Lots of folks are active in e-commerce who are selling jewelry, you
can meet lots of them at TheSwitchboards.com, they are young and
doing their own programming, mostly.
It seems like on Orchid, folks mostly have a store or do shows and
have less emphasis on web based sales.
I have been encountering a lot of the “I don’t want to have a
website because I don’t want people to steal my designs,” in
conversations with people lately.
Daniel mentioned that his "average" sale price customer (750 avg.)
was not there this season.
Actually Kimberly, what I said was my low end customer (someone who
would spend on average about $750—low end being $500-$1000 for me)
wasn’t in this year, not my “average” sale price customer. My
“average” sale is in the $2000 range. Minor point, but slightly
different than you phrased it.
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
My holiday sales this year really went through the roof. I have never
in my life made as much money and product as I did this year plus I
have several contracts (signed) for work in the new year. I don’t
know what happened, I guess I was in the right place at the right
time for a change. Abbotsford, B.C. Canada Leslie
There isn't much time left before Christmas.? Are they all waiting
till the day before?
IMHO they are waiting for a president who can say something besides,
“Draw, Stranger!”, and to find out if they’re going to have a house
in January, and how much (not if) it’s going to be devalued, and if
the dollar’s ever going to be worth anything again, and how long
before it’s $5 gas, and if ANYBODY in Washington is driving this
mess…And metals just keep going up and up and up - funny, that
happened just before the last recession, too…$70 billion for a
goofball war just for now, but hey, poor kids don’t get health
insurance… If you actually own 5% of your house, and it just got
devalued by 20% because of foreclosures in your neighborhood, you
just went into the red…Stuff like that…Our whole building
is full of jewelry people of all kinds, and you could hear a pin drop
lately…
As far as traffic goes, its way down. Average ticket is waaaaay up.
I’d have to dig up last years books but seat of the pants says
overall up about 60%. In a worried economy.
And I haven’t advertised one bit. Notta. Treat people right = good
word of mouth. Freebies now and then. Price negotiation when asked,
and sometimes before they ask! I know those last two have been
discussed on this board in the negatory.
But can you argue with this formula?
AND…I have no big nuts due in January. Careful use of memo (avoid
memo that conflicts with your paid inventory). I built my inventory
during the year, pay as you go. If need be I can coast on what I have
in stock. I’ve got $$custom jobs lined up for the coming months and
made some new clients. Most of my new customers become long term
customers.
My big question is, “Why did it take me this long to figure it out?”
Sorry if I sound gloatish, I’m just happy. Very tired but happy.
In a nutshell though, my unsolicited advice to young struggling
jewelers…make high quality mountings that can stand up to expensive
stones. And sell to people with money.
Today is my first day of people buying out of the showcases. Up till
now it’s all been custom or customized pieces. The average sale today
so far has been around $375.00. Definitely not high-end pieces. I’ll
be open all day tomorrow and Monday. I do think it’s a "last minute"
year. My store is in a working class town in east central Florida.
Neil has the right idea . I’ve been following this thread and have
noticed that those with a high end product are doing well; those with
a broader spectrum of products are doing much better at the high end
than across the board; and those whose customer base is middle-income
and whose inventories are in the lower price ranges are not doing as
well as they did in previous years.
Conclusion? Regardless of the rosy picture our newspapers continue
to paint about American prosperity, at this time in history, a big
chunk of the population has been squeezed out of the market, and
things stand to get a lot worse before they get better… Time to take
stock of customer base and its relation to inventory and make
adjustments so as to improve sales and cut losses.
When the notorious Willie Sutton, master of disguises, was asked why
he robbed banks, he replied “Because that’s where the money is!”
Neil the jeweler figured it out… Make a quality product, and build
a customer base that can afford to buy it. Go where the money is.
The only way anyone can steal or duplicate my designs, is to buy the
one of a kind I make., and make a mold and cast. Next they need to
find the accent stone I use. I wish them well. I have already
created new designs, and have the money for the original.
Were I to post them, and they already are, I just have not yet posted
the Web Site, they would have a lot of work ahead of them.
When one is mass producing, yes I can see a potential problem. One
would hope that design has already found its big buyers, and the
designer is onto the next line.
I know from personal experiences, fires, health, etc. I am spending
a fraction of what I usually do. No iPods, no new computers, and for
me, a 40 hour per week job. The first to go, was personal
indulgences. I know I am not alone, so except for the moneyed, yes
spending is down, for everything. This too shall pass.
I think the fact that so many people have time to post speaks for
itself. Does anyone else think it’s interesting that countries like
Ireland are experiencing an economic boom? How did they do that?
Personally, I’m thinking of moving to France. Socialized childcare
is very sexy to me right now.
Susannah Page
Moonshine Metal Creations
Enjoying the break between semesters, pulled a 4.0 this semester, and
I’m freeing myself from a bad marriage. This is going to be a
beautiful Christmas.
My sales are all from my website and this has been the best Nov and
Dec. ever for me. People are buying my higher priced items - some
directly from the site but mostly custom orders that are for
something similar to what I have done before. My highest priced item
was $2400. and I did some for over 1000. which is not that much for
higher end jewelry but is higher than I have done before. I think
people are more comfortable with internet shopping this year. I also
have several orders that I put off until after Christmas so Jan.
looks like it will be a good month too. My problem is that I can’t
work as fast as I used to or for as many hours each day. If I could
have I would have doubled my sales.
I like it best when I visit with my customers via email so that I
feel I have a more personal relationship with them, which is
something one might be able to achieve better with face to face
customers in a store, although time-wise might be easier on the
internet. Don’t know, probably pros and cons with that one too. One
thing I do know, its a different world now with all this technology
than it was 20 years ago.
Here’s a quote that was in the Chicago Tribune 12/23/07, regarding
holiday sales:
"There will be a final surge, undoubtedly, but it will be
engineered with an avalanche of sales."
Kurt Barnard, president of Retail Forecasting LLC in New York
I was out shopping on Saturday and it was terribly crowded – people
were terribly aggressive over parking spaces – and the Costco had
police out directing traffic into their lot.
The stores that I went to had tremendous sales and most of what I
bought was 50% off. Not that that was why I bought it, I went to buy
what I went to buy, and it happened to be on sale.