Jennifer Lyons is the president and founder of the e-commerce site, Jenni Treasures. The site is a Unicorn of sorts attracting a growing number of wealthy patrons interested in unique, high-quality, handmade, inexpensive items they can purchase and share with their families and friends.
Russ Alan Prince: To begin with, please describe Jenni Treasures.
Jennifer Lyons: I think of Jenni Treasures as a boutique e-commerce site offering products with character and charm. My team and I search the world for unique and different products that are not available from large e-commerce sites like Amazon or eBay. There is a reemerged desire for specialty goods, which these mainstream stores rarely offer. Our goal is to find different, interesting, and inexpensive products that are fun.
Jenni Treasures is an outgrowth of a previous e-commerce store I managed on Mercari. As that store became more successful, I recognized that some of the products were gaining traction with wealthier patrons. This led me to better understand what these patrons wanted and the result became my new e-commerce site, Jenni Treasures. What’s been great is that the wealthy and those substantially less wealthy are finding products they like on the site.
Prince: Why do you think the wealthy are going to Jenni Treasures?
Lyons: I admit, when I started in e-commerce, I wanted to offer high-quality products that were not easily available and that were not expensive. My team and I looked for great, very affordable high-quality products that are handmade, made in small batches, and fair trade. We bring in exceptional items from around the world in a range of categories such as decor, jewelry, and fashion.
I want to emphasize that our goal was to deliver great products that almost anyone could purchase. While we’ve seen that more and more wealthy people are interested in our selection, no product costs more than $100 and most products cost considerably less.
For example, we’re seeing parents who are affluent and not so affluent buying handbags and a variety of handmade products for themselves, their children, and their friends. The likes of Tiffany, Hermes, and Patek Philippe have nothing to worry about. But, we’re happy that our products are appreciated for what they are. Their appeal is that they are not costly, they are high quality, and usually unusual.
Prince: What do you most enjoy about Jenni Treasures?
Lyons: It takes a lot of work to get even a small e-commerce site like ours to run well. Still, being an entrepreneur is very appealing and making money isn’t bad either. Jenni Treasures is a new venture, just opening in the summer of 2022, and it’s already getting traction from a diverse set of patrons including the wealthy. Also, shopping for unique items that meet our specifications is a lot of fun. We learn about different cultures and trends around the world which helps us expand.
Prince: What is the future of Jenni Treasures?
Lyons: We’re working hard to continue to grow. We’re constantly reinvesting to provide products that are different and fun—with an emphasis on the fun. Finding inexpensive but unique high-quality items is work and we want to continue to raise the bar when it comes to what we offer. What we now offer is a fraction of what is yet to come as new items are added weekly.
Looking forward, while we’re finding the wealthy are buying from our site which is great, I want to make sure our products can be purchased by almost everyone.
RUSS ALAN PRINCE is the Executive Director of Private Wealth magazine (pw-mag.com) and Chief Content Officer for High-Net-Worth Genius (hnwgenius.com). He consults with family offices, the wealthy, fast-tracking entrepreneurs, and select professionals.
