Stella & Dot set to add sparkle with 450 reps

By DOMINIC JEFF
Published on 24/02/2013 00:00

AMERICAN jewellery firm Stella & Dot is looking to recruit up to 450 sales reps in Scotland after establishing its European HQ in London.

The firm, which was founded by WeddingChannel.com entrepreneur Jessica Herrin four years ago, has revitalised the traditional “Tupperware party” by integrating it with internet selling and using ­social media.

Its global sales of $200 million (£130m) last year were made mostly in North America, but its UK arm has grown rapidly since it was founded in October 2011. It now has 1,200 self-employed “stylists” on its books and sales of around $10m a year.

Caroline Harding-Edgar, the firm’s director of strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said most of the firm’s UK trade has been concentrated in the south east of England, with just 50 stylists north of the Border.

But she said the group would need ten times more to even come close to fulfilling the potential of the Scottish market.

She added: “Scotland is a much smaller part of the business than it should be. To hit even 25 per cent of our ­customers we would need 500 stylists.”

The company is running recruitment events this week at Edinburgh’s Hotel du Vin and Glasgow’s Corinthian Club. As well as moving north, Stella & Dot has used its London foothold to launch in Germany in recent months, and plans to target all of the EU.

In setting up the firm, mother-of-two Herrin she said wanted to address the “modern woman’s dilemma” of juggling family and career – the group’s sales force is mostly female and 80 per cent have children.