The Phrase “How to sell jewelry” returned about 48,70,00,000 results in 0.70 seconds when I started to write this post. After realising that there were millions of people sharing expert ideas on How to sell jewelry, I decided that It was not going to be fun for me to write about it. Instead, I thought, why not write about How not to sell jewelry.
I have been making and selling jewelry for almost 10 years now. During this period I have followed a lot of hacks, misdirections that were supposed to help me and done a lot of foolish things – like selling retail at wholesale price. I have not made a ton of money selling jewelry but I have been cautious enough to maintain my branding and brand identity. I have also tried not to fall into the discount trap and succeeded a few times. This post is meant for a beginner who is stepping into the jewelry selling world, enamoured and bewildered by it at the same time.
How not to sell jewelry
I will admit that this is a topic with wide scope. I will try to narrow it down to a few sub areas in this post. If you are interested in reading similar content, do say so in the comments and I will post more of the same.
Branding
Sell without branding
Selling without branding is the cardinal sin of business. When you transition from a hobby of making jewelry for yourself to selling, you might not find the need to brand. But that is where you are wrong. Before you begin to sell, you need to understand what are you selling and who your customer is. Also, you must see whether these two match one another. Check my Sayuri’s story here.
Who you are, what you do , and how you do it all forms your brand’s story.
You also need to have a visual identity. Ergo your logo, business card, social media handle names and headers. If you want people to remember your brand 10 years from now, you need to start working for it since the very beginning.
Sell at a store without your tags
Retailing at a popular store or a boutique is a fantastic opportunity provided they are selling your jewelry with your brand label displayed and/or tags intact. Some store owners would feel that having your tags in their store may turn their customers toward your website/store. They might even lure you with considerable orders. But do not fall for it. Your brand is your baby, do not abandon it. If a business owner truly understand fashion, they will get why you need you brand or tag displayed. Partner with them by not selling the same designs anywhere else.
Pricing Jewelry
Sell retail at wholesale price
It has never been my interest to sell wholesale as I make one of kind pieces. But I have been approached by many resellers and distributors to sell my pieces. I would at times concede to their offers. But because I never priced my jewelry for retail and wholesale separately, the profit margin would be negligible. I do create thematic creations via collaborations but that is only to increase my reach than to make a big profit. So If you want to make a profit selling wholesale, build it into your product. Start at the sourcing or design stage and take it all the way upto to promotions.
Give friends and family discounts
With Family and close friends, you do have to give discounts at times. But giving friends and family discounts to every friend you have is not going to help you make a profit. I have been fortunate that most of my family or friends (who buy from me) insist on paying full price. But I have also had instances where people demand a discount. I usually charge them full price but give them a freebie. This way I make a profit and clear up inventory of small items.
Encourage bargaining
If you are a seller, you must have definitely heard the phrase “Give me your best price” from customers. It means that they want to bargain. Phrases like “I won’t be able to afford it” or “am I not your regular customer?” are different ways of asking you to reduce the price. While I sometimes offer differential pricing (based on the customer and their order value) I do not encourage bargaining. When a customer asks me to reduce the price, I usually point out how they are actually getting a steal, for I tend to price as low as possible. It usually works and they end up buying more. A few walk away but they were never my target audience to begin with.
Sell Jewelry
Selling only your latest collections
I used to be very choosy about what to take for a craft show. For instance, I would only take the latest collection and would not display anything that was made 6-12 months back. But my mom would always bring these pieces and keep them under the table. Whenever she hears a customer asking for “More”, she would bring the box out and show it to them. Most often than not they would sell out.
Remember that unless a person follows you regularly on social media or buys from all of your collections, chances are that they wouldn’t know what is old and new. They are only looking for an attractive piece that they think would suit them or their dear one. But before you sell old pieces, make sure that they are intact. Check for fading of polish or coating, shape/form change (esp in mixed media pieces). Restring if required. At the end of the day, sell them if they meet your quality standards.
Well, now that we have come to the end of this post you must be wondering what the words “and other short stories” stand for and where are they? There are no “other” stories in this post. I simply adapted a bait method used in magazine cover lines to attract readers. It denotes that you are going to get more out the article than you hoped for. Plus, the current SEO pointers recommend long post titles.
PS: I do have a summer sale 10%-20% sale going on at the moment on my Facebook and Instagram handles. All the three pieces of jewelry showcased in this post are a part of that sale. So this is a great chance to get your best price. Don’t miss it.
I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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