Join host Matt Edmundson in this engaging episode of the E Commerce Podcast as he sits down with Lucy Toone, the innovative founder of Tomm Jewellery. Discover Lucy's inspiring journey from crafting bracelets at a young age to establishing a unique jewellery brand that champions individuality and personal expression. Lucy shares her insights on creating a memorable customer experience, the importance of authenticity in brand storytelling, and the challenges of maintaining personal values in business growth. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned e-commerce professional, Lucy's story offers valuable lessons on building a brand that resonates with its audience.

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Timestamps:

- 0:05 - Introduction to the E Commerce Podcast and guest Lucy Toone

- 2:41 - Lucy's background and the ethos of Tomm Jewellery

- 4:47 - The importance of customer experience and personalization

- 7:09 - Lucy's early interest in jewellery making

- 10:54 - The origin of the name "Tomm Jewellery"

- 15:08 - The evolution of Tomm Jewellery from its humble beginnings

- 24:51 - The impact of celebrity endorsements and storytelling

- 30:03 - Building an audience through authenticity

- 35:41 - Challenges faced in maintaining brand values

- 45:28 - Lucy's vision for the future of Tomm Jewellery

- 46:55 - Matt's question from Lucy and closing remarks

3 Key Guest Takeaways:

1. Authenticity in Brand Storytelling: Lucy emphasizes the power of being genuine and transparent with your audience. By sharing her personal journey and the story behind Tom Jewelry, she has built a community that resonates with her brand's values.

2. Customer Experience as a Differentiator: Lucy highlights the significance of creating a memorable and personalized customer experience, from the packaging to the storytelling, which can significantly enhance customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

3. Staying True to Personal Values: Lucy discusses the importance of aligning business practices with personal values, even when faced with financial pressures. This commitment to integrity has been crucial in shaping the brand's identity and long-term success.

Matt Edmundson [0:05 - 2:40]: Well, hello and welcome back to the E Commerce podcast with me, your host, Matt Edmondson. Now this is a show all about helping you deliver e commerce. Wow. And today to do just that, we are chatting with the delightful Lucy Toon from Tom Jewelry and we are going to be getting into her e commerce story. This is one of our founder edition episodes, which is great. I love these. I get to talk to in the in the trenches fellow E commerce is doing their thing day in, day out and I've been looking forward to this for a while. Lucy and I have been planning this for a while. So you're going to want to grab your notebooks, grab your pens, because I'm sure this is going to be absolutely fascinating. Now of course, if you're subscribed to the newsletter, all of the notes, links, etc will be winging their way to your inbox at some point. The other thing to mention, of course is if you're not subscribed to the newsletter, you can just head over to the website ecommercepodcast.net you'll find everything there or podcast app. Just scroll down. All the links and stuff are in there as well. Now actually, I should probably give a little bit of a shout out to my man Oliver Spock who introduced Lucy and I. When was it, Lucy? In the summer, I think it was, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. Over, over, over a bit of. Bit of lunch and a pint, I think it was. And it was lovely and so I thought Lucy would be great. So Oliver from Suite analytics who has been a guest on the podcast, big shout out to you, man. And of course, if you're looking for something, you know, to do your analytics with and important data, go check out Spot analytics because it is no Sweet analytics by Oliver Spike. You get those two things mixed up. It's Sweet Analytics. It's Oliver Spark's company. It's what I use. You are gonna want to check it out. Yes you are. And if you've been following the podcast, there is some special link that takes you to a sort of, well, a mat special on the suite Analytics. So we'll put that link in the show notes as well. If you follow that link, you get a really special deal. If you don't follow that link, go sign up anyway because it's worth it. We did and so definitely do that. Lucy shouting the praise as well. Lucy, you're getting ahead of me. Let's talk about Lucy. Lucy is the founder of Tom Jewelry. Growing up as a tomboy, Lucy often felt dismissed by retailers who didn't see her as their typical customer. That experience fueled her passion to create a jewelry brand that welcomes all women and celebrates their unique beauty. Tom Jewelry isn't just about looking good. It is about feeling confident and owning who you are. Lucy, welcome to the show. Thank you for coming on.

Lucy Toone [2:41 - 2:42]: Thank you.

Matt Edmundson [2:42 - 2:44]: Are you doing all right? Are we doing good?

Lucy Toone [2:44 - 2:58]: Good. It's Monday. There's lots of opportunities coming our way on a Monday. Always try and think positive about it. Yeah, no, all good. All good. I'm excited with you.

Matt Edmundson [2:58 - 3:11]: Yeah, it's brilliant. No, love it. Let's, for the sake of people who may not have heard of Tom Jewelry, before we get into it too much, just give us the. The quick elevator pitch of Tom Joy, if you like, what is it you do, what makes you unique?

Lucy Toone [3:12 - 4:11]: So our ethos is your story first and not basically. From products to our content to the website to the experience when you purchase the product, we really try to focus on how you feel and making the journey as personalized really as possible. Creating products that make your story elevated. Instead of kind of us creating a campaign or creating a product on the way that we feel, we want it to be an expression of how you feel. So, yeah, personalization is probably the most. The most focused thing that we do at Tom. But yeah, again, how you feel, I think that's really important. And what excites me most about E commerce is how you can develop that in such a cool way.

Matt Edmundson [4:12 - 4:46]: Okay, so I mean, this sounds fascinating already. I've got a million questions for you, Lucy. I'm curious, what does that mean on a day to day basis? So how do you. Because I can hear and I don't want to be stereotypical because I think, you know, it's not really that helpful. But for many men, right, listening to you, they will go, what do you mean? You focus on how you feel? How do you do that with a website? What's your playbook there?

Matt Edmundson [6:21 - 6:25]: Very good. I'm in. I'm in. Just tell me where to go, you.

Lucy Toone [6:25 - 6:46]: Know, because you've got to as much. And I think that's the thing is gifting as much as it is lovely to go. Oh, I'm buying this for them because I want them to feel special. You say that because you want to feel good. Making someone else feel special. It's completely, it's a self consumed thing as much as it doesn't. You might think it's not, but it is.

Lucy Toone [7:09 - 7:10]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [7:13 - 7:22]: For any specific reason? Was somebody in your family doing that? Were you like just crazy? I just want to start making jewelry. Was it a gift or something at Christmas?

Lucy Toone [7:22 - 7:35]: Yeah, no, it was just a creative thing, I think. I actually have no idea why I started. Well, so my dad's, I'm actually sat in his office right now. He made fly. Flies for fly fishing.

Matt Edmundson [7:35 - 7:35]: Okay.

Lucy Toone [7:35 - 8:30]: We had like this station and it had like beads and stuff in it. And obviously he wasn't making jewelry. But I love that the, I love that the stuff that you needed to create this, this end thing. And my granddad had made him what he called a fly fishing station. And I went, I want one and I want it to be like my beading station. So my dad, my granddad and my dad are both carpenters. So anyway, long, long story short, ended up having this station which allowed me to make bracelets and made them for my friends. Made them for, you know, friends in school had parties, like birthday parties. That was the only birthday party I ever wanted was my friends to come around and make bracelets with me. But that was it. There was no other. There was no Jewelry background. It probably, yeah, was more to do with this ability of creating something which was unique to me.

Matt Edmundson [8:30 - 8:43]: So when you were, when you were growing up then and you're making the jewelry, is this all you ever wanted to do? Or was, was. Did you sort of stumble into it by accident? Was it a case of last resort? I'm curious, what was the.