Whether you are buying jewelry wholesale and reselling it or creating your own products to sell, the process for setting up an online jewelry store is relatively similar. First, you need to research the competition to know what you are up against. Then it’s time to make your jewelry and create prices before finally creating your website and selling your products. Below are some tips to make these steps as simple as possible.
Research the Competition
Researching the competition is important for different reasons, depending on if you are making your own jewelry or reselling wholesale items. If you are buying items only to resell them at a markup, then it’s best to focus your research on how much your competition is selling the same or similar jewelry for. Try to keep your prices similar to theirs. This way, customers won’t be tempted to buy from a seller with lower prices.
If you are making your own jewelry, it is still important to look at competitor prices, but not as important as if you were selling wholesale jewelry. Instead, the focus should be on making sure your designs are unique. Your pieces need something special to make them stand out from the competition to draw customers to you instead of to them.
Create/Buy Unique Products
Once you have done your research, it’s time to get to work making or buying your jewelry. No matter which option you choose, it’s almost always best to buy your jewelry or jewelry-making supplies in bulk. This way, you can get more of the supplies up front at a lower price per product.
Of course, buying in bulk isn’t always a realistic business plan, especially if you are using real gemstones in your work. If this is the case, buy only what you need to make the initial products. Once you get your business and see how quickly the products sell, then you can know which gems are best to order in higher amounts and which you need to order on an add-needed basis. Also, by keeping track of how long it takes for certain products to sell, you can make a schedule as to how often you need to make or order new jewelry and supplies.
Remember, it’s never too late to add new products to your online shop. If you want to be thrifty with your spending, try to use the same supplies to make more than one type of jewelry. It’s also never too late to take some products out of your shop. It’s a sad fact that not all products sell well. When this happens, it’s better to retire a product than to waste time and money on creating more of the same.
Make a Website/Online Shop
Finally, it’s time to create the platform that you will be using to sell your products on. The two best options are to make your own website or to make a profile on an already existing website. When making a new website, some of the best options are to use WordPress, Weebly, or Wix. No matter which you choose, there are plenty of jewelry store templates to choose from to make the website look professional.
Some great pre-existing websites jewelry sellers can find luck on include eBay, Etsy, and Facebook Marketplace. With any of these sites, you can make a profile for your shop and sell items. The websites often take a percentage of the profits from each sale. However, it is much easier to set up than a whole website, so there’s some give and take.
Take Advantage of Point-of-Sale Software
When running your own website, rather than having a profile on a sales website, you can often choose how you want to manage your sales. Whenever possible, try to use jewelry store software that is specifically made to help with sales for small business owners. These are often referred to as point-of-sale software or POS. They can be used to not only make sales but keep analytic records of sales and track inventory. Best yet, many POS can be used for both online and in-person sales, making them perfect for jewelry store business owners who use both!
Use these five tips before starting your online jewelry store. The more work you put into your online store, the more you are likely to get out of it.