Here in the jewelry industry, we deal with the timeless. Gems and precious metals have an absolute value. Pieces that were beautiful 500 years ago are still beautiful today. Styles may come and go, the markets may shift, but jewelry and fine watches hold an aspect of eternity. So it’s no surprise that the jewelry industry is not as subject to change as other, more mercurial business models. You know your inventory, industry, and customers so there’s no need to change, right?
Not so. While jewelry may be timeless, the market is not. In order to get the attention of customers and win their business, it’s necessary to keep up with market trends and, of course, how your customers prefer to shop. Today, everyone shops for everything online. Consider your own personal habits and the impact of the recent pandemic. Online selling is not just necessary, it should be an ongoing part of your jewelry and watch selling strategy.
Join us as we frame the best-practices for increasing your jewelry business sales by selling online.
Host an E-Commerce Website
Your jewelry store website is the core of your online presence. It represents your brand, presents your pieces, and provides a place for customers to shop and buy online. While jewelry shopping can be a very tactile experience, you can convey some of that metal and stone sensation through excellent photography and elegant descriptions.
Consider your website as an extension of your shop and the online face of your brand. For a jewelry and watch business, you can use graphic design and smooth user-interface to convey the refined ambiance that your real shop was designed to inspire. Help your online customers achieve the same gratifying experience shopping online that they would receive if you could sell to them in-person.
It is also vital that your website be mobile-friendly. This serves two purposes. First, Google has implemented a “mobile first” policy, pushing sites that are smooth on mobile devices. Second, a mobile-friendly website makes your shop more accessible to customers shopping on-the-go and through their phones. Without a Responsive, mobile-friendly web design, your e-store will miss a great deal of online traffic.
Update Your Website Regularly to Stay On-Top
Once you have a website, it’s important to keep it updated. This can seem contradictory if you already have the perfect website design and your inventory remains the same. However, there’s more to an e-store than the perfect design. You also need to keep your website relevant, both for the search engines and the customer’s expectations.
Search engines down-rank websites that don’t update regularly. Not just new product pages and blog articles; there are structural and meta-data changes that need to be made as well. For example, Google is constantly changing its top-results algorithm. With each change, new guidelines for appearing at the top of relevant searches will change. So even if you have the best web design and content, it takes constant updates to stay on top.
For your customers, they are drawn to websites that follow the UI trends. You need your website to navigate the same way as other websites so users know how to get around. You may want to add a help section, a floating live-chat bubble, and more intuitive search filters to please your customers and bring them back.
Write Interesting and Insightful Blog Articles
Your jewelry website is also the host to your blog; the hub of “inbound” marketing. If you’re not familiar with inbound marketing, it is the art of bringing customers to you of their own volition. When you write in-depth about topics that your customers may search for, they are drawn to your website and grow to trust your expertise in quality jewelry. This gives them greater trust that your products, bought online, will reflect the quality of your knowledge.
The best way to make your blog into a powerful inbound marketing asset is to write great articles that your customers can truly benefit from. As a jewelry expert, you can provide your insights, personal stories, and advice based on experience to give your blog a greater value to the reader. If you’re not a writer, personally, then share your insights with your content creation team instead.
Share an Eye-Catching Social Media Campaign
Social media is another form of online selling. Each post is fleeting but if used correctly, can draw thousands of new eyes to your brand and new customers to your store. The key to successful social media is to be eye-catching. Fortunately, this is something that comes naturally to the jewelry industry.
Use your social media posts to create “mouthwatering” images combined with witty, humorous, and romantic captions. Create memes that people want to share and sentiments lovers will steal to give to each other. Use photography to inspire customers the same way picture windows did in the days of the high street.
Build a Presence on Popular Platforms
The best place to sell is through your own shop or website. However, there are millions of customers who start their shopping on large marketplaces like Amazon and eBay before they look anywhere else for a product. To attract these customers and even win them over as direct shoppers, it can help to build a presence on the popular platforms.
Host a few of your products, tempting pieces that are part of a series or set, that will attract buyers. Use this opportunity to feature your marketplace items next to inspiring other pieces that are only available directly through you.
Build a Seasonal Calendar of Deals and Events
One of the best ways to engage your online customers is to host seasonal events, sales, and virtual events. This gives you a wonderful reason to build connections through email newsletters and hype your community on social media. Each year, design a calendar that continually provides your customers with something to get excited about.
A seasonal calendar of feature sales and events is great fodder for social media posts, blog articles, and of course a reason to get the attention of online customers again and again.
Reassess Your Website and Campaign Annually
Lastly, be sure to take another look at your online selling resources every year. Your website, social media strategy, blog articles, and even your product listings may need to be updated year-on-year to keep up with the market trends and the demands of search-engine relevancy. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a marketing or web design expert to increase online sales. You just have to work with one.
Here at OWUP, we understand the needs of the jewelry and watch industry and what it takes to sell successfully online. Let us help you update your selling strategy to thrive in the online marketplace.
