Startup
Support
Are you overwhelmed by setting up your crystal shop?
Probably somebody has told you it’s easy to make a living off your passion and by now you are coming to terms with reality.
- How to choose your client niche: Spiritual awakening and energy healing, crystal and mineral collectors, home decor,…?
- Hundreds of minerals and crystals to know and to choose from – where to start?
- Which kind of product is the right one: hearts, spheres, palmstones, pyramids,…?
- Where to buy and how to find a trustworthy provider ? Gemshows? On-line?
- What sales channel is the best: Brick and Mortar Shop? Etsy? Online?
- How to set up a website? What social network is the best?
- How to create content? What kind of content?
- How to do your marketing? Paid adds? Organic growth?
- How to learn about international shipping?
- What payment channel to use?
Surely your list goes on and on and…
We understand…
because we have been, where you are now … not too long ago
But if we were able to grow … you can do it too !
It´s going to be easier for you than it was for us, because….
…we have your back!
12 problems that we can solve for you!
12
problems
that we
can solve
for you!
(and 1 additional treat for start-up companies in India: see at the end)
1.) Awesome: You found a partner in
growth
1.) Awesome:
You found a partner
in growth
In 2020 the global COVID Pandemic did bankrupt 40 % of the global crystal companies. Our company did survive AND grow, thanks to the trust start-up companies from all around the world put into us. We will never forget this.
The guiding principle for our work is:
Only if YOU grow, we have a successful business.
Therefore our goal is to become your partner in growth. To do so we are constantly talking to our clients, not about crystals and not about sales! We want to understand what are your challenges, and what you are struggling with.
All of the following solutions for our start-up clients only exist because we learned from our clients how we can help them grow.
2.) EASY: No Minimum Order Quantities
Let’s face the fact: Minimum Order Quantities do serve the seller only, not the buyer. MOQs were invented to force buyers to invest more and help sellers to make higher short-term profits. MOQs are a barrier to the growth of start-up companies because they tilt the balance towards companies that have a bigger buying power and exclude small companies from access to the product.
Yes, in the short term, attending dozens of small start-up shop orders is much more work for us. It is less efficient and provides less profit. But in the long term, your growth will result in bigger follow-up orders. So why should we force a MOQ on you?
Buy as little as you want from us and not more than you can.
3.) Your advantage: No/Less import taxes.
USA: We ship with the required documentation under the USA-Peru Free Trade Agreement. As a crystal shop located in the USA, you will NOT pay import taxes on our products.
Australia: We ship with the required documentation under the Australia-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Australian companies will not get charged GST. This will reduce your import taxes by approximately 30%.
For all other countries: Sometimes we can apply a trick and distribute orders over several packages, staying for each one below the limit for free shipments and thus, help our clients to avoid taxes altogether. (Also works for the remaining taxes to be paid by Australian companies)
In 2024 we are aiming to get registered as exporters for several more free trade Agreements for example with the EU.
We are also involved in supporting Peruvian authorities with knowledge about our industry in the negotiations of the Peru-India Free Trade Agreement.
4.) Magnificent: Reduced shipping costs!
We are sitting in the same boat. High shipping costs prevent start-up companies from buying and make us lose contracts. However, there are many things we can do to reduce the nightmare:
- By using for all our shipments the same provider we can offer you greatly reduced shipping rates.
- We have negotiated with our shipper a second discount on top of the regular discount for packages between 1 and 10 kilos, which is the most frequent package size for orders from start-up companies.
- We also negotiated a second discount for packages from 50 to 100 kilos, another frequent package size for slightly bigger companies.
- We frequently send out orders in several packages so that they fit into the discounted weight ranges to save you money. It requires some extra effort on our side to play around with packaging and shipping quotes to get the cheapest solution, but your savings are worth our time.
5.) International Payments made EASY
International Payments are SCARY, EXPENSIVE, and COMPLICATED. Fraudulent dealers, the constant news about new ways to scam, the need to provide personal information, the multitude of payment platforms and rules, and currency exchange requirements,….When you do it for the first time…. oh, boy! We know, because we feel the fear of our first-time clients all the time.
What makes it even worse, we as a company have to watch our back too, because there are not only fraudulent dealers but also fraudulent clients. In fact, 70% of global credit card frauds are not committed by sellers but by buyers.
So, how can we do this?
- You will get personalized one-on-one coaching about the payment ways that we can offer you because they have proven to be secure and cheap. You will get transparent answers to all your questions and we will guide you patiently step by step through the payment process, trying to help overcome all the barriers you might find with your bank or payment platform.
- We will also inform you about all the hidden fees banks and payment platforms might want to surprise you with and how to avoid them.
- We can offer several payment ways like traditional bank wires, internet-based bank wire platforms, credit card payments, and cryptocurrency payments and we will help you decide which one is the most convenient for your case.
6.) Stupendous: Discounts
We know that financial resources for start-up companies are limited and we understand it is hard to build sufficient inventory. That is why we do provide discounts starting at very small amounts, for example, 11 pieces of the same product from the same stone, will already bring you a 5 % discount. We know that is not much, but our profit on small orders is also very limited. So we try to help how we can. Once your orders get bigger…, let’s talk…
One example to consider: We know that per year we need at least 15000 boxes. So we committed with our provider on the total annual amount and got a discount on this number. Nevertheless, we will retrieve and pay the boxes every month in the numbers required.
So, once you get going and can estimate your monthly or annual turnover, you may want to commit with us to an annual amount of products required and get a bigger discount. However, you will only pay what you will order on the agreed dates (maybe two, three, or four times a year). As long as you comply with your set annual goal, we are happy to help you out. And you don’t even have to decide what products you will buy. You can set your annual goal in terms of total money to be spent and decide later what product you want.
7.) Extraordinary: Buy Now – Pay Later
Let’s face it: With so much scamming going on, making an international crystal order for the first time with a new provider, takes guts and trust. We can feel that nervousness in all our first-time clients.
In fact: It’s all about building trust because filing a court case against a company in another country is prohibitively expensive and complicated and has little to no chance of leading anywhere.
So if you do trust US by placing your first order and paying upfront, why shouldn’t we trust YOU in the future?
As we get to know each other and you start re-ordering we are happy to discuss credit opportunities and “buy-now/pay-later” or drop-shipping options.
8.) FREE Marketing support worth
thousands of USD
READ THIS ONE CAREFULLY, because NOBODY OTHER THAN US WILL OFFER YOU THIS.
If you want the have the slightest chance to grow your start-up business, you have to be able to become seen and known. The only way to do this is to produce great content that stands out in quality and post frequently on many social networks.
Producing outstanding content requires a lot of knowledge about the products, a lot of time to edit and design, a lot of time to keep posting, and access to great pictures and video material. So you can either quit your main job, learn all this, and do it all yourself, or you can pay thousands of USD to an agency that handles this for you with no guarantee that the content is original, correct, and good.
Or…You can simply talk to us and GET IT ALL FOR FREE.
We are happy:
- to film videos and make professional high-resolution pictures of the entire process of the production of your goods and mail them to you for free, so you can use this material and announce the products pre-arrival, creating already expectations in your clients.
- to provide you with filmed interviews of our general manager Stefan Austermühle, talking about your future products and their manufacturing (in English, Spanish, German or Hindi).
- to make a packing and shipping video of your goods – you then can complement it with an unpacking video when they arrive.
- we even made videos announcing our clients’ products to be available from them in the future and ran those videos on OUR marketing channels driving final clients to our clients.
This support is worth thousands of USD and provides you with top-quality authentic marketing material about your products. And it is completely free.
We only have a small favor to ask: When doing this we will make all our competitors aware of your shop and we know that they will contact you. So, as long as you are happy with our service and our products, would you mind ignoring them?
9.) FREE Personalized Product Education
Let us define what we are talking about:
We are not only offering to tell you what type of crystal you are buying and where it comes from (product information) – everybody does that.
We are offering you in-depth education so that you can become a specialist yourself and hand over your knowledge to your clients:
- about cutting and polishing techniques of manufactured crystal products, how to recognize quality, and how to differentiate real from fake stuff.
- about mineralogy, crystal shapes, and habits, how to recognize and value quality crystals, and differentiate them from the cheap stuff.
- about which of our products are selling best in which culture/country, so that you can choose the right ones for you and sell more, faster.
- about which of our products are unique, new, or exclusive, so that you have a nose ahead over your competition and stand out from the crowd.
You can ask us anything, anytime, as often as you wish. We are happy to provide you with an answer, and if we don’t have one we will try to find one for you.
10.) Real Ethical Crystals and
full transparency
10.) Real Ethical Crystals
and full transparency
Since we founded our company ethics and environmental protection have been the guiding principles of how we conduct our business. Nowadays we are a global leader in the crystal industry and offer unique environmental initiatives for our clients to benefit from and take part in.
We have been one of the first crystal companies to speak out publicly about the dirty secrets of our industry. Nowadays it has become trendy to talk about such topics and there are now hundreds of crystal dealers pretending to be ethical without delivering any proof for that. So how could you be sure we are not one of those?
First: Stefan Austermühle, general manager of Gemrock Peru and biologist by education, has an impressive track record of 35 years of professional work on the often dangerous frontlines of environmental conservation, implementing pioneering research, supporting the sustainable development of coastal and rainforest communities and fighting for species conservation. He is our best guarantee that our ethical and environmental initiatives are not just talk, but real.
Second: we are 100 % transparent about the way we conduct our business. There is a lot of information on this website and our social media channels. Ask us anything and check the facts. We have nothing to fear or hide.
By buying from us you make sure:
- to buy from a legal company
- to 100% avoid any involvement in shadow business and money laundering
- to avoid 100% child labor
- to support that workers obtain all labor benefits you would claim for yourself.
- to support a gender-inclusive company that promotes equal rights
- to get your crystals as environmentally friendly as possible
- to support a company that is actively taking on the dirty practices in our industry and feels the consequences of that, but does not give up.
11.) WORLDWIDE UNIQUE:
FREE custom product design
and production for start-ups
11.) WORLDWIDE UNIQUE:
FREE custom
product design
and production
for start-ups
Do you want to have a special crystal product design or jewelry design to differentiate your shop from the crowd that sells all the same stuff?
We offer you the solution:
- We provide you with a free one-on-one development process for new products. We would only charge you costs for manufacturing or design services for parts of your product that we have to subcontract from someone else.
- We offer you custom cutting of our stones
- We offer you custom cutting of stones you send us
- We provide custom jewelry production in 250 silver, sterling silver, goldplated silver, or gold.
We don’t care how many pieces you order: one or a few thousand – your custom product has the same value for us.
Organize a video call with Stefan
12.) TOTALLY AWESOME:
One-on-one Business Coaching
for crystal start-ups
How about having a mentor and business coach with many years of professional experience in the global crystal industry?
Have Stefan Austermühle, general manager of Gemrock Peru, be your 24/7 business coach support.
Stefan has started Gemrock Peru and built it from scratch changing the way we conduct our business from a local production unit for global wholesalers to becoming a global wholesaler for retail shops.
- He has successfully steered our business through a perfect storm of a global pandemic, war crisis, and global economic crisis.
- He educated himself to become a master cutter.
- He has personal contact with all our clients all around the world and is always up to date on what challenges they face and how they solve them.
- He sources and sells crystal specimens on a global scale.
- He has mined crystals and minerals himself.
- He determines and leads the marketing strategies of Gemrock.
- He leads a team of specialists in finance, import/export, and payment solutions.
- He is our top salesperson and understands pricing and sales issues in detail.
- He leads our environmental and ethical policies.
There are few people in our industry with such profound knowledge and detailed experience. And there are probably very few of those, willing to share their knowledge.
Stefan offers you a unique opportunity to lead your company to success being backed up by a specialized business coach via regular video calls at flexible and competitive pricing.
The first video session is free and serves to define what your goals and challenges are and where you need additional information and professional support.
Organize a video call with Stefan
Get in Touch
+51 994104206
gemrockinternational@gmail.com