Jewelry is one of the oldest industries in the world. From ancient times, humans have sought to own or wear beauty, cultural and religious ornaments. Therefore, if you are thinking about starting a silver jewelry business, one source of comfort is there is a market for it.
That said, the existence of huge demand isn’t a guarantee your business will succeed. As you are starting out your silver jewelry business, the following mistakes could doom you to failure from the get-go.
Table of Contents
1. Selling to Everyone
It’s not unusual for first-time business owners to envisage their store as some kind of supermarket. You hope anyone who runs into it will see something they can buy. Unfortunately, this is not easy to do even for silver jewelry wholesalers who’ve been in the business for decades.
Worse still, jewelry can be quite expensive, and accumulating diverse pieces would be beyond the reach of all but the most well-heeled startups. If you want to turn a profit as soon as you can, identify a niche that gives you the best chances of quick profitability.
2. Running It as a Hobby
There are people who establish a business as a hobby. Usually, they’re already financially secure and are simply looking to keep themselves busy as they do something they love. For the remaining 99 percent of startup founders, though, such a laid back approach isn’t one they can afford. Jewelry businesses are especially prone to the hobby trap. Many people love jewelry and wouldn’t mind turning this passion into a business venture.
If you want your silver jewelry company to get off to a good, steady, and sustainable start, approach it with the strict formality of a profit-focused business. Get your records in order from the beginning, even if you aren’t making meaningful sales. It’s not really a business if it isn’t making you money.
3. Letting Personal Taste Guide Your Inventory
A business is likely to do well when the owner or manager genuinely loves and believes in the product. That said, this requires moderation. You must recognize that what you prefer won’t necessarily be the same thing your target market does.
The tastes of your buyers will sometimes vary significantly from your own. Your sales will grow when you sell silver jewelry your audience is interested in as opposed to what you want to sell.
4. Overpricing
Overpricing is one of the two main mistakes many startup jewelry businesses make. The other is underpricing, which is covered in the next section. When you are establishing your store, it’s easy to get caught up in your dream and assume you can place a premium on items that go for much less elsewhere.
Customers seldom buy jewelry from the first store they come across online or offline. They’ve likely already taken a look at your competition and have a rough idea of what’s a reasonable price. Unless you have a compelling value proposition that legitimately sets you apart from the rest, no one will want to pay more than they need to.
As opposed to boosting your profit margins, overpricing is one of the fastest ways to dry your sales.
5. Underpricing
Underpricing is arguably even worse than overpricing. At least with overpricing, the reduced sales mean you are left hanging onto a sizable proportion of your inventory whose price you can adjust downwards to reignite interest. With underpricing, your inventory leaves your shelves but doesn’t bolster your profit or cash flow. You may eventually be left with no inventory and no money.
But underpricing can also choke your sales due to buyer suspicions. When people see you sell a piece for 30, 40, or 50 percent less than the market average, they begin to doubt whether your product is the real deal. This is especially so in the jewelry trade, where high prices are perceived as synonymous with quality, rarity, and originality.
Improve Your Chances of Success
Avoiding these mistakes will not guarantee that your silver jewelry business will be a roaring success. Nevertheless, steering clear of them will better your chances of making it.
