Atelier Technology, a UK-based enterprise cloud platform that connects the jewellery supply chain, is banking on mainland China’s digitalised market and manufacturing sector for expansion and will open an office in Guangzhou in May.
“When I go to mainland China, I feel like I’m seeing the future and living the future. For this reason, I believe China is a very big market for us and, therefore, I’m pushing very hard for us to move into the market,” Dominic Hill, co-founder and managing director at Atelier Technology, said during a Skype interview.
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The company, founded in 2014, is present in mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and has been working with some of the largest factories in Punyu and Guangzhou, two of the mainland’s main jewellery hubs along with Shenzhen.
“We’ve just hired our first mainland Chinese employee, and we are targeting the launch of a simplified Chinese version of our software in the upcoming Hong Kong International Jewellery Show,” said Hill.
Atelier Technology will have a booth at the annual event, which is being hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council from February 26 to March 2.
“It is crucial for jewellery brands to be quick but also diversified. They need to adopt a fast-fashion approach, and for doing so they need to create a rapid and agile supply chain,” said Hill, who has been working in the jewellery industry for about 13 years.
On average, it takes about 200 days for a product to reach the market … That is insane
He said the inefficiency at the heart of the sector was hurting it. “On average, it takes about 200 days for a product to reach the market, starting from product development to distribution. That is insane.”
The Atelier Technology platform was built with the aim of helping jewellery companies get their products to the market at a faster rate. Despite launching as recently as 2017, it has attracted attention from key market players in the industry.
In December last year, Atelier Technology secured an undisclosed investment from a consortium of five companies led by Austrian company Swarovski and the Hong Kong jeweller, Chow Tai Fook.
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“Within one year, we’ve secured more than 500 clients,” said Hill, who added that some of the company’s most active markets included the UK, the United States, Thailand, Hong Kong, Italy and Turkey. India is the largest market for the company – more than 75 per cent of diamond exporters in Mumbai use the software.
Hill also said the e-commerce jewellery sector was a fast-growing market for the company.