It’s a rare joy for watch lovers to discover a premium product at a reasonable price. If you want a luxury watch, it’ll typically cost you the arm on which you’d wear it.
Kelvin Dijkhuizen, founder and CEO of Valuchi Watches, skyrocketed to success by defying this convention. In 2020, the Amsterdam native launched an Indiegogo campaign on a mission to create the happy medium of the luxury watch market. An affordable timepiece that wears like a Rolex but without the devastating price tag.
Valuchi smashed its $250,000 Indiegogo goal with the swift support of thousands of wristwear aficionados. Flush with new capital, Dijkhuizen poured himself into creation. The company segued from crowdfunding to eCommerce with aplomb and impressive profits, thanks to a bit of help from Easyship. Two years after its inception, Valuchi Watches sits comfortably at the crossroads of style and affordability.
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The Product
Valuchi Watches is the happy medium of the premium watch niche. With younger shoppers defecting from luxury brands, the company caters to those searching for a perfect blend of conscientious and conspicuous.
Valuchi Watches debuted with its Perpetual Calendar Series, a stylish quartet of 40mm watches fashioned in the classic style of Milan and Amsterdam. Shoppers take their pick from a selection of colorways like rose gold, gunmetal and silver steel, plus a plethora of leather band styles. From $215 to $399, all Valuchi watches feature:
- 316L stainless steel
- Italian leather straps
- Artisanal handcrafted finishes
- 24-month warranty
- Free shipping, 30-day returns
Dijkhuizen plans to release a new design module soon but likes to reflect before a leap forward. After just two years in business, the fledgling watchmaker now sells in over 100 countries and recently served his 25,000th customer.
The Business
Like many founders, Dijkhuizen sailed through product creation only to get snagged on fulfillment. It's a bummer to realize that you have to actually prep and ship your orders – and that this takes real time and money.
The Valuchi team was overwhelmed by the crush of orders it received after opening its eCommerce site. With more orders pouring in daily, delivery speeds were slowing and Dijkhuizen felt like he was going backward. He began looking for solutions and the Indiegogo team recommended that he get in touch with Easyship.
Easyship’s team of shipping experts identified that Valuchi would benefit from partnering with a third-party fulfillment center (3PL). In other words, the company could outsource fulfillment to a fulfillment facility (or two) that would coordinate all shipping and fulfillment on their behalf. Most importantly, Valuchi’s sales were strong enough to cover the fees plus leave a healthy profit margin.
In the end, Dijkhuizen opted for a 3PL in Hong Kong, the company's busiest market. Dijkhuizen says he was free again to grow his business with the weight of fulfillment off his shoulders.
“Easyship helped us incredibly by handling our entire logistical process. It gave us more room to focus on the necessary actions to scale our business rapidly. From that point on, the only thing we had to do was sell watches – no more thinking about the logistics.”
Easyship integrates with the warehouse management systems used by fulfillment providers. This allowed Valuchi to maintain visibility of shipments fulfilled in Hong Kong, view global tracking, and handle customer support queries with confidence. And if the company ever needed to do self-fulfillment, Easyship’s automated label generation (including customs paperwork) made it a breeze.
In Easyship, Valuchi Watches found a perfect fulfillment solution: access to a reliable fulfillment partner, plus the seamless backend with which to manage all inventory, shipping, and tracking in just a click.
If you're ready to simplify your fulfillment, go ahead and create your free Easyship account. You can read the full Valuchi Watches case study here.
