There is a huge opportunity to make money selling jewelry online—the industry is expected to reach $58.9 billion by 2027. Here are the five steps you’ll need to know to start your jewelry business.
[Read more: How to Set up an Online Store That Drives Sales]
Choose your niche
To set yourself apart, you’ll need to pick a niche, which is the type of jewelry you plan to offer. Here are a few different options you can choose from:
- Costume jewelry: Costume jewelry tends to be trendy, made of inexpensive materials and affordably priced. It’s a good option for the everyday shopper and will usually have the broadest appeal.
- Fine jewelry: Fine jewelry is made of high-quality materials like precious and semi-precious metals and gemstones. This type of jewelry won’t come with as much demand, but you can sell it at a higher price point.
- Handmade jewelry: Handmade jewelry is unique and not something you’ll find in most stores. But there could be a limit to how much you’re able to earn with a handmade jewelry business.
Find a manufacturer
Unless you plan to make your own jewelry, you’ll need to find a reliable manufacturer. There are limits to how much jewelry you can design and sell on your own.
A manufacturer will allow you to grow and scale your business. And if you want more control over the design process, you can work with a smaller manufacturer to custom-make the jewelry based on your designs.
When you’re looking for a manufacturer, it’s important to find one that is trustworthy. You need to know that they will make jewelry out of the materials you asked for. It’s a good idea to ask for recommendations from other business owners and request samples before ordering any items in bulk.
[Read more: What is Dropshipping? Here’s What You Need to Know]
Unless you plan to make your own jewelry, you’ll need to find a reliable manufacturer.
Decide on your pricing
Next, you’re going to need to decide on the pricing for your products. Pricing can be tricky because you want to be competitive. But if you price your products too low, it will hurt your ability to earn a profit.
It’s a good idea to spend some time doing market research to see what other jewelry companies charge. That will help you determine a realistic pricing range. You'll also want to evaluate the value your jewelry brings to your customers.
For instance, do you offer unique, custom-made pieces that your customers can’t find anywhere else? If so, this may be worth a higher price point to your customers.
Set up your online store
Now that you’re clear on your product and pricing, it’s time to set up your online store. You can always start with a third-party seller like Etsy or Amazon, but this isn’t always the best option. It’s hard to get traffic on these sites and grow your business over the long-run.
Setting up an e-commerce store on Shopify, Squarespace or Wix is most likely the better way to go. These sites are relatively intuitive to use and make it easy to get started and quickly launch your website.
Outline a marketing strategy
Finally, you’ll need to come up with a plan for marketing and selling your jewelry. When you’re just getting started, there are plenty of free marketing strategies you can take advantage of.
For instance, blogging can help you improve your store’s SEO and drive more traffic to your website. You can also build your audience on social media. And don’t forget to take advantage of word-of-mouth marketing—your friends and family may be more than happy to promote your new business.
Once you’re generating some revenue and you have a better sense of who your customer is, you might consider investing in paid advertising strategies.
[Read more: Best Online Marketing Services for Business Growth]
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