You already know the importance of finding new local markets for your handmade jewelry. Why restrict yourself to fashion boutiques and art galleries when there are a variety of less conventional markets for your jewelry?
I visited an out of town location over the weekend. My husband and I stopped at a local coffee shop for some refreshments. While I was waiting for my order, a lady approached me and informed me she hosting a jewelry show in a small room in the back of the coffee shop. Of course, I couldn't resist taking a look. This lady had setup up several tables of handmade jewelry along with a display. similar to a simple setup you'd see at a craft show. Her jewelry appeared to be well made and was reasonably priced, although not extremely unusual. I asked her how her sales had been that day. She seemed enthusiastic about her sales It seems that many of the women browsed her jewelry with their coffee in hand and, ultimately, ended up buying a piece or two to take home.
This is an excellent example of thinking out of the box in terms of outlets for handmade jewelry. Most of us wouldn't have thought of a coffee shop as being a good market for jewelry, but in this case it was. How many other outlets could there be out there where you could set up a small display and benefit from the store's traffic? A few that come to mind are bridal stores, natural food co-ops (if you sell natural gemstone jewelry), gardening stores (if you sell jewelry with a nature theme), tea rooms, shoe stores, and other retail outlets that women frequent. Many of these retail outlets would be happy to let you come in and sell your jewelry for the day. You could offer the store a percentage of your sales in exchange for the space .
If you choose to do this, think in terms of offering some jewelry related to the stores theme, if possible. If you'll be displaying at a gardening store, add some jewelry that uses flower or leaf charms. At a coffee store, use coffee cups and other related charms to pick up the theme. I would also suggest choosing a high traffic day to set up your display such as a Saturday during the holiday buying season. Be sure to have an email sign up book on prominent display so you can potentially market to your new customers in the future. Another idea is to make a coupon for a small percentage off of jewelry purchases from your display and have the owner of the store hand them out to each customer as she pays.
When you go shopping, start looking at each retail outlet that you enter as being a possible market for your handmade jewelry. There are lots of hidden markets out there that can help you grow your jewelry business. mark
Kristie Leong M.D. specializes in helping handmade jewelry designers find new markets for their jewelry. She publishes a blog and has website full of information on jewelry marketing at http://www.jewelry-marketing.com
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