Online website sales

When customers ask why we don’t have a website or sell online, my
reply is that I don’t think that most people are comfortable buying
jewelry online; people want to try the jewelry on, check out the
quality, feel the weight of the piece, etc. Based upon most of your
posts on this topic, it APPEARS that my intuition was correct.

However, I’m surprised that more wholesalers don’t have a
comprehensive website to replace or support their traditional
catalogs. Unlike a retail customer, once I’m familiar with a
companies jewelry and overall quality, I don’t need to inspect each
and every piece. However, due to time constraints I don’t like
putting together major orders online–even with DSL it’s still
quicker to put together orders using a paper catalog. Nonetheless,
it’s impractical for a wholesaler to put out a new catalog everytime
they receive new merchandise. But one manufacturer I deal with emails
me pictures a couple of times a month of new designs, so I always
have access to the latest and greatest designs–works great!!

Doug Dreyfus

    When customers ask why we don't have a website or sell online,
my reply is that I don't think that most people are comfortable
buying jewelry online; people want to try the jewelry on, check out
the quality, feel the weight of the piece, etc. Based upon most of
your posts on this topic, it APPEARS that my intuition was correct.

True, a lot of people don’t want to buy jewelry from a website - but
a website is still a great marketing tool, especially when you are
just getting started. If you can have a URL on all of your business
cards so people can see pictures of your work, it really helps get
the word out - probably most customers will still prefer to meet you
in person to buy jewelry, but I can honestly say that my website is
the single most valuable marketing tool I have right now, in spite of
the fact that my sales come primarily from face-to-face meetings with
customers.

I do sometimes get online orders, but then again, my jewelry is not
high-end expensive platinum and diamond stuff, so that might make
people less hesitant. If they can buy something under $100, it’s not
so much of a risk.

– Leah

It may be true that many people want to see and touch and try on
jewelry in person, but I think that a good web site is still very
important. If nothing else, it should be like your online business
card. Also, what we think is completely out of the spectrum right now
could be the next innovator’s break through, so I wouldn’t count
successful web selling for fine jewelry out of the question.
Tiffany’s even has a web site that you can purchase off of.

  • Dee Dee
         When customers ask why we don't have a website or sell
online, buying jewelry online; people want to try the jewelry on,
check out the quality, feel the weight of the piece, etc. Based
upon most of your posts on this topic, it APPEARS that my intuition
was correct. 
Some people will never buy anything online but it all depends how

and what you are selling as to whether you can sell high dollar on
line. If you try to look like just another e-commerce site than yes
I think you will have problems with high dollar items. EBay sells
mostly to bargain hunters and flea market consumers if you are
trying to sell there it had better be a bargain. We make upwards of
75% of our sales from customers who find us via our website and the
price point is not low end.

A few years ago there were people trying to convince us that the

internet was going to take over retail, well we all know that did
not happen but look at the billions of dollars in e-commerce that
does happen every year that is not all books and cd’s from Amazon
and a small handful of other successful websites. There is a lot of
retail that is done on the web. Like any other way of selling you
have to work at it. It is not a put up the website and forget it
while the money rolls in kind of thing. You have to either hire a
good web designer/marketing company or learn how to do it yourself.
You must advertise, work on search engine placement, constantly
update the site. It would be just like opening a store and not
researching or already knowing about retail storefront marketing and
expecting to have it work, no one would buy from you. Not because
you have a storefront but because you have not done your homework
and done the right marketing. It is not about the not which
marketing method you use but how you use it.

Jim Binnion James Binnion Metal Arts Phone (360) 756-6550 Toll Free
(877) 408 7287 Fax (360) 756-2160 http://www.mokume-gane.com
@James_Binnion Member of the Better Business Bureau

If nothing else, it should be like your online business card. 

This is a good point, just to add in. Businees cards can cost you
anywhere from 40 to 50 + … a website, in a year, could cost only
$60! $5.month. There are hosting companies out there that are that
inexpesive.

:. S

Just a thought regarding Web sites, These days, I am far more likely
to look for a Web site to check things like store hours, location,
etc. I seem to always want this sort of info at 1 a.m., and I feel
silly calling a store at that hour, hoping the answering machine
might have what I need. Plus, I can just print out directions, so I
don’t have to write them all down. Yep, I will probably go in person
to actually look at the jewelry – but the Web site makes it easy for
me to do so.

I can also imagine customers trying to decide which jeweler to go to
turning to the Web. If I were looking for a particular type of
product, I think I would look at Web sites to see who carries that
sort of thing: Jeweler A, Jeweler B, Jeweler C, etc., etc. I hate
driving around from place to place looking for something. It wastes a
lot of my precious time. If I see my item (or something similar)
online at Jeweler C, that will be my first stop. I might start with
the Yellow Pages, but I will finish with the Web…

Just some food for thought.

Suzanne Suzanne Wade Writer/Editor Phone: (508) 339-7366 Fax: (928)
563-8255 @Suzanne_Wade1 http://www.rswade.net