Q&A: Charlotte Donoghue, founder of Say It With Diamonds

Meet the Aintree-born entrepreneur who transformed her home-based jewellery business into an award-winning, multi-million pound brand worn by countless celebrities in just six years.

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Can you tell us a little about your background and how Say It With Diamonds (SIWD) got started?

I’ve always been self-employed and before SIWD I had my own candle company. It was a bit of a fluke how SIWD started. I wasn’t really into jewellery until I received a necklace from a very expensive shop as a gift. My business partner and I decided to see if we could replicate the item and it went from there. We sort of fell into the business, to be honest.

Did you notice there was a gap in the market for quality yet affordable jewellery?

Absolutely. People in Liverpool like nice things. Does the name of a shop actually really matter? Gold is gold and diamonds are diamonds, regardless of where you go, it’s just certain stores have a bigger markup because you’re paying for the fancy shopfront. When you go to Cartier, or any of the high-end jewellers, it’s all the same gold and all the diamonds come from the same place. You’re just paying for the name and the Bond Street rent!

How did you establish your supply base for the jewellery? Was it difficult to develop your contacts in the industry?

It was at first. We travelled to many different countries to find more and more suppliers. We also went to the HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show, which was a real game-changer. Attending this prestigious trade event allowed us to cut out the middleman and find the suppliers ourselves who had come to exhibit from all around the world.

What were the first couple of years like after you launched SIWD?

We started the business with a total investment of just £500 and each piece was made to order for each customer. Some time went by before we were able to start making large bulk stock orders. We began by ordering the most popular initial jewellery pieces and built it up from there.

How important was social media to SIWD and increasing sales? Particularly when you were just starting out?

It was key back then but nowadays the public doesn’t buy into [influencer marketing] as much because they think people are getting paid to post – which most of the time, they are. Social media isn’t genuine anymore, it’s become almost like a catalogue.

Have sales been affected by the current cost-of-living crisis and consumers maybe not wishing to splash out on as many luxury items?

Sales have actually increased by 15% from last year. We’re in the gift industry and people still want to buy gifts for their friends and family. The festive period was very busy – our decadent Christmas crackers, which we launched for the first time in December, sold out in a matter of days. We noticed more customers where purchasing items through our website rather than in-store, but I think that’s part of a wider shopping trend.

Speaking of physical stores, Tessuti in Liverpool ONE began stocking SIWD pieces in August 2022. How big of a milestone was that for you?

It was great, and a very proud moment for me. Very has also started stocking our products online, which was a big thing as its a massive national company. Partnering with more brands is something we’re going to be working on this year.

From your first store in Cavern Walks to your current location in the Met Quarter, you’ve created plenty of jobs for the city. How proud are you that you’ve been able to do this?

Very! We’ve got 22 members of staff and the girls who were with us right at the start are still part of the business today. We don’t have a big turnover of staff.

Finally, tell us about the plans SIWD has for 2023.

To keep working on our national strategy and building up our brand in different regions. We also want to get into some larger department stores.

sayitwithdiamonds.com

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