Featured Listing: CONFIDENTIAL

About the business

Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your background? How did you start the business?

Gentle No More is an independent Singapore accessory label that has gained interest globally for its trend-bending idea of having a flower that blooms within a piece of jewellery in the shape of a bullet. The label emerged in 2014 as a personal hobby—inspired by the statement “Make Love, Not War” when the topic of gun violence terrorized the minds of many. Our living bullet concept has reinvigorated the market and breathed new life into traditionally dull and static jewellery collections. All designs are professionally done and are exclusive to the brand. You will have access to all the designs and we will also continue to be readily available to design for your future collections.

As a duo of a Product Designer and a Fine Artist, we sought to translate meaningful stories into wearable items by merging the aspects of product design and fine arts into jewellery production. All designs from Gentle No More are meticulously handcrafted by a team of Singapore artisans who have undergone specific training to create such delicate procedures. Under the strain of COVID-19, we had to make an important decision to rebrand in early 2021 to move towards a more sustainable business model while simultaneously allowing more creative freedom in experimental projects and this has been proven to be a huge success.

As an eCommerce business, where are your products made?

All designs from Gentle No More are meticulously designed and handcrafted by a team of Singapore artisans who have undergone specific training to create such delicate procedures. As a team of artisanal craftsmen, we study the spirit of innovation while pushing the limits of creative capabilities.

What can you tell us about your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

CLV has been increasing steadily since Q3 2021. The average for the last 90 days is 88 USD. The average CAC from the last 90 days is $33 USD due to Christmas and Black Friday, otherwise usually between $20-$24 USD.

How have you marketed the product and where are your customers originating from?

We have been running very effective campaigns on Facebook Ads and Email Marketing. 95% of our customers are from the US. Customers from Canada, Australia, South Korea and some parts of Europe made up the rest. For Singapore customers, we are selling via a Singapore multi-label store situated in the busiest shopping district.

Is the asset on your listing owner-operated, how much time does it take to run the business, who else is needed on the team, and what is automated?

Yes, every day we spend 15-30mins replying to emails, Instagram DMs and comments. Another 10-30mins for checking Facebook Ads. Every first week of the month, we spend about an hour or two planning the email marketing campaigns and we use a handful of useful tools for copywriting which we’ll be able to share with the new owner as well.

The orders are fulfilled on a weekly basis. A single person will take an average of 6 hours to get the orders packed.

Everything is pretty straightforward at this point and I’m sure it’ll be manageable by the new owner.

What does someone need to do to continue operating the business in its current form?

Facebook marketing will be the primary task, followed by email marketing. We will provide templates for existing winning Facebook ads, emails and training to the next owner to ensure a fuss-free transition. Email sequences have also been automated and well-designed, so the next owner can be assured of a great customer experience.

Growing the business

Can you list a few opportunities for a potential new owner to continue growing the business?

To grow the store over the next 5 years, we’d recommend adding Google Ads into the arsenal of marketing tools. From the preliminary data we have, with a small sum of $1000 monthly, we can potentially increase our ATC by another 3-4% which means an additional revenue of $4-$5k every month.

We can also look into ways to bring more value to the community that we have. Some examples are creating a membership system that can encourage customers to return for more purchases – leverage on the advantage of the low cost of goods for customers to redeem certain products for free when they hit certain milestones. We do have some ideas in mind and will be more than happy to share.

More importantly, we highly recommend continuing scaling the Facebook Ads. Honestly, our ad spend each month is considered on the lower side of the industry average. That said, our campaign has favourable results with an average CTR of 3% and CPM of $5. We would aim to scale the ad spend by 15% each week till it reaches at least $2k for daily ad spend (which theoretically means an additional $8k revenue daily).

This business does not require a big team to run it, but it has a huge market to tap into.

What has been the evolution of this asset since its launch?

We used to mainly focus on B2B businesses, letting others who are good at selling do it instead of on our own. At the beginning of this year, we have successfully pivoted over to a B2C business, capitalizing on the number of active customers/followers that we have built over the years.

How does this business make money? What are the current revenue streams?

We use Facebook Ads with the objective to capture new customers and in recent months we have been seeing a healthy ROAS of 4x on normal days and 8x ROAS during sales. We are also selling wholesales to a Singapore Multi-Label store which accounts for almost 20% of our yearly revenue. We are only a small team and we do everything on our own, which make it difficult for us to commit to large orders to these retailers as often as we’d like to. That said, if this is something the new owner is keen on, we’d be happy to share the contacts of those who were interested to carry our products.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

Facebook Marketing.

How does the business currently acquire customers and what is your breakdown for marketing costs?

We are currently spending about $300 each day for campaigns aimed at new customers, and each day about 10-15 orders come from new customers which equate to revenue of $1,200-$1,500.

How big is your current team? How many people does it take to run this business?

We are a small team of 5 crafters which honestly isn’t needed by the new owner as we will remain as the ones to do the making. The new owner can easily operate this on his/her own with little assistance (if he is able to afford one).

What’s the reason for selling your business on Flippa?

It’s time to move on and focus our efforts on something new.

We started the brand in our bedroom in 2014 and, honestly, didn’t think it would go far. We were really only making the necklaces for ourselves and some friends. Eventually and gratefully, more people became interested in them and this has snowballed into a strong international fanbase/community we have today. We were quickly picked up by various publications such as Vogue, Britain GQ and more which catapulted us forward even more.

I’ve just reached 30 years old this year, and this means I’ve spent close to ¼ of my life with this brand. It might be an Asian thing, but 30 years old is also the time for me to be more focused on my career and my life. I’m currently involved with 2 other businesses which are more personal to me so, at the start of 2021, I’ve already decided to let go of this business regardless of whether it’s doing good or bad. I’m just glad I am able to elevate the brand to a much better position than in 2020 before transferring the ownership to someone who is able to make better use of the brand. It definitely wasn’t an easy decision to make (especially when I’m tempted to continue the brand when it’s doing so well).