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Below is our recent interview with Dushan Shimko, from Jewel:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Jewel Commerce?
A: Jewel is a luxury cashback site. Customers who shop via Jewel earn cashback on over 350 luxury and premium brands. Thus far, we’ve focused on the top brands in fashion, beauty, home and travel. Retailers partner with Jewel to connect with aspirational and cost conscious customers, while still maintaining their brand. Jewel is proudly headquartered in Detroit, MI.
Q: When customers shop through Jewel, they get cash back from their purchases; could you explain how does that work?
A: We have strong relationships with all of our retailers and our partnerships allows us to secure exclusive cashback rates for our customers. Retailers pay us a commission for referring them a sale, and we pass back part of that commission directly to customers. We pay our customers every season for the total cash back that they’ve earned for every shopping trip that they’ve made via Jewel over the last quarter. We take care of all of the tracking and reporting – there’s no extra work our customers need to do. Customers simply earn cash back every time they shop via our site.
Q: What has been your biggest learning since you started Jewel Commerce?
A: I’ve been fortunate to be so closely tapped into customer needs and feedback. Jewel has given me the opportunity to focus in on our customer niche and react swiftly.
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Q: Why did you want to become an entrepreneur?
A: I really wanted to build something from scratch and have a real sense of ownership. It’s fulfilling to have a direct impact on all the decisions and strategic planning for Jewel.
Q: What do you love most about your job?
A: I’ve met so many interesting people throughout the planning, creating and launch of Jewel and as Jewel grows, we’re really building a special team. I also really enjoy constantly evaluating the direction we should be going, reviewing the dynamic nature of our needs from security, infrastructure, and architecture to tools and process.
Q: Tell us more about your website. What makes it unique?
A: Jewel is the only cash back site focused solely on luxury retail and we consistently offer some of the highest cash back rates online. We also help grow brand awareness for all our retailers while helping to build their customer base with our members.
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Q: Jewel just launched a new site, how has it changed since the original launch?
A: We initially launched in July 2017, we had a 1.0 UI. Although our site was visually strong, it was fairly minimal and we had only a quarter of the retailers we have today. As we’ve grown with retailers, we’ve built new and better ways to connect our members with those retailers. We’ve added The Collections – featuring retailers with new products and increased cash back. Small changes like this enhance the shopping experience for our members.
Q: What does the future hold? Where is the company headed?
A: We’ve built a strong technological base which will be a strong component for our expected growth in the next 3 years. We’ll be looking into big data and AI techniques to continue to enhance user experience and retailer experience.
There’s a huge shift in luxury spending that’s going online. Jewel has an amazing opportunity to be a resource for any brands that are looking for online sales. Lastly, there is a fast-growing startup ecosystem in Detroit and we’re excited to be part of the entrepreneurship growth story that’s happening in our city.
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