Royal watchers were intrigued to (accidentally) learn insider info on how Meghan Markle's lifestyle business, As Ever, is allegedly performing – after the website appeared to glitch and show the exact number of products left in stock, leaving some questioning if the Duchess was struggling to sell many items.
As Ever sells the likes of edible flowers, pancake batter, wine, tea and preserves; Meghan's rosé wine, her first foray into alcohol, is reported to have sold out in under an hour when it first launched last July.
"When you sell out that quickly, actually, it's a double-edged sword, because it's an incredible thing to happen for any small business and any startup," Meghan said to Bloomberg, when discussing her wine successes. "[But] at the same time, you don't get the same metrics and learnings about which products are the most coveted, because it's all gone immediately."
The apparent site error was highlighted on a Reddit thread and suggests the insight into Meghan's business came about after users tried to add large quantities of products to their basket. For instance, when one user claimed to try adding 99,999 bottles of Napa Valley Rosé to their cart, a prompt appeared saying 'Only 23,972 items were added to your cart due to availability'.
Other alleged revealed details include the Duchess having 44,612 jars of marmalade remaining unsold, 14,154 cider mulling kits, 39,475 peppermint teas and 8,587 sage honeys.
Some Reddit users suggested these figures imply Meghan's brand is not doing well, given the large quantities of unsold products, however others have argued that it shows demand was expected and that it may well still be fulfilled – so actually, it's a good thing.
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According to a source with insider intel on As Ever, as reported by PEOPLE, the numbers are positive: "While it’s normal for a business not to talk about sales data, I think it's fair to say that the glitch that led to this data being revealed points to a business that isn't just successful — it's flying, literally off the shelf."
Elsewhere on the business front, Meghan and husband Prince Harry are set to produce a Netflix rom-com adaptation of Jasmine Guillory's The Wedding Date via Archewell Productions.
