A beautiful story – ecommerce with heart

To the German article

In the book “Pippi Longstocking” there is a scene where Pippi tells her friend Tommy that she wants to buy a piano. “But, Pippi,” Tommy laughs, “you can’t play the piano!” To which Pippi replies, “How should I know when I’ve never tried?”

Pippi’s attitude is one that founder and Shopware user Cathelijne Lania shares. This post looks at her inspiring story, her online store, and how she managed to set up a company that is not only generating revenue but also helping make the world a better place.

Founder - A beautiful story - Cathelijne Lania

After finishing university, Cathelijne was keen to do something a little out of the ordinary and ended up going to Nepal for six months to help set up a computer center and teach computing and internet skills. She didn’t know Nepal, but she soon fell in love with the country, its people, and Nepalese culture. She also noticed something very special – while most of the population weren’t wealthy in material terms, Cathelijne discovered there was a different kind of wealth in the way they lived together and took care of each other. People there had practically nothing but were always willing to share what little they had with their fellow human beings.

One of the places she visited often during her stay was a small, local silver factory with 12 employees. She bought gifts for friends and family there and built a rapport with the employees, whom she came to know and hold dear.

All good things must come to an end

After six months, she returned to the Netherlands and found a job in marketing. It was there that she learned how to run ad campaigns and developed her expertise in branding and sales. She oversaw budgets worth millions of euros and was brilliant at her job, but one day she took a call that would change everything.

“Hi Cathelijne,” her mother said, “I’m just back from Nepal. Do you remember the little silver factory where you bought jewelry for us? They’ve just lost their biggest customer – the employees are about to lose their jobs...”
This call was all it took to completely turn her life around. Cathelijne handed in her notice and took the next flight out to Nepal. She didn’t have a concrete plan in mind but thought it would make sense to try and sell the jewelry that the factory produced online. “How should I know when I’ve never tried,” she thought. The words of Pippi Longstocking stuck with her throughout the long flight.

The start of something big

In Nepal she met with the 12 employees to work out what they were able to produce and sell. While they sat and chatted, they drank tea from old porcelain cups. Cathelijne had a flash of inspiration. “There’s an old Dutch saying about broken porcelain bringing luck – let’s break it and see if it helps us come up with a good idea.”

The founder Cathelijne Lania Katharina sets the foundation for her future business.

After smashing the cups, they were left with a heap of decorative fragments – fragments that were perfect for transforming into beautiful jewelry. The silver factory produced the first batch, and Cathelijne returned to the Netherlands to set up an online store.

It wasn’t long before a magazine published a feature on a beautiful story, outlining how the store had come into being. No one could have predicted what happened next. People from around the country began sending her porcelain; a treasured teacup that had belonged to a beloved grandmother, for example, or a cherished plate, brought back from a rare visit home. Suddenly Cathelijne wasn’t just selling jewelry, it was about memories too.

A fabulous plan for the future

This all happened 15 years ago. Since then, a beautiful story has expanded enormously. Today the business has eight factories, 800 resellers, 217 employees in Nepal, and, of course, an online store based on Shopware.
But Cathelijne has never lost sight of the reason she set up her business: to help. Her employees earn significantly more than a basic wage. She calls it “living wage plus”. In practice, the employees earn an income that enables them to live a normal life and set aside money for their children’s education or medical care. A beautiful story achieves this by regularly surveying employees and asking their thoughts about their situation – their wages are adjusted on the basis of this research. The enterprise also provides extras such as childcare and paid maternity leave – benefits that are taken for granted in our part of the world but practically nonexistent in Nepal.

Cathelijne’s mission is also emphasized in the online store. On the product page and in the basket you will find information on how long it takes to make a specific product.

So suddenly you’re not just buying products, you’re giving work to a person who urgently needs that work. In 2020, the business saw 2 million hours worked.

In 2020, the business also published its first Impact Report, outlining its mission, goals, and activities. Everyone can read where the business’ products come from, how it treats its employees, which organizations it supports, and how it reacted to the global pandemic. The primary objective is simple: to have 1,000 workers on a “living wage plus” by 2025. And that’s how a “beautiful story” can unfold in the ecommerce sector.

 

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