How to Start An Online Jewellery Business
As per the latest study, approximately 29 million people have been actively purchasing jewellery online regularly. Hence, this can be a greater opportunity to sell jewellery online mode. In the era of digitization, the online jewellery business has been growing at a faster pace.
Along with this, the Ecommerce business has also changed the shopping experience of the customers. Therefore, the online jewellery business also makes remarkable entries like the clothing stores and makeup brands into the digital world.
India is marked as one of the most significant jewellery consumers across the planet. It can be assumed that the online jewellery business in India will grow by $3.7 Billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 28%. In addition, the Government of India also aimed at increasing the online jewellery business by US$70 billion in the next five years
However, the online jewellery market is highly competitive. Already there are major existing brands, which dominate the start-up jewellery businesses. Since the existing businesses already have a large social media following, and strong brand recognition, a new start-up online jewellery business should opt for a strong marketing strategy so that it can reach a wide range of customers.
Reason for Starting Online Jewellery Business
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the online businesses and shifted their preferences from retail stores to the online medium. To maintain social distance, people prefer to buy online nowadays. Therefore, the creation of an online jewellery business will be a smart move to reach buyers.
Apart from safety, the online jewellery business poses some additional flexibility to the customers. Therefore, online jewellery sellers can reach customers anywhere in the world. The efficacy in the online jewellery business can create pathways, so that people can discover brands, even without coming across otherwise.
As per Statista, the Indian gems and jewellery business is one of the largest sectors in India and it contributes approximately 29% of the overall global jewellery. Along with it, the Indian eCommerce market is booming, which has a strong impact on the online jewellery business, so that the online jewellery sellers can run their businesses successfully.
Moreover, as per the age study by semrush.com, 46% of consumers like to purchase jewellery from start-up online businesses over the existing large businesses, considering the budget pricing strategy of these small sizes.
Steps to Start Online Jewellery Business
Since jewellery is a consumer good, therefore, there are no boundaries to the customer's demand for the product. Before starting the online jewellery business, the sellers should have an idea about the latest trend of jewellery or what are the most demanded or sold items. Check the following image to get an idea about the same.
As per recent research, Diamond is the most selling jewellery online. Whereas, it can be also seen that there are certain factors, which are to be considered while purchasing jewellery online. The influential factors are:
- Product Quality
- Salesperson’s honesty
- Store/ Brand Reputation
- Brand name
- Pricing strategy
- Service of the executives
- Store display
- Recommendation
- Advertising
- Store hours
If you have planned to open an online jewellery business, then you should consider these facts, so that the risk in the business can be minimized.
Wedding jewellery is the biggest market in India. As per a recent study by Caratlane, the top jewellery brand in India, Indians are now more likely to spend on jewellery purchases and hence, they cut down their wedding ceremony budgets. Hence, selling online jewellery is highly profitable in India. The online jewellery sellers can refer to the below-mentioned steps to start the business.
1. Identity the Market Opportunity
Before you start to sell online jewellery, being a start-up firm, you should conduct complete secondary research to avoid the business risk. To identify the market opportunity, the sellers should consider the following factors.
1. Competitor analysis: It is important to identify the pricing strategy of the competitors and for this, the sellers can consider the cluster-based competitor analysis. Since jewellery is a luxurious item, therefore, check whether the existing businesses are gaining profit or not following their pricing strategy. Based on this, the startup sellers should set the price accordingly.
2. Run surveys: To check the interest of the customers in jewellery or to find out the most demanding items, the sellers can start online surveys on social media.
3. Look at Google Trends: It is one of the useful tools to search for trending topics in the industry. For instance, the demand for Diamond jewellery is higher than the demand for Gold jewellery in India.
The demand for Diamond jewellery in India since the last year has been growing, whereas the demand for gold jewellery is not the same. It is comparatively lower than the demand for diamond jewellery, rather the demand for gold jewellery has been decreasing as per the Google Trend.
The in-depth market research also helps the sellers in finding their niche. In the next step, the sellers should focus on their niche.
2. Think About the Niche
In this stage, the sellers should focus on the following factors to think about the niche.
- Choose the type of jewellery the seller is going to sell
- Types of ways for sourcing the products
- The advantage of the competitor research
From high-end luxurious items to costume jewellery, there is a wide range of products, which you can start to sell off. While the sellers choose the product, they should look at the jewellery pieces and find out the answers to the following questions:
- What makes the jewellery stand out?
- What can be the unique selling point?
- Will it fit into the current trend?
Tip: It will be wise to distinguish your products from the others. Though there are multiple jewellery options for the customers and it will be easy to get lost in the crowd, however, there should be a unique value proposition for your business. Try to figure out, so that you can make your products unique from others. Do not forget to showcase your uniqueness while you promote your business.
The online jewellery stores are classified into seven categories. Check the details here in the following:
1. Affordable Fashion jewellery:
Affordable fashion jewellery is ranging from bracelets to necklaces, and ring to costume accessories, which are usually lower in quality and longevity, however, very affordable for shoppers to get a statement piece.
To hold the top position in the fashion jewellery market, the sellers should browse the magazines such as Vogue, Seventeen, Harper’s BAZAAR, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. Apart from that check out the influencers on Instagram, who are behaving like trendsetters.
Note: The sellers should keep in mind that the affordable fashion jewellery industry is diverse. Pieces can be as inexpensive as $5 or as expensive as $100. “Affordable” jewellery does not mean “Cheap”, but it does not also refer to “Luxury” either.
For instance, if you consider the example of Caratlane, it aims at selling beautiful and smart-looking, long-lasting jewellery at an affordable price, so that everybody can get access to and can purchase the product. This is the reason why people choose this brand over other online jewellery selling companies.
2. Body Jewellery:
The jewellery merchants have an opportunity to start selling body jewellery such as ornaments for body piercings, nose rings, belly button rings, eyebrow rings, tong rings and more. Body jewellery is a very delicate item, and it seeks for variations as per piercing sizes and allergic reactions to metals. To avoid discomfort, the customers are looking for precious metals or implant-grade titanium.
This is the reason why body jewellery includes stuff not only considering the different sizes and metal options but also focusing on the health and piercing placement. The business owners can also offer the flexibility to the customers to customize their pieces. This in turn increases the shopping experience of the customers, which leads to generating more sales.
For instance, as per the shopper's request, the online body jewellery sellers can sell single nose rings either in gold or implant grade titanium or sterling silver with a straight back, L back to the left or screw or L back to the right or curve.
3. Handmade jewellery:
Under this category, the sellers prefer to sell “made to order” jewellery and similar to body jewellery, handmade jewellery also includes the customization level for every buyer. Under the handmade jewellery category, the sellers aim at the unique preferences of the customers, in terms of colour, size and material.
The only drawback of selling handmade jewellery is it takes time to create every piece and sometimes, all the products are not completely sold. Usually, handmade jewellery is sold by boutique retailers or individuals.
Though there are some certain pitfalls in the handmade jewellery selling business, the sellers can charge higher prices for unique pieces or designs. And if the customers like the items, whatever the price, they will like to purchase them.
4. Plated jewellery:
The buyers often wish to purchase precious metals, however, unable to afford the price of the jewellery. Hence, this is an excellent way to fulfil the preferences of the customers by selling them the gold look-alike stuff, then plated jewellery. The plated jewellery is made of inexpensive metals and coated with a precious metal layer.
For instance, the plated jewellery comprises sterling silver coated with 14K gold or sterling silver coated with pure silver. Apart from that, Nickel is also an inexpensive material, which can be coated with a rare precious metal like gold or silver.
If you sell online plated jewellery, then the sellers should maintain a good relationship with the manufacturers. Make sure that the seller is not selling any hazardous material for making the plated jewellery, otherwise, your business may suffer from legal risk.
When you choose your niche, then you should have a clear knowledge of the potential buyers. Also make them aware of the metal, which is used for making the plated jewellery. Transparency is there in terms of safety while you opt for selling the plated jewellery.
5. Vintage jewellery:
Vintage jewellery is also popular as a second-hand item due to its timelessness and for its durability. Nowadays, vintage jewellery has a stronger appeal in the fashion industry of the current era.
Since the vintage jewellery is mostly second-hand, therefore, each of the items has a unique story. The originality of the historical story of the vintage items fetches the value of the items as well as the attraction of the customers. The vintage jewellery includes fashion accessories, handmade items, and even luxurious items. The pricing of the vintage jewellery is depending on the story behind the piece.
6. Fine jewellery:
The fine jewellery niche comprises precious metals, unique designs and rare gemstones. The fine jewellery pieces are made in limited stock, however, the price of such pieces is comparatively higher. For instance, the value of fine jewellery can hit thousands of dollars.
Fine jewellery is long-lasting and the people, who are fancy about it, target to purchase the item at least once, in a lifetime. The materials of the fine jewellery are rare and the craftsmanship is also very high. Due to the cost and price of the material, people can afford it only once. Only the wealthier buyers can purchase fine jewellery very often and can join the loyalty programs.
Sometimes, shoppers want to purchase fine jewellery as a source of investment. Since the pieces of fine jewellery become more valuable or costlier with time. Fine jewellery also has a resale value as a second-hand piece, and this is the reason why the owners of fine jewellery tend to purchase it.
One of the popular examples of fine jewellery is Diamond made of jewellery, such as wedding rings and engagement rings. The shoppers also like to buy fine jewellery for their special occasions.
7. Fair Trade jewellery:
The target audience and your business niche should go hand in hand. As per the latest trend, the sellers should consider the demographics of different age groups and gender, while choosing the niche. If you know your audience well, then it will be helpful for you to curate a confident and clear brand message. In turn, the customers can also find out what your business is all about.
3. Decide Where You Want to Sell Online jewellery
Once you have planned to sell the jewellery online mode, you also need to choose the platform where you want to start your online business. The right platform for selling online jewellery depends on the needs, goals and also on the target audience.
Go through the following potential online spaces, where you can start your venture.
- Own online store: The sellers can build a platform such as BigCommerce, Fynd or Squarespace etc
- Online marketplaces: Such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy
- Social Media: The sellers can make a business page on their social media handles like Instagram and Facebook
Own Online Store
Starting an online jewellery business through your online store is the most convenient and professional way of building business recognition. In that case, the sellers should focus on the store’s design and branding. To display all your products under one platform, you should create a professional business account.
To create a business account with Fynd for selling online jewellery, the customers need only 30 minutes. It will be worth further business exposure. Only you should pick a suitable pricing policy based on your budget and selling requirements.
Parishri jewellery is an Indian-based (Origin Jaipur) gold-plated contemporary online jewellery seller, which aims at showcasing the heritage and culture of Rajasthan in their jewellery pieces. The brand has opened a business account with Fynd and runs its business. Check their jewellery
Online Marketplaces
The best thing about online marketplaces is that the sellers do not have to work hard to get the products in front of consumers, since some platforms like Amazon, eBay and Etsy are highly popular and can get tons of traffic every day.
On the other hand, the sellers also do not have any control over the branding and they also face a lot of competition from other brands selling on a similar online platform. This in turn means that the online jewellery sellers might not get repeat or loyal customers, out of this high competition.
If you choose the online marketplace to sell the products, you might not need to pay the expensive subscription fees, however, the sellers must pay the listing fees or transaction fees. The amount of fees is depending on which marketplace the seller is choosing.
Tip: Before signing up with the online marketplace, the sellers should know about the rules and regulations; otherwise it might eat up a certain portion of your profit (if the fee structure is high).
Check the fee structure of several online marketplaces here in the following table.
Etsy only allows the sellers to sell vintage or handmade items, whereas Amazon only permits sathe le new jewellery in the marketplace. eBay is also best if the sellers have plans to sell one or two jewellery pieces.
Here in the given section, how a successful jewellery marketplace store looks alike is highlighted. The online jewellery brand, Delezhen chooses Etsy to sell its products. The total number of sales of the jewellery brand is 255,527.
However, if you target only limited items like one or two items (ring or necklace), then eBay is the best online marketplace to showcase your items. The sellers do not need to sign up for a paid subscription for selling through eBay in such a situation. For instance, the sellers will get up to 200 free listings. If the sellers target to sell only a few items, then they will need to pay a 10% final value fee on the sale.
Social Media
Selling jewellery via social media is highly effective to reach a large scale of customers. It is one of the cheapest ways to run an online jewellery business. However, getting traffic through social media can be extremely time-consuming. You will get benefits in the long run. Apart from that, Facebook provides limited options to online jewellery sellers in terms of branding and designs.
Through Social media, the sellers can increase their followers and based on the customers' range, the sellers can initially start doing business through it. Here in the following, a successful Instagram jewellery store has been highlighted. The brand name is BR Design Co.
Niche: Selling clay jewellery and accessories
Number of followers: 18.8k
Tip: The sellers can sell the jewellery on social media if they choose to create the store with an eCommerce builder like Fynd. There are numerous followers of Fynd on social media platforms. The sellers can use multi-channel marketing tools to boost sales. Only the sellers need to tag the products on social media and then, they can generate direct traffic to the website.
Considering the features of several platforms for selling online businesses, the sellers can select any of the following platforms and make decisions accordingly.
- Online-store: It is best for those online jewellery sellers, which are going to set up their start-up business
- Social media: Best for hobbyists selling or a small range of products
- Online marketplace: It is the best option for the sellers if they have a plan to sell the jewellery to a large customer base
4. Define the Target Customers
Once you gather enough information about the platform, and where you want to sell the products, you should focus on the target audience. Unless you target the other group of people for your products, your business can not get success, even after applying a strong marketing campaign.
If you have planned to sell diamonds, then you should target those customers, whose income level is higher. If you know your target audience well, then it will be easier for you to target them with suitable ads and brands.
For defining the target customers, the sellers should conduct detailed research on the following factors
- Demographics: Under this category, gender, age group, income, marital status, geographical location, and other relevant features can be defined.
- Psychographics: With the help of this category, the behavioural traits of the target audience can be measured. More specifically, Psychographic factors include the likings and dislikings of the candidates, hobbies, lifestyle and shopping preferences can be identified.
Once you complete the research, you can choose your product niche and can also target the customers. For instance, instead of targeting only a group of people, who are looking for only engagement rings, try to target more those customers who are fond of purchasing custom and affordable rings.
5. Gather Inspiration from Online jewellery Store
Before the sellers build the online store, they should look at the products, and business strategies, which have been followed by the key players. You will have an idea from souring to selling to maintaining long-term customer relationships.
The sellers should look at how the different websites focus on the following attributes.
- User-friendly design
- Mobile Optimization
- Seasonal collections
- Specifications
- Seamless checkout
- Shopping cart functionality
- Promotional campaign management
- Product descriptions and details
- Virtual try-on features
All these attributes can lead to making an online jewellery business successful and also improving the customers’ shopping behaviour. For instance, Icing on the Ring is a well-known jewellery selling brand, which has a 50 years old running retail store. The brand has specialization in selling custom jewellery with made-to-order products.
Now, the jewellery brand has been planning to move online, therefore, the brand has started to sell readymade jewellery items and also arrange inventory for the same. So that the shoppers can easily get the products available while browsing the online website and can purchase the products with a credit card or via PayPal.
6. Make a Business Plan
In your learning phase on how to start an online jewellery business, you should make an effective business plan and follow it thoroughly. Before you directly jump into opening an online business store for selling the products, it is necessary to follow consecutive steps of a business plan, so that you can successfully run your business in the long run.
A well-designed business plan will always keep you reminded about the business goal so that you can decide where to go next. Apart from that, if you need potential investors and loan providers for expanding the business further, they will like to see your business plan, mission and vision of the business before they invest in your business.
Your business plan for starting an online jewellery business should include the following sections:
- Executive Summary: In this section, the entire business plan will be described in a simpler way
- Company description: Here the mission and vision of the online jewellery business will be mentioned
- Market Research: A detailed market research for targeting the audience and competitive analysis will be helpful for business growth
- Funding options: How to arrange a loan for growing your business
- Marketing and selling process: In this section, which marketing campaign and business promotion will be followed by the jewellery seller will be added.
7. Find A jewellery Manufacturer
When you have planned to start an online jewellery business, then it is important to contact trustworthy manufacturers. Initially, you can work with small manufacturers, who will make jewellery for you based on the design you want to customize. The sellers can also wholesale jewellery from the bigger companies.
If the sellers will get orders to supply jewellery in bulk, then it is essential to contact a dependable yet trustworthy vendor. So that, the sellers in turn can set competitive prices, offer fast delivery, and quick turnaround times and serve excellent customer service. Before finalizing the deal with the manufacturers/ vendors, the sellers should request for a sample (if available).
- Jewellery Quality: The quality of the jewellery should not be compromised. Make sure your jewellery manufacturer provides you with the best quality material.
- Get the samples first: Ask the manufacturers for samples of the materials, so that you can check before living your store.
In the case of selling online jewellery, then the sellers can think of a dropshipping business model. Therefore, once the buyers place the order, the sellers will contact the manufacturers and they will directly deliver the products to the target customers on their doorstep on the behalf of the sellers. Under the dropshipping business, the jewellery sellers can eliminate the additional capital and help the sellers to save money.
8. Set Up the Store
In the next stage, the focus of the jewellery sellers should be on setting up the store. Hence, the sellers should aim at the following factors before they build an online jewellery store.
- How to create a business account with an eCommerce website
- How to set up a store in the online marketplace
- How to build strong brand recognition in social media
Whatever the platform has been chosen by the jewellery sellers for starting their online business, detailed guidance is required.
Ecommerce Builders
This is the easiest and most convenient way of starting your online store. This in turn removes your additional burden such as the necessity for coding or for appointing an expensive developer.
To build a website with the use of an eCommerce website, the jewellery sellers only need to select a suitable template, work on further customization, add the products, tailor the settings, select a relevant domain name and you are ready to publish it. You will need a maximum of 30 minutes to create a website with the Fynd platform.
Before you decide on creating an online website, the sellers should consider the following factors:
- Ease of use of the online website
- Website Features
- Design functionalities
- Sales Features
- Help and support
- Value for money
- Customer score
The best eCommerce website builders for online jewellery businesses are listed in the following section:
Fynd: For a successful online jewellery business
BigCommerce: Best for purely online jewellery business
Squarespace: Best value for money
If you plan to successfully run the online jewellery business in the long run, then you should need to connect with Fynd. Since it is a large app store, therefore, it will help you in improving the website’s functionality and the sellers can meet the rising demand of the customers.
As per the expert's suggestions, the jewellery sellers should consider the following points while choosing a builder.
- Budget and value for money: This is the primary thing, which you should focus on. You should check how expensive the builder’s plan is for creating a website. Being a start-up seller, can you afford the price?
- Ease of Use: Make sure the website is user-friendly so that a novice can easily browse the website. Fynd allows you to experience their free trial version so that you get to know about the ease of the website.
- Tools: Before signing up with a builder for website development purposes, take a look at the features and tools of the page. Will the sellers get blogging functions? Built-in analytics? You should have clarity about the website tools.
- Design: You should choose an aesthetic design for creating a website and for selling jewellery online. Before that check how many templates are available there if you create a website. How often can you change the website design (as per the demand)?
- Customer Support: If any error occurs, or face any challenge regarding the website, then you must need a helping hand. Fynd offers you 24/7 customer support to help you out with your need.
Note: The sellers will get a one-month free trial pack to run the online jewellery business successfully. And before making the store live, check every heading and option, whether they are working properly or not.
Pick a Domain Name
Choose the domain name wisely, since it will be your website address. A domain name is one of the most important things that will give you an identity. A domain name gives its own identity and builds a professional, trustworthy and recognizable image for the business. Domain price varies, however, they typically cost between $10 and $60 per year.
Top tips to choose the domain name for an online jewellery business:
- Make it Unique: To keep your business unique, choose a unique domain name for your business. Kindly note, that if an online jewellery business with the domain name “myonlinejewellerystore” is already there, then do not try to add the number “two” in the suffix.
- Stay Relevant: Keep a relevant name for your business, so that it can reflect the items/ products of your business.
- Keep it Simple: Try to keep the domain name simple, so that everybody can easily catch it during the search time
Select A Theme for Web Page
Web page design and theme can be another attribute, through which you can make an interest in the buyers so that they will like to visit your online store. Hence, choosing a perfect and relevant theme is also very important to fetch the attraction of customers.
After that, the sellers can customize the theme by building your business brand through fonts, colours, text and more. Take a quick view, which you can add to customize the theme of your website.
- Colours
- Fonts
- Images
- Videos
- Backgrounds
- Galleries
- Extra Pages
- Contact forms
Add Products, Amend Settings and Publish
Apart from choosing the domain name and web page theme, there are certain necessary things, which should be added to your website. Go through the following things that should be checked before launching the website.
Links: The sellers should check whether all the links are working properly or not. Whether the page loading speed is fine or not. Whether all the links are redirected to the correct pages or not.
Images: Only add high clarified photos of the products. No fuzzy or blurred images should not be uploaded. The sellers are suggested to click the image using a digital camera with the help of a professional photographer, who has enough knowledge about the photo angle, brightness, background etc. If a digital camera is not available, then you can click the pictures with the help of the smartphone at least.
Approximately 51% of buyers are looking for the three minimum photos of a product, from different angles. The sellers should upload the images with all the details. Also, think about the lighting and background apart from the overall photo quality.
Tip: The online jewellery sellers only upload consistent, clear and professional images of the jewellery. Not only consider the high quality of the images but also the consistency in lighting and background are also considered. Also, make sure, there are no shadows on the image. The photographs should be clicked in true and natural colours and textures.
Mobile: The sellers should make a mobile app so that the customers can browse the web page and purchase the items whenever they want and from anywhere.
Settings: Make sure the language of the website is easily written. Also do not forget to provide the contact details.
Next, the online jewellery sellers should work on the following attributes:
- Video Maker: Using a video maker, the sellers can add camera footage, sound effects, graphics and special effects to create a final film or video product. This is the prime role in the post-production process. And your skill will determine the quality and delivery of the final result.
- Add a Logo and Slogan: To uplift the visual representation of your online website, the sellers should add a logo and slogan, relevant to your brand. The slogan should be clear and coincide, through which the buyers can easily communicate with the brand identity.
Checkout: Make the checkout process smooth and seamless, so that the buyers will not face any hassle during the checkout time.
Online Marketplaces
If the sellers want to set up the jewellery business in an online marketplace, then you have to create an account, once you finalize the marketplace to explore your business.
After that, the sellers have to upload the products and start selling. If you choose Amazon to sell the jewellery, then it will ask for the selling plan and also ask for listing fees. Also, choose a selling plan.
Selling Through Social Media
The sellers can target the customers through social media. To open a business account on Facebook, the sellers should be the admin of the business page. You need to know how to set up a Facebook store. Only need to accept the terms and conditions of Facebook. To sell through Facebook, the sellers should follow the below-mentioned steps.
- Set up an account with Facebook’s Commerce Manager
- Create a jewellery collection
- Customize the storefront
- Publish the Facebook store
In the case of selling through Instagram, the sellers should switch the Facebook business profile with the Instagram account. Try to sync your Facebook store with the Instagram business account, so that the jewellery products will be directly pulled to the Instagram account.
Apart from that, the sellers should create posts daily and share content to their story, use the most trending hashtags and also try to connect with influencers to promote the products. This will in turn help you to get connected with more followers.
9. Showcase the Products
In the next step, the sellers should focus on the following factors to start the online jewellery business.
- How to make customization in your online jewellery selling store
- Write a good product description
If the sellers will take the help of eCommerce builders for website development, then they will have control over the storefront’s design. The sellers are advised to keep the website design simple. Only the sellers should choose the theme relevant to the type of jewellery they sell.
When the sellers add product descriptions, then they should write captivating content, so that it can fetch the attraction of the buyers. Try to add crispier yet more informative content, so that the entire features of a particular product can be covered. Do not add a long description. No one loves to read such long content.
10. Pricing Strategy and Setting Up of Payment Gateways
Under the pricing strategy, the online jewellery sellers should focus on the following components:
- How to set the price of your products?
- Strategy to set up the payments
- Think about different gateways
- Transaction fees
Pricing Strategy
Pricing is one of the important factors, which attracts customers to purchase the products. Based on the type of the products, the pricing should be set. For instance, the sellers should set a comparatively higher price for selling the precious stones.
Similarly, if you are selling handmade jewellery, then the total price of the product will be depending on certain factors, such as time, labour and skill. If the sellers set a higher price, then nobody will purchase the products. Likewise, the sellers should not set the price too cheap. Here, in the following, the top tips are provided to set the price of the products.
- Always Cover the Costs: Make a note that the sellers should not set the price of the product below the manufacturing cost. At least a bare minimum amount should get earned.
- Thorough Market Research: Do thorough market research, so that you can get an idea about the pricing strategy of similar jewellery sellers. Also think, about why they are charging the price and compare their strategy.
When the sellers calculate the price for the products, it is necessary to consider the cost of the material. For instance, higher quality products such as Diamond, Platinum will be costlier than other gold-made jewellery. Apart from that, the sellers should also add the overhead costs like the packaging materials, shipping fees and labour costs. To set the price, the sellers can try out the formula= Total cost of Product+Markup%= Final Product Price
Set Up Payment and Payment Gateways
Next, the sellers should connect the business account to the store, so that the buyer's payment will go directly to the bank account. There are tons of different payment options and it depends on the currency, banking preferences, customer demographic and location.
Check out the list of main payment options here in the following:
- PayPal
- Square
- Stripe
- Apple Pay
- Amazon Pay
Kindly note: If the sellers target to sell the online jewellery through Fynd, then it offers the sellers plenty of payment options like a credit card, debit card, net banking and wallets.
Check Transaction Fees
If you create your online jewellery store with an eCommerce builder, then check whether it charges a transaction fee before you live your store or not. There are many eCommerce builders, they do not charge anything as transaction fees.
Sometimes, the eCommerce builders or the online marketplace asks for a referral fee. Note: The referral fee varies based on the categories being sold. For instance, Amazon's referral fee is 20% on the total sales up to $250 and 5% for any portion when the sale is greater than $250. The minimum referral fee is $0.30.
11. Setting Up of Shipping
Once the sellers are done with the pricing strategy, they should work on the shipping. Hence, the sellers should look after the following attributes.
- Prepare to ship the products
- Check the types of shipping
- Connect with the courier partners
At first, the sellers should confirm the place, from which to ship the item. Based on the origin address, the eCommerce builders will be able to tell you what tax will be imposed on the orders. Consequently, the sellers can calculate the shipping rates and processing of returns.
Apart from the shipping destination, the shipping rates also vary depending on the different types of shipping chosen by the sellers.
- Flat Rate Shipping: Whatever the quantity you ship, or the address to ship, the shipping charge will always be the same.
- Free Shipping: To win the heart of the customers, the sellers sometimes offer them free shipping on their delivery.
- Calculate Shipping Rates: Offer the buyers the lowest rates of shipping using real-time shipping quotes.
- Price-based and weight-based rates: The sellers charge the shipping price based on the weight of the product and also through the regular postage services.
Note: When it comes to online jewellery selling, then there are multiple distribution options for the inventory. Under a direct-distribution structure, the sellers will be able to deliver the jewellery directly to the customers, and there will be no intermediary. Otherwise, the sellers can choose the dropshipping business model to send the products directly from the manufacturers to the buyers.
Some of the popular courier partners in India are as follows, which are popular as the cheapest and fastest courier partners.
- Delhivery courier service
- DTDC courier company
- Blue Dart courier service
- Ekart Logistics courier company
- Ecom Express Logistics Company etc.
Top Tips to Ship jewellery
If you are an online jewellery seller, then you should follow the top tips while you ship your jewellery
- Make it Appealing: Since you are sending the products (if you ship precious stone, then it is costlier too), then you should focus on the product's packaging. So that the products inside the packet can be kept intact.
- Track it: jewellery is expensive, hence, the sellers must track it continuously and deliver it to the target customers, so that they can deal with the avoidance of lost deliveries. Along with it, the sellers should provide the latest update regarding the tracking.
Tip: Try to deliver the product as soon as possible to the customers, even before the promising date. Consumers like to get the delivery sooner, once they place the order.
12. Promote jewellery Business Online
It is very important to reach your new start-up business to a large base of customers so that being a new seller, you can also make a profit. With the help of promotion, the sellers can increase brand awareness as well as will increase the visibility of your brand.
To promote your newly opened online jewellery business, the sellers can take the help of the following marketing strategies.
- SEO
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Customer Reviews
Search Engine Optimisation:
Search Engine Optimization will help your business to improve the website ranking over the competitors by optimizing your website, so when the customers will search for a particular product, they will find your brand first. Fynd platform has its SEO tool to uplift the website performance.
Once you will be able to improve your website’s ranking, this, in turn, increases the credibility of the business. SEO helps to increase the site speed and work on keywords. Moreover, for optimizing the website, the SEO does not demand the cost like pay per click tool. Instead, SEO aims to make crawl 24/7 by search engines by promoting some useful content, so that the new customers can organically find the website.
Email Marketing:
Email marketing helps the sellers to reach the buyers in a personalized way so that the sales can be increased at an affordable cost. Through email marketing, the sellers can keep in touch with the customers constantly, since email marketing allows two-way communication with the target customers.
Email marketing is a way of engaging customers so that they can get notifications about new offers, products, sales and exciting discounts. The sellers can suggest some personalized suggestions for the buyers to make them satisfied.
Approximately, 2.5 billion people use email and send a total of 196 billion emails daily. Therefore, it can be a good chance of generating sales through email marketing. For instance, the average return using email marketing is $38.
Email marketing follows the call to action strategy and hence, acknowledges the business for signing up, learning, visiting the website, making purchases etc.
Social Media Marketing:
Social media marketing is also used by the sellers for building the company’s brand, increasing sales and driving website traffic. Social media marketing targets the three core marketing areas such as connection, interaction as well as customer data.
Social media marketing aims at learning about the target customers (specifically their age, location, income, job title, industry and interests). The marketing tool has the power of improving social media eases, so that the sellers can provide and receive feedback from the buyers. Social media is such a problem, through which the sellers can deal with the complaints raised by the customers (if any).
Considering the benefits, the online jewellery sellers can run Facebook Ads, so that it can increase the customers’ engagement with their products. Apart from that, through social media, the influencers can also showcase the items, that in turn fetch the interest of the customers to purchase the products.
Some popular social media marketing includes YouTube Influencer marketing, Instagram Influencer Marketing etc. The influencers aim to post images, and posts by flaunting your jewellery. Over the last few years, Social Media influencers showed evidence of getting a good return from the business.
Customer Reviews:
95% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase, hence, customer reviews have a strong influence to complete the purchases. It is one of the useful tools to build customer trust and boost up sales.
Website reviewing can be a good part of your marketing in different ways:
- Featured your website
- Part of a social media hashtag campaign
- Incorporated into the buyer’s guidance
- Include in ad copy
- Highlighted in the email marketing campaign
For instance, if the customers have planned to purchase expensive jewellery, then customer trust is essential for getting success in the business. Positive star rating reviews are good for website algorithms.
Kindly note: the sellers should have the capability of handling both the good and bad reviews. Better work on the bad reviews, so that you can be satisfied with your products and service further.
Launch a Newsletter:
It can be seen very often that the buyers do not show their interest in buying products from a start-up jewellery seller. In that case, an email newsletter is very helpful as a valuable marketing channel, which leads to maximizing the shopper's interest in your jewellery brand and products.
A successful newsletter fetches the attraction of the target customers to read beyond being a sales pitch for the products. This is the reason why a newsletter is essential for communicating a clear value proposition and people will show their interest to subscribe.
Create Loyalty Incentives:
To attract customers, the buyers sometimes offer a customer loyalty program. So that the customers can purchase the jewellery comparatively at lower prices than the competitors. It attracts the interest of the customers to purchase from that brand over the other online jewellery sellers.
Collaborate with Resellers and Distribution Partners:
Reselling is a type of distribution, with which brand awareness can be increased. As per the expert's suggestion, the distribution and reselling relationship are helpful to build brand awareness. Only the sellers need to choose the distribution partners wisely. Make sure your brand can earn a healthy profit margin on sales.
13. Manage the Stock
In an eCommerce business, managing stock and inventory tracking is one of the important aspects to run a business successfully in an online medium. It is important to avoid selling a similar product twice or dealing with missing customer orders.
The sellers can track the inventory for you and the website builders will monitor the inventory levels. Also, they will alert you about the lower stock or out-of-stock. This refers to the fact that the sellers should not continuously look after the fact.
14. Start With a Soft Launch
Being a start-up business owner, the jewellery sellers should focus on the soft launching of the products. Once they get the recognition, they can expand the business more. Otherwise, starting with a large-scale business might lead the sellers to incur a loss.
What Are the Biggest Challenges Faced by the Sellers in Selling the Online jewellery in India?
Check the major identified challenges in the case of selling the jewellery in online mode in the following section:
1. Identify the Customers and Gaining the Trust
As per the secondary research, the sellers might face a 75% challenge in gaining the customers’ trust. Give the buyers a reason to purchase from you over the competitors. Your products should be unique from the others.
2. Poor Customer Interaction
It is true that in the case of retail business, the sellers can make a good relationship with the customers, which is very hard to develop in the case of the online jewellery business. Lower customer interaction will lead to the generating of lower revenues. Also, the goodwill of the newly launched online jewellery business got damaged.
Top Tips to Get Customer's Trust
To retain the trust of the customers, the sellers can follow the below-mentioned steps:
- Ensure the customers that you are selling the best quality products. If you are selling gold jewellery online, then check the BI hallmark signs, which include the BIS logo, purity, grade of the item and jewellers identification etc. This in turn helps the sellers to get the customers' trust gradually.
- Try to connect with the customers through social media, so that you can keep in touch with your client more. You can open a Whatsapp business account. Apart from that provide the customers with 24/7 customer care help; one to solve the customer queries as per their requirements.
- The sellers should make sure that they will take more care about packing the products and will help the customers with shipping and delivery issues. For maintaining clarity and gaining the customer's trust, the sellers should share the tracking details with the customers.
- Avoid the selling of fake items in the name of the original one. It also affects the goodwill of the online brand.
3. Refund Vs Return Vs Exchanges
Once you create a refund or return policy you should upload it on the online platform. So that the followers in your social media handle can get an idea about the return policy of your business. To build the trust of the target customers, the sellers should ensure the chosen payment gateways, which offer the following attributes:
- A clear description of the refund time
- Allow the customers to track their refunds online and also allow them to check the status of the transaction. If the customers have linked their bank account with their mobile number, then they will get the latest u[dates once the refund will be generated
- The sellers should provide the final receipt, and payment file with the delivery item so that there should be clarity between the sellers and customers ad the evidence of purchasing
However, if the sellers aim at selling the jewellery through the Fynd online platform, then the sellers can get 24/7 technical support from the builder. Hence, the sellers can contact the executives through Email or SMS.
Moreover, making a business account is very easy with Fynd. It only takes 30 minutes to get the business account live. Along with this, Fynd charges a nominal subscription charge to run the business, the charge is only Rs 599/ month. However, the sellers have to pay an additional charge like custom domain, Fynd payment gateway, SSL certificates, SMS and Email Marketing and a lot more.
In addition, the builder also provides trustworthy courier service to the sellers, so that they can deliver the products to the customers at their doorstep within the mentioned time. Fynd assures its partners of long-term eCommerce partners with its excellent digital services.