Hi everyone,

I've just started a small jewellery business, and am finding it hard to attract new customers. I'm based in Australia, and mostly use the internet rather than a shop front.

My designs are all unique, and I try to keep them youthful, and break free from the idea that pearls are a granny-fashion. Every piece on my website can be worn with denim, for example.

I'm wondering if anyone here has any ideas on how I can broaden my customer base, or has had similar difficulties?

I'm also not sure if I'm allowed to post my web address here, so I'll wait until someone says it's okay.

Any help with this is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Marikita

[Caitlin]

Hi Marikita
Welcome. You may put your web address under your posts in your signature. Go to the Profile section to set it up automatically.

As for your issue with building an internet business, there are a number of people here who have done it well. Jeremy is coming out with a book about it, if it hasn't come out already. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076...lance&n=283155
(Maybe we should add some of these internet business books to the books and resources forum........)

I look forward to seeing your site and I think you will find the folks around here will do their best to answer your questions.

[Kevin Canning]

Hi marikita,

First I want to welcome you to Pearl-Guide.com and I hope you stick around and post often.

As to your question, I think are going to find that selling on the Internet is not as easy as it once was, but definitely possible.

My designs are all unique, and I try to keep them youthful, and break free from the idea that pearls are a granny-fashion. Every piece on my website can be worn with denim, for example.

While I think it is important to stay current and have youthful designs, you will find that "granny-fashion" will be your bread and butter. Baby boomers have the money, not the 20 somethings and there is a lot more of them.

If I was just starting out I would concentrate on building a nice professional site and have it optimized so that it is search engine friendly. Also keep the size of your site small, people won't wait for more then a few seconds for your site to download.

I would also think about doing some PR work in your local area and try and play off the fact that you are australian and many pearls are coming from your backyard(if you are working with South Sea pearls that is).

And of course like Caitlin mentioned put your website in your signature as we get a lot of consumer based traffic through the forums and it is a good way to get your name out.

I won't lie these days its hard for any new website to get rolling in under a year, but if you work hard it is possible.

Hi Caitlin and Kevin,

Thanks for your replies, and suggestions.

I realise you're absolutely right about why I should target the granny-fashion market - and it's something I hadn't thought about or reasoned with.

I suppose that when I was working in jewellery retail I realised that pearls were put together in such an old fashion that it was hard to find something with a bit of youth, and I tried to fill that gap without realising that it's probably not such a lucrative niche.

You mentioned that I should do some PR in my area, but I'm not sure what I should do... do you have any suggestions at all?

As you can tell, I'm quite young and inexperienced with running a business, and I'm still just finding my feet.

Any help is apprectiated!

Thank you!

Hi,

If you are targeting a young customer base, the sad but surefire truth is that you need a celebrity to wear your creations first. If you know about a certain popular celebrity, create something that this person is likely to like and distinctively yours. Send it as a gift to said celebrity with a gushy letter about how much you appreciate this person and chances are that sooner or later you will get a plug. At that time, your designs will become desirable and expensive and will also be available as knock-offs on eBay for fractions of pennies on the dollar. Hence the popularity of the "quality first" granny style with serious pearl sellers.

Zeide

Yikes, I'm doomed, lol.

Don't get me wrong, I use only stirling silver or 9ct gold fittings at this stage - and try to keep away from base metals (other than crimps of course) and I use natural stones, so quality isn't an issue there.
I guess it's just the perception of younger pieces being more affordable, and therefore having corners cut.

Should I try a completely different style of product, or should I just be fine-tuning my exposure and marketing?

Ta.

Hi Marikita,

The sad truth still holds, young people buy "cool" and cool is what their favorite celebrities say is cool. In "cool" stuff, you either have to have a nose for cool or you need a plug. I can tell you what will be cool a few years from now. Slides on sterling silver or niobium box chains with a single baroque pearl that has near psychedelic orient in almost every color you can think of. That'll do.

Zeide

Hi Marikita

Can you tell us where you are in Australia and what pearls you are working with???

Should I try a completely different style of product, or should I just be fine-tuning my exposure and marketing?

You said that your pieces are unique and that every piece could be worn with denim. This obviously makes your product distinctive from what else is on the market, and if you believe in your product, I would fine tune your exposure and marketing.

Good luck!

Hi Cam,

I'm based in Brisbane, and am using chinese fresh water pearls from a local supplier who imports them.

I've realised that the design aspect of what I do - rather than the type of pearl I use - is going to be my real point of differentiation.

As I said, I am very new to this, and my inexperience with the operational side of a jewellery business is probably already starting to show.

I'd like to say though, I really appreciate the support I'm getting on here. Thanks for your replies and suggestions!

Marikita

[Caitlin]

Hi Marikita
I enjoyed your website this AM. It is quite well done and unique to you. Actually, I'd like to see stronger, maybe darker? photos and the closeup pictures bigger, but that is a very small thing.

I think you need to consider closely before taking on the granny market. Kevin Jeremy, Amanda, Terry, Stephen to name some of the gang here, are all dealing in that market and that is what they know.

You are an artist and it is your creativity that is driving your creations, so far- right? I think that is the most important thing to consider in where you go with this endeavor.

Are your creations made to order, one of a kind? How many can you make of just one design? Do you make them yourself or hire it out? There are a number of successful sites such as yours, so I think you need to find and study those sites for their sales and other techniques.

If you have the expertise and the basic investment money, and find a good and reliable source of top quality pearls, you can do the granny business, too. I am not sure I would want to compete with Kevin or Jeremy because I doubt I could find a better source than they have, so before I can begin my business, I am already behind them.....left in the dirt, so to speak .

On the other hand, developing your business from where you are, you can borrow some marketing techniques and some strategies from these guys- and you are not going to be their competition. Now, I am not sure how long til you can expect to make a living from this; what I do know is that it is possible and others are doing it.

You have done quite a lot so far. I hope you have a clear business plan. If not, develop one; it will bring you clarity.

[Kevin Canning]

The sad truth still holds, young people buy "cool" and cool is what their favorite celebrities say is cool.

I think that's an overly negative view of young people today and Freud might have a few things to say about your comment .

I am relatively young as our my friends and I don't know of a single instance when somebody consciously made a purchase because of a celebrity, subconscious may be a different story.

I feel celebrities can help strengthen a brand but they won't create it. Young people today are more savvy then any generation in history and aren't easily swayed into a purchase simply because J-Lo says so.

What starts trends is exclusivity and ownership, people want to feel like they discovered the product that they are a part of the brand.

Look at the huge fad that Hush puppy shoes were in the late 90's - the reason this happened is because they were so obscure that they became cool. The people that wore them became part of a "club" and gained ownership of the brand, they felt as if they discovered the shoe. Once too many people and celebrities starting wearing them, they ceased to be cool for the original members of the "club" and now hush puppy's are the same old tired shoe they used to be.

If you can create this feeling with your designs then you can create a run away freight train with young people and do more business then you ever could with "granny pearls".

I do think you can carve out a nice niche doing designer jewelry but it is much harder then doing "granny pearls". I would suggest doing a little of both and keep working on your designs if that is what you love to do. Like Caitlin said, its going to be hard to compete doing strictly granny pearls, but as of yet there isn't a lot of competition in the designed pearl jewelry area yet.

Figure out how you are/can be different then the top guys in the industry and then make sure everyone knows it. Just be prepared to work hard for it.

Okay, I'll try and reply to these separately.

Caitlin:
Do you mean the background should have more colour in it, or that the pieces don't have enough contrast (to the white) in them?
I'll have a play around with them in photoshop or something, and maybe get your opinion when I do...

I do make my own pieces, and each so far is one of a kind but are not currently made to order. I would like to explore that aspect of the business, although because I'm mostly online-based, I'd like to put that on hold until I find a really simple and user-friendly interface for ordering custom jewellery.

I can make a few of each design, but I currently only buy one strand of each stone/pearl to experiment with at a time. I could buy more than that to make multiples of each piece - which would save time (and therefore money) in designing each item.

I'm not sure if it's better to go that way, or stick to the exclusivity of having one-off designs.

I'm still scouting decent sites - but how do I know which ones I should emulate? It's hard to tell which sites get good online sales.

Thanks for the names, I'll start following those up next week. As for the business plan, I'm winging it so far, so to speak, but I am starting to feel the need to sit down and plot the course... I think that's my August task



PearlsOfJoy:
I think I'll take the middle-ground in the endorsements debate.
I do agree that celebrity endorsements can help a brand, and I was even considering sending some stock to someone, but was struggling to think of someone who would be suitable - eg. Some of my stock on Paris Hilton would get huge exposure, but her values do not align with the image I want for this business.
And I think you're right about customers basing their decisions on more than just who they've seen wearing it.

I see exactly what you mean with the Hush Puppies example too. I have thought of branding my jewellery with s/s ID tags (you know the kind that goes before a final on a chain?) but I haven't found where I can get them made. Does anyone know of any suppliers (preferably in the Asia-Pacific region) who make those to order?

Thanks again

[Caitlin]

Hi Marikita
Since you are a bead stringer and designer, I am going to move this page to The Lowly Beader's Club Forum, of which you are already a member, because you design and string your own beads. also we tend to (not always, though!) use lowly grades of freshwater pearls far below the quality required by the major sellers on this forum.

I notice you took your link down when I moved this thread. I hope you will put it back and or post some pictures of your pieces.

Thanks Caitlin,

I'm still new to the posting-of-pictures part of forums... I've managed to avoid it so far, lol. Any 'posting pictures for dummies' advice would be very much appreciated!

As for the website, you can all visit it: www.mypearls.com.au

I'll keep looking for instructions for pictures.

Cheers,

Marikita

[Kevin Canning]

I would remove all those adds from your website if you are serious, they are very distracting and most real e-com companies don't run ads for their competitors on their homepage.

Not to mention you are breaking googles TOS by using that many ads, if they find out they will ban you from their program.