How to Sell Jewellery Online

Interested in leveraging the dynamic and ever-expanding jewellery sector for your business? Learn how to sell jewellery online with our comprehensive 10 step guide.

Jewellery is a meaningful and timeless aspect of the human experience. A piece of jewellery’s importance and meaning can be anything, including a gift, a status symbol, or even a lovely home décor.

From Ancient Egyptian societies to the modern-day United States, jewellery has assisted people in expressing their uniqueness, affection for romantic partners, and friendship. Our need to appreciate aesthetic beauty, express ourselves, make fashion statements, and pass down jewellery to future generations as collectibles are ingrained in our human nature.

This article will guide you on how to sell jewellery online by choosing a strategy for setting up your online store and laying the necessary groundwork.

1. Register your business

Registering your eCommerce business is a must if you intend to expand it and surround yourself with a full-fledged team. Select a legitimate business name, then submit applications for business licences and permissions to establish the business formally. Remember that this procedure may vary based on where your business is located. 

In certain nations, sole proprietorship enterprises are not required to register. But legalising your online store will increase brand recognition by confirming its validity, which is beneficial if you intend to expand it. Additionally, it will safeguard your private valuables over time.

2. Find a niche

Selecting a niche is one of the first steps in starting an online jewellery business. Which types of jewellery are you looking to sell? Do you wish to concentrate on a particular material, like gold or silver? You could also consider selling costume jewellery.

Choosing a niche and strictly adhering to it will help set your business apart from the competition. Making a brand identity and focusing your marketing efforts will also become more straightforward.

Keep in mind that there are several jewellery businesses you can consider. Are you thinking about selling expensive jewellery of the finest quality? If so, your original supplies will cost more, but you’ll be able to sell your items for more money while maintaining a solid brand identity.

If costume jewellery is your preference, you can produce designs for less money, but they will also sell for less than fine jewellery. It can occasionally be beneficial to conduct a little of your own product research. You can, for instance:

1) Analyse your competition

Check out your online competitors’ jewellery stores to see what they’re doing well (and wrong). You can better distinguish your brand with the help of a thorough competitor analysis.

2) Conduct surveys

Find jewellery enthusiasts on social media groups or other forums and communities who could be willing to answer inquiries about the jewellery pieces they like.

3) Look for what’s trending on Google Trends

You can look for industry-specific trending themes using tools such as Google Trends to determine which products are in demand. For instance, the demand for resins, clay jewellery, and charm bracelets has recently increased.

3. Source your jewellery

After registering your business and choosing your jewellery niche, it’s time to decide where you will source your jewellery to sell online. The following list of business models, together with their benefits and drawbacks, can be used to source the inventory.

1) Dropshipping

If you want to launch a dropshipping business, you should have a pool of credible dropshipping suppliers ready in your area or elsewhere to ship the jewellery to your customers on your behalf. You only need to worry about setting up an online store to sell from and selecting the jewellery items themselves.

This business model’s simplicity will be its key selling point when considering selling jewellery online. Oberlo and AliDropship are two of the most well-known dropshipping platforms.

Advantages of Dropshipping

• Since you only purchase the things your customers order, there is less financial risk.
• It takes less time to set up.
• You don’t need to take care of inventory management, packaging, and shipping.

Drawbacks of Dropshipping

• Its profit margins are smaller.
• Controlling the quality of a product is not possible.
• Exchanges and refunds are more challenging.

2) Wholesaler

Getting wholesale jewellery for resale involves buying cheap, high-quality jewellery in large quantities from suppliers and reselling it through your own brand. Local and overseas wholesalers like Alibaba are excellent sources to get affordable jewellery pieces.

Advantages of Wholesale

• It allows you to check the quality of your items.
• It delivers products more quickly.
• It provides the opportunity for customised packaging.

Drawbacks of Wholesaling

• It requires money investment to start the business
• There is a possibility of unsold inventory.
• It needs a lot of storage space.

3) Private Labelling

Private labelling is the ideal business strategy for selling unique jewellery online. It entails working with a manufacturer to create specially designed jewellery for your business.

But selecting private labelling suppliers renowned for producing high-quality jewellery products is essential to maintaining your company’s reputation.

Advantages of Private Labelling

• You get to market distinctive jewellery that is designed especially for your business.
• You have complete control over branding, pricing, and packaging.

Drawbacks of Private Labelling

• It necessitates a substantial capital investment.
• It makes you dependent on manufacturers to ensure quality.

4. Self-manufacturing

The market for handcrafted jewellery is expanding. With this business strategy, you can make money from your pastime, and you won’t need to rely on suppliers. 

Alternatively, you can also build a website and market your jewellery there.

Advantages of Self-manufacturing

• It gives you control over factors like product quality, specs, cost, and shipping.
• It gives you the option of selling your jewellery on a legitimate website.

Drawbacks of Self-manufacturing

• Jewellery-making demands artistic skills.
• It requires a lot of time.

4) Choose where to sell

The internet is a vast world, and we are aware that it might be challenging to know where to begin. Your requirements, objectives, and target audience will determine the best online jewellery-selling platform for you.

We’ve made a quick-fire reference to the key online marketplaces for selling jewellery to help you out.

Online Marketplaces

The best feature of online marketplaces is that getting your jewellery in front of customers doesn’t require much effort. Sites like Jiji, PigiaMe, and Jumia are well-liked and receive a ton of daily traffic.

The drawbacks include the fact that you have no authority over branding and fierce rivalry from other businesses operating in the same marketplace. This means that if you’re not building a distinctive brand, you won’t acquire enough repeat or loyal consumers.

While you aren’t required to pay a high subscription cost to sell on online markets, you might have to pay transaction fees or listing fees depending on which marketplace you select. Always read the terms and conditions before committing because excessive fees may reduce profits.

Social Media

Using social media to sell jewellery can help you reach a broad audience. Additionally, it is inexpensive, quick, and simple to set up.

However, once you start, selling jewellery on social media can take a lot of work, especially if you do it daily. And since your brand and design are constrained to the style of your profile page, you will discover that you experience the same branding issues as you do on marketplaces.

We don’t advise relying only on social media to sell your jewellery; instead, it should be used as a tool to interact with customers and grow your brand’s following.

Online Store

The most efficient approach to building an online business is to sell jewellery using your online store. You have complete control over the look and feel of your store; you can put all your products on display in one location, build a credible brand, and deliver a smooth shopping experience for your customers.

The fact that creating an online store requires a bit more setup time than simply adding items to an online marketplace like Jumia is what deters most people from doing so. However, the WinguStore platform offers you the ease of starting your online store in under a minute!

You wouldn’t require technical expertise or coding experience to sell your products on this platform because the technical work has already been done.

You will receive many templates that match your brand identity. It will assist you in creating a store that appeals to your target audience. Additionally, it’s simple to manage online payments, add features, and change the look and feel of your online store when necessary.

WinguStore also provides various plugins for enhanced functionality and a selection of online business tools to assist you in managing your business more efficiently.

6) Set up your brand

Your brand identity is the perception that customers will have of your jewellery business. Brand identities are created over time and are essential for the legitimacy of a business.

Your jewellery business’s USP, or unique selling proposition, encapsulates what distinguishes it from the competition. It should justify why your business offers greater value to the customers than your direct competitors.

Respond to the following questions to develop a USP:

• Who is the ideal customer for my business?
• What are the issues my product can help the customer with?
• What is going to entice customers to buy my product?
• How does my brand differ from the competitors?
• Developing a USP can help you further define your brand by giving you a clear idea of what it stands for and the course it should pursue to get the best conversion rates.

Additionally, maintaining a positive brand image is crucial when selling goods like jewellery items. Create the persona for your brand and be creative with it. Here’s what you need to do:

• Find your brand voice and use it consistently. This is how you will communicate with your customers. Is your brand vibrant and quirky? Or is it minimalistic and subtle? Decide a unique brand voice to help customers remember your brand.
• Set up a visual brand identity. Create a memorable logo, select a stylish colour scheme, decide on your typography, and plan how you’ll photograph each product.
• Maintain a consistent presentation of your brand. Ensure that your brand appears consistent everywhere you sell jewellery, including your website and social media.

7) Price your jewellery appropriately

Setting the right price for your jewellery is essential for attracting customers.

The price of any jewellery piece that is crafted with precious stones needs to reflect that. Similarly, if you sell handcrafted jewellery, the final cost must take your time, labour, and skill into account.

It might be challenging to determine whether your product prices are appropriate; if they are too high, nobody will buy them, and if they are too low, you won’t turn a profit.

Here is a summary of our top suggestions.

• Cover your expenses. Make sure you’re not selling at a loss, at the very least!
• Do some market research. Look for another jeweller that seems comparable to you and compare their prices. Consider their justification for the price and how your items and prices compare.
• Try out this formula: Total Product Cost + Markup = Final Price.

8) Market your jewellery

Even if you have the prettiest jewellery in the world, no one will know about it if you don’t promote it. Marketing can help with it.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and you’ll need to continuously drive visitors to your website using a variety of marketing platforms.

Some common marketing strategies include:

1) Social media marketing

You need an Instagram account for your jewellery shop. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube are other platforms to consider. But you don’t have to be active across all social media channels.

Choose a few and strengthen each one individually. You can also run targeted ads for your potential consumers on Facebook and other social media platforms.

2. Google Ads

Use Google Ads to advertise your business, aid in the sale of goods or services, create awareness, and boost website traffic. You can create and modify your advertising campaign at any moment, including your ad copy, settings, and budget.

3. Email marketing

Email marketing remains one of the best strategies for interacting with customers. You can advertise new jewellery items, provide deals and discounts, publish blog updates, or make tailored recommendations by sending emails to customers who’ve opted-in to receive them.

Numerous excellent email marketing tools are available in the market to streamline and enhance your email marketing efforts.

4. SEO marketing

A strong marketing plan includes SEO marketing. Create how-to manuals, seminars, or blog entries on your product. It will assist in raising customer satisfaction and conversion rates for your business.

Use top SEO techniques to make your store more visible on SERPs (search engine results pages). Relevant and targeted keywords will help improve your Google SEO ranking.

5. Influencer marketing

An influencer is an individual with a solid social media following who can sway people’s purchasing decisions. The authority of influencers as reliable information sources is quite powerful.

Collaborate with influencers and other content makers to advertise your jewellery. In return, they will ask for a cut from every sale that results from their promotion.

9) Don’t forget the Shipping

Unless you’re operating a dropshipping business, online jewellery sales necessitate careful consideration of the shipping options.

While some eCommerce platforms already have shipping prices configured, others need the business owner to enter the information manually. Here are some of the most typical shipping types:

Free delivery

It is a typical marketing strategy to attract customers and increase jewellery sales. Free Shipping can be established for all items, particular categories, or orders that total a specified amount.

Uniform shipping fees

It is a simple method of covering delivery costs. You can lose some money on larger orders, but you’ll make more money on the smaller ones.

Estimated shipping costs

Some platforms permit the use of other applications that offer real-time shipping quotes. This method is the best way to ensure you aren’t losing money on shipping or overcharging your customers.

Shipping rates based on weight and price

It goes without saying, but you can use standard postal services to calculate delivery costs depending on the price or weight of your jewellery items.

While most jewellery items do not weigh much, there are also some heavy pieces. And you can use this shipping strategy if most of the jewellery you sell is heavy.

10) Establish your customer support

Customer support is crucial to the success of a jewellery business, as it is in the real world.

Customers frequently have inquiries about your products that go beyond the information provided in the product description, especially regarding sizing, materials, and business policies.

So, by using open-book customer service procedures, you’ll assist your customers in making more informed judgments before making purchases.

Customer service is a vital strategy for your jewellery business. You can utilise a range of techniques to implement a successful plan, including:

• Live chat.
• Messaging hubs.
• Information centres that contain answers to frequently asked questions.
• A personal shopping assistant.

The size and nature of your organisation will determine the quality of customer service you can offer. Whatever level of customer service you offer, it’s important to be upfront with your customers about how and when you’ll respond to their queries.