Will your handmade product be successful?

I can't answer that question. Sorry. But you can. In fact, you can even help ensure it. You can morph what would have been a miserable failure into a storming success story. How? Boring old research, I'm afraid.

Before starting your hand-making business, do yourself a favour: search the web. Spend days (or better still weeks) idly searching the web around your product idea. See what's already out there. Then ask yourself a honest question, can I do it better or differently. Don't bother with cheaper - you're a handmaker, so that would be a mug's way in, wouldn't it?!

Draw a blank with these questions and it's back to the drawing board. For your own sake, don't be tempted to join a growing throng. If you can't distinguish your idea (what you intend to make and how and where you intend to sell it), from what's out there, STOP. The world does not need another beaded jewellery maker - unless you're going to do it with a serious twist. Creativity in the product and the pitch will be required in excess.

Think of it this way. You can invest little or nothing in the idea and put a bucket load of effort into making it work. You can even start sooner. But that's like putting a year's wages on a horse in The Grand National. Better that you invest loads in the idea and then back it with a bucket load of effort. It's still a risk, but expect considerably shorter odds.

Handmade with all the trimmings

Luxury brand manufacturers, like the big perfume brands, have gone to huge lengths to protect their investments. They know that maintaining the perception of exclusivity, means managing presentation. They don't want their products sold through stores that will detract from that perception. They don't want their brands presented in a way that is inconsistent with their aspirational message.

So important is this 'on message' constistency to them, that the brand owners have lobbied governments to amend laws to protect their investments. It's no accident that, for the most part, perfume is bought at recommended retail prices in stores that represent the brands in the way the manufacturers would want! They know, as you must understand too, that the way a product is sold has a huge impact on the perception of the product itself. In short, it doesn't matter how good your product is, people won't buy it (in the literal and metaphorical sense) unless you get the presentation right.

I could put the same necklace up for sale at pressies', present it right and have a runaway success or muff the presentation and have it sit on the shelf for months. When things are not selling, sometimes all we need do is photograph it again (better) and watch it fly. Other times we put the price up to the same effect - people really do seem to have "too good to be true" scepticism. The point is, don't get the imagery, price and copy right and anything - even the most divine piece of jewellery - will bomb.

So what's right? Right is simple is some aspects, more subjective in others. A 'right' photo (in my experience) is clear, with good contrast, in focus, with the correct colour balance (no yellow light) and perfectly separated on white. Yes, that's tricky, but boy does it make a difference. It also includes a picture on a model - we've found this makes a huge difference. Shoppers don't know whether a 5 cm drop looks good until they see it hanging from a model's ear!

Price is more subjective. But you don't want to be asking shoppers to make a "willing suspension of dis-belief" - as Hollywood calls it - in either direction. Too cheap and it's tatt. Too expensive and you're having a laugh. But, beware, price has nothing to do with the materials - or at least little. Don't forget you're pricing for exclusivity and your ingenuity in design too. There's more about price here: "Handmade Jewellery at a Price" to explain these points.

Copy - well that's even more subjective. There's very little to compare it against. You could keep it short and sweet and say very little, limiting your description to the composition and size of the jewellery. But, is that going to have the would-be buyer picturing themselves buying? Probably not and top copywriters say this is a must. So, chances are, you'll have to say rather more and then it's important you're talking in the right voice and making the right references.

What's the secret? Well, it's probably down to having a very clear prospective buyer in mind at the outset. Then you will say the right things, use the right references, hit the right price points and, as long as you don't take a lousy picture, you should be home and dry? Well, no actually. Because your image, copy and picture all exist within the context of your website. So, if that looks amateurish or just doesn't work very well then it will pull all your other good work down with it.

It'll be no different if you sell in shops or face-to-face at parties. Pick the wrong shops to represent your wares and they just won't sell - quite apart from the fact that the right people might not be coming through the door. Photocopied or amateurish sales materials and lousy boxes (or lack of) will sink your party sales - unless you're aiming squarely at the bottom of the market!

At pressies' we have a successful designer whose range comprises 30% of our sales. Yet, before our listing, she barely sold a jot. Why? No other retailer had her ingredients right. She didn't really guide them, whereas we've created her image on our store for her. We do the tricky positioning - with words and imagery - and make sure the photography is first class. As a result her range is getting its just desserts.

So, if you want to be successful in handmaking then remember this: you're never as good as you are, only as good as you look and sound. Invest as much time and money in that and you are much more likely to have a winning formula.

The trouble with one-offs

Time and again we come up against the same problem when sourcing new jewellery lines at pressies4princess (the gift retailer I manage): one-off designs. But, a part from being jolly inconvenient for us, let me explain why I don't think they're best for customers, retailers or designers.

Customers, you'd think they would appreciate having a one-off piece of jewellery. Well, yes of course they would. Trouble is, they want the one pictured on your website. The one you already sold to someone else. "What, I can't have that but I can have something similar? When would that be? I need it today! Have you got a picture.. no, so how can I buy it?!" Trust me, if you're selling online, that's far too complicated. It's one thing for the odd customer to ask for something special; it's entirely another to put every would-be buyer through that.

Retailers, they're going to hate your one-of-a-kind jewellery. Because, as much as they adore the designs, they can't stock them. It's here and gone in a heart beat. Every piece needs a unique SKU (stock keeping unit) - even though there's only one. Every piece has to be priced and entered into their IT systems. They can't sell the same stock at multiple stores. And, how do they handle buying?

Normally, a buyer will search and select a range of products knowing that the time and effort spent will be amortised over a successful selling season (or more). Typically, a retailer might not breakeven in terms of purchasing and 'on-costs' until several items of jewllery have been sold.

With one-offs they have to buy into the designer, rather than the jewellery samples. They're relying on you having more up your sleeve. They are hoping you'll continue along the same vein with similar designs. Start drifting off into a new direction and your jewellery might not be right for their market.

And, then there's price points. Buyers typically want to assemble a range around retail price points and stock ranges accordingly. So, either you promise to keep hitting all their price points (unlikely) or all their category management aspirations go out the window. It's now a lottery.

Catalogue and internet retailers probably won't be able to work with your one-off jewellery designs, full-stop. At pressies' we don't. The on-costs are too high. Every piece has to photographed and written about. That takes time and costs money. All that and then it sells the day after it hits the website or catalogue. A range of ten items become nought in a week and then the retailer has to think about adding ten more - getting them photographed and 'databased'. They've got to be serious high pound-note margin (not percentage) to make that worthwhile.

Jewellery designers - why aren't one-off pieces best for you? If you were an accountant, trust me, you'd know the answer. Businesses - big businesses - are successful because they successfully replicate a winning formula time and again. So, when you create a winning design, isn't it sheer lunacy that you can't repeat it? Repeating it costs probably less than 25 percent of the resource of creating it in the first place. And, everytime you do it, you will get better and that time will come down further. After a dozen, making it will be like shelling peas. You can even automate parts by using a casting company. The next 88 will be where you make most of your profit.

If you're thinking making 100 of anything is a lot, don't forget that on this tiny island there are 60 million people, 20-odd million households, probably 10 million wives or girlfriends. Clearly, your jewellery will still be reassuringly uncommon!

Creating one-offs can be economic and has its place - of course it has. But, that's jewellery for multi-millionaires or billionaires. I mean, even haute couture dresses are made by the handful!

Spending all your time designing and not amortising that investment across and sensible production run is going to make turning a profit an uphill battle. It will also play havoc with your marketing efforts. Imagine buyers' frustration when they find they can't buy the bracelet that was featured in Marie Claire, for example. And, you spent ages getting that press release published.

So next time you are designing, design with a little compromise. Do the right thing for your business. Make sure you can produce at least a dozen with those vintage beads you have. After all, truly good design is the best compromise between idealism and practicality. Anything less is just vanity.