Nice Gems Shame About The Pics and Prices
This article in the Shropshire Star, lured me over to Julieann Beads (Handmade Glass Bead and Gemstone Jewellery) website this afternoon. I landed at the home page and thought how professional the design looked and the showcased pieces looked gorgeous. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there.
This kind of thing really bugs me. So, in a break from previous form, I am going to review the website NOT the jewellery.
My first gripe is that I couldn't trackdown the pieces so graceful splayed across the homepage. Frustratingly, the images are not clickable. Are these current pieces and for sale or not? And, if not, why show them?!
Undeterred, I set about finding them. And, that's when the my initial enthusiasm faded fast.
Clicking through to necklaces from the (unconventionally-placed right-hand sidebar), you are presented with a page of small, murky images with only a name, price and more info button for each. It is obvious that these images in no way do the jewellery on sale justice.
Click-through again to the details page and the images, whilst larger, don't get any clearer or more appealing. I can accept that cut outs on white backgrounds are hard to achieve, but many of the images here are just plain out of focus (as well as underexposed!).
Looking at the prices, everything becomes apparent. Here's a situation I see all too often as a buyer at gift retailer pressies4princesses; the prices are simply too low. They are too low to be credible - is it realistic to believe you are buying "Distinctive Handmade Glass Bead and Gemstone Jewellery" when earrings start at £7.50 a pair?! And they are probably unrealistic for the business as well.
Many small businesses do not account for cost of selling the products in their prices. More still find themselves victims of their own success, when the VAT man pitches up and asks for his 17.5% of the value of every order! Incredibly, Julieann Beads offer to supply wholesale to the trade. Where the extra margin would come from is anyone's guess - unless, of course, they routinely undercut their retailers.
Ranting aside, I can see how this sort of pricing comes about. Firstly, the maker is their worst critic and is far too modest. They lack the confidence to meet the market head on. They simply don't believe people will pay "that much" for their product.
From the outset the maker is thinking, "what's the minimum I can sell this for to make it worth my while". Out comes the calculator and they start counting beads. Then they start thinking about how many they can make an hour. Next thing, they have a price that completely ignores all the other costs of running the business. Worst still, it is entirely incongruent with the product positioning (in this case UK and handmade and distinctive). It places absolutely no value on their design skills (only making). And, is most likely unsustainable in the long run.
My advice to Julieann Beads (I know - you didn't ask for it), double your prices and use the money to take some pictures that do your range justice. From what I can make out (squinting), you've nothing to be so modest about.
This kind of thing really bugs me. So, in a break from previous form, I am going to review the website NOT the jewellery.
My first gripe is that I couldn't trackdown the pieces so graceful splayed across the homepage. Frustratingly, the images are not clickable. Are these current pieces and for sale or not? And, if not, why show them?!
Undeterred, I set about finding them. And, that's when the my initial enthusiasm faded fast.
Clicking through to necklaces from the (unconventionally-placed right-hand sidebar), you are presented with a page of small, murky images with only a name, price and more info button for each. It is obvious that these images in no way do the jewellery on sale justice.
Click-through again to the details page and the images, whilst larger, don't get any clearer or more appealing. I can accept that cut outs on white backgrounds are hard to achieve, but many of the images here are just plain out of focus (as well as underexposed!).
Looking at the prices, everything becomes apparent. Here's a situation I see all too often as a buyer at gift retailer pressies4princesses; the prices are simply too low. They are too low to be credible - is it realistic to believe you are buying "Distinctive Handmade Glass Bead and Gemstone Jewellery" when earrings start at £7.50 a pair?! And they are probably unrealistic for the business as well.
Many small businesses do not account for cost of selling the products in their prices. More still find themselves victims of their own success, when the VAT man pitches up and asks for his 17.5% of the value of every order! Incredibly, Julieann Beads offer to supply wholesale to the trade. Where the extra margin would come from is anyone's guess - unless, of course, they routinely undercut their retailers.
Ranting aside, I can see how this sort of pricing comes about. Firstly, the maker is their worst critic and is far too modest. They lack the confidence to meet the market head on. They simply don't believe people will pay "that much" for their product.
From the outset the maker is thinking, "what's the minimum I can sell this for to make it worth my while". Out comes the calculator and they start counting beads. Then they start thinking about how many they can make an hour. Next thing, they have a price that completely ignores all the other costs of running the business. Worst still, it is entirely incongruent with the product positioning (in this case UK and handmade and distinctive). It places absolutely no value on their design skills (only making). And, is most likely unsustainable in the long run.
My advice to Julieann Beads (I know - you didn't ask for it), double your prices and use the money to take some pictures that do your range justice. From what I can make out (squinting), you've nothing to be so modest about.
posted by Suggy at
17:09
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3 Comments:
Came through from the comment you left on my blog [www.pinkgarden.co.uk finally getting round to looking at everyones comments now that I've moved over to my new host, whoo, hoo!]
And I'm left wondering what you may have thought about my jewellery after reading this review. A friend of mine had a look at my creations and told me that I should double my prices because I'm too expensive to be cheap, but not expensive enough for people to think they are buying a treasured item.
I'm not asking you for a review [yet it does sound as though I am...]
Is the pressies4princess site run by yourself? I had a quick look and [no offense intended] I would have expected it to run b a female. Looks cool :-)
Gemma x
Hi Gemma
How sexist! I'm joking. Check out my profile. It explains my connection with pressies4princesses. I started it, but it's a family affair now. And, rest assured, the lead buyer is a woman. She has final say, though I still like to research the products.
At pressies, we've taken several 'lone' artisans under our belt. - and not just on the jewellery side.
Often we are the first chance they get to test their products 'mass market'. And, often we have to advise on higher pricing. People just lack confidence in their creations.
I think we can claim that we generally get it right; our handmade jewellery easily outsells the mass produced ranges.
I'll stop by your blog later and take a look.
Cheers
Steve
Very interested words and only too true...I have been told on numerous occasions that my prices are also too low (albeit not jewellery design but original paintings). It's all about aiming for that market...
Gemma
www.gemmaclimpson.co.uk
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