eCommerce MasterPlan

  • eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast
    • About The Podcast
    • Top 10 Episodes
    • Reviews
    • Interesting Stuff
    • 2021 eCommerce Growth Series sponsored by Klaviyo
    • Audience Offers
    • Full list of eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast Episodes
  • Keep Optimising Podcast
    • About the Podcast
    • Monthly Q&A Webinar
    • Full list of Keep Optimising Podcast Episodes
  • Books
    • eCommerce Marketing – NEW
    • eCommerce MasterPlan 1.8
    • eCommerce Delivery
    • Customer Persuasion
    • B2B eCommerce MasterPlan
  • eCommerce Help
    • Consulting, Coaching, Mentoring
    • Great Deals on Useful Things
    • 2021 Planning Webinar
  • Contact
    • About Us
    • Email sign up
    • Be a podcast guest
    • Speaking

266: Competitive advantage and selecting suppliers with Matt Edmundson of Jersey Beauty Company

March 30, 2020 By April Buencamino-dy Leave a Comment

Matt Edmundson is the CEO of the Jersey Company, a group of health, wellness and beauty companies that deliver products and services to over 120,000 loyal customers in the UK and Europe. The group includes the eCommerce business Jersey Beauty Company – which went online in 2006 and since then they have achieved global sales of $75million, that’s over 7 million products shipped.

Subscribe on your Favourite Podcast App

Apple podcasts badge

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Google Podcasts

About Jersey Beauty

  • Based in Liverpool
  • Started life in Jersey in the Channel Islands 
  • Started in Jersey because you didn’t have to pay VAT at the time the company started
  • Sells in the UK and Europe
  • Retails strong brand names and are launching a proprietary product soon
  • Use the Kurious Digital Platform (written by Matt)

Team Makeup

Most of the team is in-house and Matt says he prefers to keep it that way as much as possible. This includes, but isn’t limited to: marketing and creative, customer service and warehouse.

They do outsource for paid media like Google, Facebook and Amazon with a local freelancer.

How Matt Got Started

Matt got started in eCommerce writing html for websites (he jokes about how he remembers the days long before DreamWeaver).

After several projects, he started got curious as to whether he could write an eCommerce site, so he connected with a friend who owned a suntan lotion company and asked if he could experiment with eCommerce using his product. Six months later, the site was doing so well, Matt’s friend ended up buying it—a success that launched Matt’s career. 

On Competition

Matt isn’t shy about saying that there are some pretty undesirable attitudes in the beauty industry and competition and outright cattiness can be a hot button issue.

Unlike a business that controls every aspect of it’s circumstance by producing its own proprietary products, Jersey Beauty Company must deal individually with each of their suppliers, something that has its own unique set of challenges. Matt says that the best way to deal with this problem is to simply learn to be yourself in a way that is attractive to your customer.

If everything you do can match with who you are as a brand—from your marketing to the way your products are packed and shipped—your audience will be loyal. He also recommends staying on top of your competitors and know really intimately what is going on in their business by closely following their metrics. 

Matt’s refreshing perspective on the competition also recommends going out for the occasional beer and he points out that they are, after all, real people. 

This camaraderie is important for integrity and Matt points out that they aren’t likely to find out anything important about your business that they don’t already know or can’t find out.

In the most simplistic terms, Matt says that everyone should just “get on” and build their businesses without undercutting competitors. 

Content as the Differentiator

Creating content and educating customers was something that Matt says he has been fostering from the beginning of Jersey Beauty Company.

He relays the analogy of a person choosing one petrol station over another with all things being equal save the fact that one had their lights on during the dark of night. Content and education he says has been the company’s metaphorical light.

He also has been steadfast to the company’s values and has consistently spoken up against the shame driven advertising that dominates the beauty industry. He says that don’t use phrases like anti-aging and they have been careful about their creative content—passing over typical models in favor of real people.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Signing up will add you to the eCommerce MasterPlan email marketing list, so you’ll get regular updates packed with ways to improve your eCommerce business. You can unsubscribe at any time, and see our Privacy Policy here.

eCommerce Book Top Tip

  • The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World by John Mark Comer
  • If you’re struggling with your business values and identity, read Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

eCommerce Traffic Top Tip

  • Do a lot of research to learn where your customers are and market there.

Tool Top Tip

  • Slack
  • Notion

Growth Top Tip

  • Figure out a way to present your voice, brand and values in a way that resonates with people because no-one can copy that. If you can figure out who you are and make content around that you will grow.
  • Zig Ziggler once said that sales is “telling the truth attractively” that, Matt says is pretty great advice.

Interview Links

  • Business
  • Personal Website
  • LinkedIn

Related episodes

  • Lifestyle Labs’ Valerian Voegele redefining the vitamins sector through outstanding customer service
  • Influencer Marketing to grow a Subscription eCommerce business to $17m – Live Glam’s Dhar Mann
  • Linear sales funnels, affiliate marketing and LOTS of top tips – chatting with Nate Lind

Without the sponsors the podcast wouldn’t be possible – please do check them out:

klaviyo

Klaviyo is the world’s leading owned marketing platform known for accelerating revenue for online businesses using the channels they own like email, web and mobile. Enabling companies to leverage these owned marketing channels, Klaviyo makes it easy to store, access, analyze and use transactional and behavioral data to power highly-targeted customer and prospect communications. And unlike other marketing platforms, Klaviyo doesn’t force companies to compromise between advanced functionality or ease of use – so companies of all sizes are able to maximize their sales quickly. That’s 38,000+ innovative companies across the world sell more with Klaviyo.


pitney bowes

With SendPro Online from Pitney Bowes you can simply print postage stamps and shipping labels – even when working remotely.

With SendPro Online from Pitney Bowes, it’s just click, send and save for as low as $4.99. You’ll save up to 40% off USPS Priority Mail, plus for being an eCommerce Master Plan listener, you’ll receive a FREE 30-day trial to get started and a FREE 10-pound scale to ensure that you never overpay.

Go to pb.com/MASTERPLAN to access this special offer for a FREE 30-day trial PLUS a FREE 10- pound scale to get started.

Filed Under: 2020 Episodes, eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast, Over 7-figure Turnover eCommerce Podcasts

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast

  • B2B eCommerce Podcasts
  • One Person eCommerce Businesses
  • Shopify Businesses
  • Subscription eCommerce Podcasts
  • Top 10 Episodes
  • £1m+ Businesses

eCommerce Books

  • B2B eCommerce MasterPlan
  • Customer Persuasion
  • eCommerce Delivery
  • eCommerce Marketing
  • eCommerce MasterPlan 1.8

Keep Optimising Podcast

  • Keep Optimising Podcast
  • Monthly Q&A Webinar

Products & Services

  • Audience Offers
  • eCommerce & Marketing Speaker
  • eCommerce Marketing Advice
  • Join our Email List
  • Writing Services

Social Media

  • Facebook Group
  • Instagram @eComMasterPlan
  • LinkedIn Page
  • LinkedIn: Chloë
  • Twitter @eComMasterPlan

Search the site

Social proof places we've been featured

Copyright © 2021 · Privacy Policy · Website Terms · Find us on Google+

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience, for advertising and to analyse our traffic. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.Got it! Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.