Handmade jewellery at a price

I was at the seaside at the weekend. The weather was terrible, so we spent most of the time dodging from one hotel lounge or conservatory or restaurant to another. And, I noticed something that got me thinking about competition in handmade jewellery.

Everyone knows the English seaside's best days are behind it. Since the Victorian heydays the allure of the English Riviera has faded somewhat. Outright granduer has given way to 'Faded Seaside Glamour' (as the band Delays called it). The downturn has been blamed on cheap foreign holidays, but I couldn't help wondering whether the establishments themselves were partly to blame.

Away from their prime beach front locations, I suspect many of these restaurants and hotels simply wouldn't survive. In an sense, they are getting away with it because of the general malaise across the entire town.

Tatty has become acceptable. Taking every conceivable short cut - like plastic table cloths and condiment sachets is the done thing. Dirty carpets and upholstery, are the norm. Cheap carvery menus and self-service dining is de rigeur. But, is this really what the public want? It certainly wasn't what I wanted! It's as if the seaside has collectively dummed down, reduced everything to the lowest mass-market appeal.

If you're doing as little as possible. Cutting every corner and boiling everything down to its most basic, price is only going one way: South. Everyone was doing a deal.

Trouble is, when people eat out they aren't looking to satisfy their basic need for food. And, when people stay in a hotel, they aren't just looking for a roof over their heads. We can get that at home! We want an experience. We want it to be special, not basic.

Handmade Jewellery is no different. I look around the web and see ridiculously low prices. Only yesterday, our jewellery buyer at pressies4princesses.co.uk was contacted by a handmaker interested in supplying us, but she's selling bracelets for £6.50 retail on her own site. That's just not our market.

So, if you are handmaking jewellery, don't design down to a price. Don't be meek and follow the herd. Don't break it down to its most basic. Why not design up to a whopping great price tag, instead? This is handmade jewellery after all. It's supposed to be something special!

Who's going to buy your jewellery?

It's not your competitors, so you can forget about them (I noticed entrepreneur Peter Jones is dishing out this advice on his new 'Making it' show). They won't buy your jewellery and who's to say anyone's buying theirs? Nope, contrary to what most business degrees teach (at least when I was at Uni) watching everyone else stumbling around (largely in the dark) won't help. Knowing your customers will.

That doesn't mean to say go bury your head in glib market research reports. You know, the ones that tell you how big the market is. How it's growing and how, just like in nearly every other retail sector you can think of, the same vaguely defined factors affect purchase behaviour. These reports won't help you target customers.

You are better off siting in a dark room. No really you are. Sit there and think. Use your brain and imagination. You could be surprised how much information is up there.

People buy products and, like most people, you probably know a fair few others. Friends, family, work colleagues and so on. Taken as a whole they are certainly quite a varied bunch. And, you're interacting with them all the time. You'll have an opinion about all of them and probably know a little about what they like, buy, what's important to them, etc. Think of them as your cross section of society - OK it might not be totally representative, but I'll bet it covers a fair swaithe.

So put that mental capacity to work on your reference group. Think of when they might buy jewellery, who for, what would likely drive their purchase - a bargain, designer label, individuality, environmentally friendly, exclusivity, low prices, a great deal, swankiness? And, if you come up with a whole load of questions, get out there and ask them.

Got lots of people, occasions and drivers? Great, now you need to make some decisions.

The first thing to decide is what drivers are you going to appeal to. What buttons are you going to press - exclusivity or eco-friendliness? swankiness or individuality? You can't be everything to everyone, so pick one or two to be your main selling point (nothing's unique anymore!) - or, in other words, your market positioning. This should inform all of your design work and pricing.

Clear positioning, though powerful, won't make for best-sellers on its own. For each and every piece you design, you need to decide who's going to buy it and when. People don't just buy jewellery willy-nilly. And, they don't buy it just because it's pretty. It has to be 'appropriate' - for want of a better word.

Jewellery is often bought for someone else and often for an occasion. To a certain extent, this dictates budget and what they want to buy. Of course, budget is relative, so you need to mentally check back to your reference group for thoughts on that.

Design 'an ideal valentine's gift' for a 30-something wife of a young professional and perhaps one of them will buy it. Design a random piece that could be given on Valentine's but doesn't really 'say romantic' and is a little pricey for this occasion and target and it probably won't.

Think of this way and you will be designing to sell, from the outset. The next challenge will be getting your jewellery in front of them.

All or nothing jewellery designers wanted

I have just had a meeting with one of the handmade jewellery designer/makers who's range we stock at pressies'. She has been supplying us for a little over 8 months. We have a very close (friendly) relationship. We sponsor her new designs GUARANTEEING to purchase them, because her cashflow is tight. And, we have invested a lot of time promoting her range. Our designer and copywriter have virtually created from scratch her image on the store. We order more stock increasingly more often. Yet, still she keeps on her part-time job (designing jewellery for another producer). Still she's unwilling to take that leap of faith.

I don't get it. What's she waiting for? Between making stock for pressies' and holding down her part-time job, she's no time left to develop new ranges. Her website languishes undeveloped and out-of-date. She's no time for selling, so her distribution isn't growing. She says she's not making enough out of her personal jewellery range to quit the job. But, I cannot understand why she thinks that's going to change?! She is trapped in the status quo. The business can't support her, because she is not supporting the business. She's spending half her time helping someone else grow theirs!

My frustration is palpable. We love her jewellery. We are really pushing it. And, we want more, because we know we can sell it. But, it seems our belief is stronger than hers. People with less talent do better through sheer self-belief.

This situation reminds me of something entrepreneur/ presenter Martin Webb said on "Risking It All" (Channel 4). He told a couple of guys running a 'trendy' cafe badly, "You can either go bankrupt quickly or slowly [but the end result is still the same]." He was trying to encourage them to either take a risk and invest in their poorly performing business or quit. Above all, he didn't want them to quietly slip into bankruptcy by doing neither.

Martin's all or quit approach is just as apt to success. You can go for it, aim for the big hit, throw all your resources at it and find out in 18 months if you've got a viable business (or not). At least you will either succeed or fail quickly (life is, after all, short). And, if you fail you can discount that idea and move on. Or, better still, you learn fast and adapt your business prior to bankruptcy.

On the other hand, you will learn little from dwindling failure. I know, I did that first time 'round. And, trust me, it costs you just as much money and a whole lot more lost time!

Is jewellery designing your dream?

Lots of people dream about making a living designing and making jewellery, or through some other handicraft. On come the rose-tinted spectacles and, straightaway, they begin imagining all the things they won't be doing anymore.

It's not difficult to guess what's on the average person's 'no more of this' list. It normally goes something like this: No more commuting, smelly trains or traffic jams to get to the office; no more waking up in the dark, going to work in the dark and coming home (you guessed it) in the dark; no more impossible deadlines, unreasonable demands from an over-bearing boss or doing stupid things just because I am told to by someone for whom I have little or no respect (OK, I got a little carried away at the end).

It is easy to get sucked into believing that you will be able do as you please. Come and go as you please. Work when you want and play when you want. But will you?

If you truly believe in this dream, then reality may come as a shock. Most likely you will be working harder than ever - morning, noon and night. And guess what, you'll still have to appease someone you don't respect. Only now he/she holds the deeds to your house with the threat of repossesion. And, somewhat inconveniently, can only be contacted sporadically after listening to countless renditions of lift music played down your telephone!

Of course, the latter is true only if you launch into it full-time from the word 'GO'. But, lots of folks try to do their day job and follow their dream on the side. It's a very popular way of starting out, as it lowers the risk (or certainty in the early days) of being financially worse off. But, do you think it lowers the risk of failure? Does dabbling increase your chances of success? I doubt it.

When I thrust out in business on my own (quiting a career to do it), the words spoken by a rock star, who's identity I've forgotten, echoed in my mind. The advice he gave to budding future rock stars was simple but priceless. It went something like this (I can't paraphrase it): If you want to be a rock star, then start being a rock star today. Start acting like a rock star and doing things as a rock star would. Because, nobody's going to come up to you and say "hey you're a rock star now" and make you one, just like that. You've got to do that for yourself.


So, why wait for someone to come up to you and say "hey you're a jewellery designer now" before you quit your job? Why not quit your job first and start being a jewellery designer from day one? Instead of dabbling, dive in. Why try a little, when you should be trying a lot? Is it really best to follow your dream evenings and weekends only? Surely, that means you are working hardest at maintaining the status quo?! That's scarcely going to change things.


If you dream of being a jewellery designer, my advice is stop dreaming. Take a realistic assesment of what it will mean to you and your lifestyle. Then start doing what a jewellery designer does. Set out expecting a long hard slog. If you need qualifications or experience, get them. Quit the day job and get one that's relevant - if you must. But, most of all, believe you're a jewellery designer from day one. Start living the dream from day one and reality will follow sooner.

A new mission

Recently, I ranted about some misguided business practices amongst entrepreneurial artisans. Then I got coaxed into doing a pricing/ product review, which seems to have gone down like the proverbial lead balloon. That got me thinking about where I was going with this blog. And, a week later, I think I'm about ready to redefine my mission.

You see, I got to wondering whether I could still be enthusing about all the great handmade jewellery and craft out there in 12 months time. Or, whether I might have become a little jaded by then. I also began to wonder whether folks would tire of reading it. Then I starting thinking about what I really had to offer that was valuable to a readership. I have come to the conclusion that it is my experience of online retailing. And, in particular, of selling niche handmade jewellery and other products online.

I am, of course, still in the e-tailing game and constantly striving to grow gift retailer pressies4princesses. So, my experience will continue to grow. Plus, pressies' gives me access to a large amount of information about shoppers and what they buy. And, the way that pressies' is headed (developing customer feedback loops, etc) will substantially grow the amount and type of information I can call upon.

The team at pressies' has a good track record with taking on highly creative individuals - see the handmade jewellery section and giving them their first real taste of success. We often have to advise on pricing, packaging and other elements to get them on the right footing. We're even in the loop on jewellery design - sponsoring the development of new ranges, for example, by guaranteeing to purchase the outcome. How fantastic to be able to share this information and experience to help create, rather than just sit in judgement of the finished article!

So, I'll be spending the weekend thinking about where to start. The fantastic finds will still be here too, but a lot more besides. I hope that will make things more rewarding for all.

Are you a jewellery designer or not?

Gemma over at Perlina Jewellery picked up on my post about Julieann Beads, which kind of turned into a rant about poor business sense in the handmade jewellery sector. She invited me to take a look at her jewellery and, specifically, her prices!



I left my comments over at her blog and in the process think I really got to the (even if I say so myself) essence of this pricing problem that so many artisans seem to experience. So, I thought I'd best get it posted and get back to reviewing wonderful jewellery and handmade crafts!

"Am I a designer?" To me, that's the main question a handmaker needs to ask themselves when setting prices. Quite simply, when someone buys one of your pieces, are they paying for your style?

Is your beaded necklace (in the case of Gemma) a random collection of beads? Nope?! Didn't think so. So why price it like that? Why base the price on the cost of materials and the time taken to construct each one? What about the time taken and, more importantly, knowledge and flair required to research and dream up the creation?

Give the average person and bunch of beads and plenty of time and they'll come up with nothing worth selling - I know I wouldn't. So, you should be rewarding yourself for that. You're a designer first; a maker second.

Of course, if your style sucks then people won't pay for it. But, in that case, few people will want to buy it whatever the price. When was the last time you bought jewellery you didn't like just because it was cheap?

Handmakers should be confident that people will pay for their style and the prices should reflect that. I'm not saying rip people off, but they should cover the costs of doing business properly - not as a hobby. And, that applies to all crafts, not just jewellery.

Be aware that low prices set a low quality expectation. People generally expect to get what they pay for. Is this an offer too good to be true?

Finally, always remember that the web is your short-cut to the consumer. In the real world products are more often made and sold on to retailers (online or otherwise).

Sadly, retailers also have to make money. So, you must start with prices that can support retail from the outset. The extra margin is your reward for performing all the extra functions of marketing, sales processing, packaging, delivery, credit risk, etc - that your retailer would normally handle. And, you should never ever undercut your retailers - not if you value their business!

So come on folks, be bold and price accordingly and, above all, leave all modesty behind!