Stella & Dot – How Does It Work And Should I Sign Up?
Stella and Dot is a bit different from other online selling portals like Poshmark in that it requires some upfront capital. Stylists are required to purchase a Starter Kit ($199), not unlike an Avon salesperson would.
Once you enroll as a Stella and Dot Stylist, you’ll earn money by selling its original brand of jewelry, bags, hats, sunglasses, and other accessories. You’ll find that most of the jewelry is not quite fine jewelry, but a grade above costume jewelry.
However, there are a few pieces made from 24- and 14-karat gold, sterling silver, and semi-precious stones.
The brand is tasteful, as well as versatile, making it suitable for a variety of situations. The majority of items are listed below $50 and are popular enough that they have a small celebrity following.
The Stella & Dot Basics
How It Works
Sales are commission-based, earning each stylist 25 to 35 percent on each piece of jewelry sold.
You’ll start off earning a 25 percent commission on pieces sold, which slides up to 30 percent if you sell over $2,500 worth of merchandise, then 32 percent for over $5,000, and 35 percent for $10,000 or more in a single month.
You’ll earn even more from sales made by referrals who become Stella and Dot stylists.
Commission rates will vary depending on your current stylist rank and monthly sales total. The program offers many incentives and bonuses for qualifying performers.
An added perk is that as a stylist, you’ll receive 50 percent off of any jewelry you want to personally purchase, in addition to what was already included in your starter kit.
Who Is Stella & Dot?
The company’s leaders are Jessica Herrin (CEO and Founder) and Blythe Harris (Chief Creative Officer).
Their brand message for Stella and Dot is:
“We created Stella & Dot so women can make their own choices, run their own business, and have what matters most. Every purchase supports an independent woman in business, her local community, and Stella and Dot’s greater goal to create flexible income for women around the world. That’s fashion you can feel good about.”
Where?
Stella and Dot’s award-winning design team crafts all of its pieces in New York City and Sausalito, California – the company’s headquarters, where Jessica, Blythe, and the rest of the team can be found obsessing over the meticulous details like “creating custom facets for each stone, beading by hand, and fabricating unique metal components” that are one-of-a-kind.
Company History
After several years of local trunk shows and working out of her home from 2003 to 2005, Jessica grew her jewelry company to bring in $1 million in sales in 2006.
The next year, she decided to assemble a team, which includes esteemed advisor Mike Lohner and sales guru Danielle Redner. Soon after, Blythe Harris joined as partner and Chief Creative Officer. With her dream team in place, Jessica and Blythe re-branded the company as Stella and Dot, named after their beloved grandmothers.
In 2008, The New York Times and InStyle and Lucky magazines raved about Stella and Dot’s style, ingenuity, and rise to success. Over 1,000 flexible careers were created for dynamic women across the U.S. and Canada. Sales soared to $3.8 million.
In 2010, the growing Stylist force earned $50 million in commissions by helping others as they boosted their own careers.
Stella and Dot was then ranked the 67ᵗʰ fastest growing company in America by Inc. 500 and surpassed $100 million in sales.
In 2012, Stella and Dot expanded to the U.K. and Germany.
The company paid out over $100 million in commissions to Stylists and reached $200 million in sales.
CCO Blythe Harris also received the FGI Rising Star Award for Accessories and Stella and Dot won the ACE Award for Retail Innovation.
How to Sign Up
Head to the Stella & Dot website and select “Be A Stylist” along the top menu. From there, enter your first and last name, and your email, before creating a nickname, which is what customers will see on your profile.
Afterward, you will be asked to enter your sponsor’s information (only if you have one). Otherwise, you will be assigned a sponsor, who will be serving as your mentor.
After that, Stella and Dot will ask for your date of birth, Social Security number, and PayPal info — for payment purposes. Lastly, you’ll choose which starter kit you’d prefer.
The price points are $199 for $150 in bestsellers plus $350 of your own chosen jewelry; $499 for $150 in bestsellers plus $1000 of your own chosen jewelry; or $699 for $150 in bestsellers plus $1500 of your own chosen jewelry.
Starting Out
For $199, you can receive catalogs, marketing materials, a training guide, display pieces for the jewelry, and brochures for recruiting new stylists.
Stella and Dot also gives you its business app, Dottie, which lets you share the latest collections, track your business, and finish an order digitally. Plus, the company provides each stylist a personal website where customers can directly place orders.
The Stella & Dot Trunk Shows
A Trunk Show is when a Stella and Dot Stylist comes to a customer’s home and brings over all the hottest new accessories for the entire party to try on. The host of a home jewelry party will earn free accessories and have fun at the same time! The more the host’s guest shop, the more freebies and half-off accessories the hostess earns.
A trunk show is always a nice thing to offer your customers, as long as it makes sense for you. You can also sell Stella and Dot products individually and online.
Social selling is huge right now, so it’s really easy to take parties outside of your home by setting up “events” on Facebook, inviting everyone you’re friends with, and encouraging them to invite their own friends to your event. This is great because it will allow you to sell outside your own social circle and local area.
As an added bonus, hostesses who hold these events for you can get up to 25 percent in your total sales in free Stella and Dot products.
Events
Stella and Dot’s events are meetups for sellers within the Stylist Community. You can use the community page to meet other sellers in your area, to host your own meetup, and to see and try on the latest accessories from the brand.
Stylist Levels
As you hone your selling skills, you can climb the stylist ladder. Everyone starts as a Stylist and has the chance to become an Executive Director if they get more sales.
- Stylist (which made up 73.9 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $1,400)
- Lead Stylist (which made up 5.1 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $1,600)
- Associate Stylist (which made up 10.1 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $3,600)
- Senior Stylist (which made up 3.6 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $5,700)
- Star Stylist (which made up 4.6 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $13,700)
- Associate Director (which made up 1.5 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $24,200)
- Director (which made up 0.8 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $48,200)
- Senior Director (which made up 0.2 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $86,800)
- Star Director (which made up 0.1 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $131,400)
- Executive Director (which made up 0.1 percent of stylists in 2017 – with an average income of $291,600)
Promoting & Social Community
Stella and Dot Stylists have coined the hashtag #stelladotstyle across many platforms including Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Utilizing this tool to increase online visibility and directing traffic to your website is a no-brainer.
Pros vs. Cons
The pros of selling for a company like Stella and Dot are that the company remains relatively transparent in its earnings potential with a clear compensation plan. This helps keep expectations realistic as it shows that the majority of stylists make under $5,000 annually.
Another benefit is that there is no sales quota to meet. Even if you begin selling, and sell just one item per year, you will still earn a 25 percent commission.
Lastly, the company is responsive regarding complaints, including 24/7 customer service and free product returns.
The biggest cons would be that the products are a bit pricey considering they carry no brand recognition and are, for the most part, not made with expensive materials. Hosting trunk shows is hard work, as is pushing products with a high price-point.
As for the pros, there is no sales quota to meet. However, this is different if you want to collect commissions on your recruited stylists.
To maintain your status and outside commissions, you must sell at least $500 of product per quarter, otherwise, the commissions from your recruits will go to another lead stylist.
Closing
While Stella and Dot does offer trendy, fun products and attentive customer support, it will still take a fair amount of effort for stylists to make a steady full time income.
Additionally, the products can be a bit pricey and require a certain demographic of customers with sufficient disposable income to afford many of the offered pieces.
That being said, if you have an eye for fashion, Stella and Dot is a great job for single parents, and others looking for flexible work that can be done from anywhere.