How to start selling jewelry online

The online share of jewelry sales is steadily growing, and trading in it is becoming more and more at­trac­tive. It all starts with finding an online mar­ket­place like Amazon, Etsy, or similar. You also need original ideas and a clear target group, and you need to be good at main­tain­ing your personal brand.

What are the pros of selling jewelry online?

The jewelry business is a fiercely com­pet­i­tive sector in e-commerce. Sta­tis­tics on online sales of jewelry show it’s one of the most purchased products, along with elec­tron­ics and household goods. If you’re toying with the idea of selling products online, they you should consider selling jewelry.

There are many pros to selling jewelry online and make having your own jewelry business at­trac­tive despite the com­pe­ti­tion. These include:

• Large profit margins from 25 to 75 percent
• Many niche areas for spe­cial­ized jewelry
• Many low-cost, free, and scalable online sales platforms
• Easy entry to online jewelry business with own online shop
• Easy to store and ship thanks to light weight and compact size
• Many pos­si­bil­i­ties due to many jewelry cat­e­gories
• Per­son­al­iza­tion through en­grav­ings or jewelry on request/order
• Higher prices for luxury items
• Sale of handmade jewelry or by drop­ship­ping
• Sub­jec­tive aesthetic per­cep­tion can be guided by online marketing

How do you sell jewelry online?

There are many options when it comes to selling jewelry online. To find out the best method for you, start by asking yourself these questions:

• What kind of jewelry do I want to sell?
• Who is my target group?
• Which cat­e­gories (necklaces, rings, watches, bracelets, etc.) do I want to sell?
• How much do I want to invest?
• Do I want to sell handmade items or purchase them from jewelry designers?
• Will I cover storage and transport?
• Do I want to start my own brand or act as an in­ter­me­di­ary seller?

Answer these questions as early on as possible because the platform and tools you’ll need will depend on this.

Sell via online store or online mar­ket­place?

If you’re selling jewelry online, then you need a shop or a selling platform. Having your “own store” doesn’t have to be your own website, because you can sell jewelry both through your own online store and through a seller account on Amazon, Alibaba, or Etsy and other al­ter­na­tives.

Online store on your own website

Online store on a sales platform or online mar­ket­place

Selling jewelry online in your own online store

If you’ve opted for own online store, you’ll need to create and set up a website. Both free and paid software tools are available. For example, you can create a free online store with WordPress and combine it with WordPress plugins like the e-commerce plugin WooCom­merce. Many WooCom­merce plugins to optimize orders and payments promise to make your WordPress CMS (content man­age­ment system) not only a solid pro­fes­sion­al website, but also a powerful sales platform.

There are many WordPress al­ter­na­tives and WooCom­merce al­ter­na­tives that can help you create a website with an online store complete with inventory man­age­ment. You can add products and offers to your store with social commerce and social selling and market it via social media by for example ac­ti­vat­ing the “sell on Instagram” feature. As an aesthetic product, jewelry is es­pe­cial­ly well suited for an appealing Instagram online store. Here, the most important thing is excellent product pho­tog­ra­phy.

But let’s not forget about all-in-one online store solutions like Shopify and other al­ter­na­tives including Shopware and Big­Com­merce. These aren’t very expensive but offer every­thing you’ll need and a con­nec­tion to an online mar­ket­place. From easy setup to tailored designs, product pre­sen­ta­tions, and managing orders, contracts, and shipping: e-commerce platforms and store builders bundle all the important tools and can be scaled flexibly depending on your budget.

Tools to create an online store

Selling jewelry on online mar­ket­places

There are many online mar­ket­places on which you can sell jewelry, but the biggest platforms are un­doubt­ed­ly Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and Etsy. With Amazon leading online sales by a wide margin, you shouldn’t miss the chance to sell your products on Amazon. With a pro­fes­sion­al Amazon seller account, you don’t even need your own website. Simply add your products to your store and start. With the Ful­fill­ment by Amazon (FBA) program, you also use Amazon’s logistics (for a fee) to not have to deal with storage, transport, shipping, returns and customer service.

There are also many Amazon al­ter­na­tives that let you sell jewelry on online mar­ket­places without a big budget, logistics, or a website. Es­pe­cial­ly if you’re working in­de­pen­dent­ly, selling on Etsy, is a great solution once you’ve opened an Etsy store. Many customers browse for original, handmade products here specif­i­cal­ly. But Etsy al­ter­na­tives like Storenvy, Amazon Handmade, and Bonanza are also great picks for selling jewelry. If you don’t create your own products, then you can resell items via drop­ship­ping.

Online mar­ket­places to get started selling online

Step-by-step guide to selling jewelry online

Follow these steps to get your online jewelry business up and running, generate as much revenue as possible, and build your customer base:

Step 1: Pre­lim­i­nary con­sid­er­a­tions and prepa­ra­tions

Develop product idea and sales strategy

If you’re just starting out, the first step is de­vel­op­ing ideas for products and sales strate­gies. This includes jewelry lines, in­di­vid­ual pieces, and realistic pricing. Also, decide whether you want to sell your own products or third-party goods (e.g., via drop­ship­ping). Do you want to focus on a few unique pieces or do you rather want to sell bigger col­lec­tions to generate large sales?

Define your target audience and cat­e­gories

Create a framework based on factors like de­mo­graph­ics and buying behavior to define your target audience and the jewelry you want to sell e.g., rings, necklaces, bracelets, and watches.

Develop the look and feel of your store

Not only what and to whom you sell is crucial. The style, design, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion should also be well thought out to make your brand or store dis­tinc­tive. The goal is to create recog­ni­tion value.

Explore com­pe­ti­tion and trend analysis

You should neither ignore your com­peti­tors nor go in the complete opposite direction of the com­pe­ti­tion. Analyze similar business models and jewelry lines, create an overview of price ranges in jewelry cat­e­gories, and get inspired by how suc­cess­ful stores’ design and marketing.

Create a business plan

The basis and guide of a larger-scale jewelry business is to create a business plan. This includes a fully formed business idea, clear marketing strate­gies, growth targets, sales channels, and in­for­ma­tion on how your jewelry is made or bought from man­u­fac­tur­ers. A realistic financial plan that breaks down your budget, in­vest­ment plans, and potential investors is es­pe­cial­ly important, and should also include financial risks.

Develop a marketing strategy

Now it’s time to develop a marketing strategy for promoting your website out there. Find out what marketing tools could come in handy. For example, there are tools like Amazon SEO, Amazon keyword tools and WordPress marketing plugins. Ads and social media marketing can also give you more reach.

Register your business

If you plan on regularly selling jewelry in your online store, then you need to register your business and check whether you need an EIN (employer iden­ti­fi­ca­tion number). If you fail to register your business properly, you may be subject to fines.

Add an imprint and details on data

If you operate a store and sell goods then you need to provide visible, legally compliant terms and con­di­tions, an imprint, and a privacy policy.

Step 2: create an online store to sell jewelry

Create your online store with a tool, store system, or CMS. Your online store should be appealing in terms of design and pre­sen­ta­tion, and provide customers with a quick overview of offers, shipping, and payment options, as well as prices and ad­di­tion­al costs. Product de­scrip­tions and images are key, with keywords to improve your SEO ranking. Reliable shipping options, common payment methods, and visible customer support with return policies are also important. Also, choose a suitable domain name, a dis­tinc­tive store or company name, and an original logo that rep­re­sents your business.

Step 3: find man­u­fac­tur­ers and suppliers

If you don’t want to sell your own jewelry, you can find partners to source products from. This can be through wholesale, drop­ship­ping, or in­de­pen­dent jewelry designers. With whole­salers, you purchase products in bulk. You store and ship them yourself, which means you cand o quality checks and take advantage of wholesale discounts. Drop­ship­ping elim­i­nates logistics costs because you don’t man­u­fac­ture, store, or ship your own goods. But, you have little control over shipping speed and product quality. Check the rep­utabil­i­ty of the people who man­u­fac­ture and ship your items, because coun­ter­feit goods or poor quality will end up falling back on you.

Step 4: optimize your stop for search engines

To increase your vis­i­bil­i­ty and reach, you should optimize your content for search engines. Learn about the basics of search engine op­ti­miza­tion and es­pe­cial­ly about image SEO. Also, update your content regularly for better content marketing, to increase traffic and keep new offers and col­lec­tions coming.

Step 5: high-end product pics and helpful de­scrip­tions

Aes­thet­ics are es­pe­cial­ly sub­jec­tive when it comes to jewelry. One of the most important things to consider when selling jewelry online are high-quality product photos with different angles and optimal lighting. Get them done pro­fes­sion­al­ly and upload only high-res­o­lu­tion photos. Showing jewelry on models also helps. Equally important are in­for­ma­tive product de­scrip­tions. Here you can make clear your products’ special features and brand vision.

Step 6: marketing products or building your brand

Following tips on op­ti­miz­ing SEO content isn’t enough. It’s best to also learn about email marketing trends, in­flu­encer marketing, social media marketing, positive website ratings and customer comments to help grow your user base. WordPress marketing plugins and sponsored ads on Amazon can also help integrate key marketing features in your store.

Step 7: analyze sta­tis­tics and consumer behavior

Analyze the success of your store and customers’ buying behavior by op­ti­miz­ing your website with web analytics. This will let you check your KPIs (key per­for­mance in­di­ca­tors) and identify deficits in keywords, loading times, or pre­sen­ta­tion. The pop­u­lar­i­ty of products and cat­e­gories is also displayed.

Step 8: building and main­tain­ing your store

In the jewelry world, the aes­thet­ics and appeal of the brand are as important as the jewelry itself. Therefore, build a brand with recog­ni­tion, dis­tinc­tive style, and trust­wor­thy ap­pear­ance. This includes:

• Flawless product pages and images
• Con­sis­tent look and feel
• Trusted customer support
• Safe payment methods
• Easy order pro­cess­ing
• Reliable shipping