Handmade Jewelry Business: What to Do If Your Jewelry Isn't Selling

It can happen if you're a newbie and even if you're an experienced jewelry designer. Your jewelry stops selling despite your best efforts at jewelry marketing. If you're dependent on your artistic efforts as your primary source of income, this can be a very frustrating and even scary experience. There's no need to panic! It may be time to take a fresh look at your jewelry designs.

The first step to correcting this problem is to step back and take an objective look at what you're offering your customers.To do this effectively, you need to take a brief time away from your jewelry designs in order to release any emotional energy that may be blocking your ability to be objective. Sometimes we're so emotionally involved with what we create that we can't see our own work objectively.

Take a day or two off and do some things that you really enjoy doing. Take long walks through the woods, take some scenic bicycle rides, have a leisurely lunch and don't think about your business. Soon you'll be relaxed and ready to start the reevaluation process.

Take out some of your pieces of jewelry on their display cards and place them on a large, solid white cloth to give yourself a neutral background. Try to look at your jewelry as if you're seeing it for the first time. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do your designs look updated and fresh or do they look like last year's offerings? Customers seek newness! One difficult aspect of the jewelry business is that it'ssubject to trends which makes people want to always see something new. On the other hand, it's a positive because people have to keep buying in order to be in style.

2. Can you buy jewelry designs similar to yours at local department stores and other mass markets. Be honest here. Do you TRULY have something unique to offer your customers? If not, you'll end up trying to compete on the basis of price which is not a good situation.

3. Is your jewelry display card consistent with your jewelry and your jewelry and your overall theme. I don't expect to see natural stone jewelry displayed on a brightly colored, garish card. An understated, elegant card with soothing, natural colors would be more appropriate. Successful
jewelry marketing is all about consistency.

4. What does your jewelry card say? Does it tell a story about you and your handmade jewelry? Does it make people feel good about buying from you? This is what separates your jewelry from mass market jewelry which is often produced overseas by a disinterested group of workers. Let your customers know about you, the jewelry designer and why your designs are so special. Establish a connection with your customer and you'll make your customer feel much more comfortable buying from you.

5. How about your prices? How do your prices compare to what you see similar handmade jewelry selling for? Don't assume that your jewelry can only be priced too high! Underpricing can give the perception that your jewelry is of poor quality or that you have no confidence in your design ability. Sometimes raising prices can result in increased sales.

6. Are you selling your jewelry in the right places? Many of you sell your handmade jewelry at craft shows and local boutiques. If you make unique, high end jewelry that rightfully should sell for a significant price, you're most likely not going to have much luck at your local flea market. It may be time to apply to some of the juried, higher end art and craft shows. Likewise, higher end jewelry isn't going to be a big hit at a boutique that sells discount clothing.

7. Is your jewelry consistent with the prevailing color and size trends?Of course, you don't want to be completely dictated by the current fashion mania, but you may have problems selling little button earrings when the hottest earring trend is a shoulder dusting dangle. If the big color trend of the season happens to be pastels, it stands to reason that people will be eager to buy jewelry to go with the current clothing colors. You may have a problem if your jewelry consists primarily of dark, muted shades.

Now that you've taken a fresh look at your jewelry designs, is it time to make some changes? One word of warning, don't make more than one change at a time. Start with one simple change and test your market to see how it responds. You need to be able to identify which change brought the results. Give this method a try and see if it helps to jumpstart your jewelry sales.