quit her full-time job as an accountant and concentrate on her designer handbag business.
It’s one that’s paid off with the 36-year-old recording turnover of around £1 million for the last financial year.
Jade, who used to work at Johnston & Carmichael, sells pre-loved designer bags on her Addicted to Handbags website.
She stocks Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, YSL, Coach and Chloe as her main designer brands.
Cost-of-living impact
A Hermes Kelly 28 handbag still remains her most expensive ever sold – selling at £12,000.
Although turnover has remained high Jade, who lives in the Cornhill area, has seen an impact on sales this year and the price of some handbags decrease.
She said: “It’s coming up to Christmas so it’s generally busier but this year has been a bit quieter.
“Turnover has been similar at just around £1m but I think people are spending less with the high interest rates and cost of living.
“Because people were watching their spending I found this year that Chanel hasn’t been as popular.
“But Louis Vuitton never seems to falter in terms of how quickly or the price the bags sell at.
“People don’t seem to be bothered about paying anything upwards from £2,000 to £3,000 for the bags.
“But prices below that are popular.”
Popular designer labels
Jade either purchases the item outright from you and provides a quote for a cash sale for lower valued items, or offer a consignment basis for items valued at over £500 at 10-25% commission subject to item and value.
Bestsellers include the Louis Vuitton Neverfull and Gucci Soho Disco.
She said: “The Louis Vuitton Neverfull is the most popular. It sells really quickly and I have people come to me asking if I’ve got it.
“The Gucci disco is also another one that’s popular.
“But pre-loved prices for some brands have come down over the last year, mainly the likes of Chanel.
“Despite the retail price at the fashion house going up the resale value at second hand has come down.
“YSL in the last six months decreased their prices with bags going from £2,300 to £1,900 so that filters through to the pre-loved prices.
“When people ask me what I’ll quote for their bag I’ve been saying during the past six months that the market is slower this year.”
Addicted to Handbags standards
As Jade gets ready to enter the 10th year of her business she determined to always keep customer service as her top priority.
She said: “I want to keep my five-star level with a high rating of service.
“I’m going to focus on the more popular items and try to stock the things people want.
“In the future I might try and grow but at the moment I’m happy.”
This post was originally published on here
