Happy spring everybody! This is a season of rejuvenation and we want to share with you the last month’s industry updates, some discussing new marketplace features and products that might be relevant for your jewelry business. We would love to hear from you what insights you’ve implemented in your business as well as any thoughts provoked by Valigara’s newsletter!
Jewelry and eCommerce News 📰
eBay to allow sellers to upload videos 🎥
As part of eBay’s effort to help sellers grow sales, the platform introduces video capability for listings and storefronts. The video capabilities will be implemented throughout 2021 initially on the eBay app and eventually expand to desktop and mobile web.
Etsy’s changes categories and attributes🖱️
There’s a ton of special items on Etsy and categories help shoppers find just the thing they’re looking for. Last month, three new attributes were introduced for listings in the Jewelry category: Cut type, Shank type, and a Coordinates option for Jewelry that features geographic coordinates as part of the design. (Remember: Valigara allows you to update the information in all your listings in just a few clicks!)
Walmart Marketplace opens to foreign sellers 🛒
A BIG THING is happening these days in the major channels landscape. Walmart, a main competitor to Amazon – also in jewelry sales, expanded its Marketplace to allow foreign sellers. Nearly a hundred sellers based in China already joined the U.S. venue in recent weeks. Although sellers are currently showing delivery estimates as long as three weeks, they will be able to onboard Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), warehousing their goods in Walmart’s U.S. warehouses.
Signet pushes Jewelry Rental platform as a new service 💲
Signet Jewelers Limited, the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry, acquired Rocksbox, a jewelry rental subscription platform. The acquisition gives the company a foothold in a growing online service that speaks to next-generation jewelry customers – who would love wearing a fabulous piece of jewelry, even if they can only rent it.
News from Valigara 👀
Valigara held its monthly eCommerce Webinar in Hebrew this time, catering for the Israeli audience. We hosted Gilad Salinger, CEO of Fetchy, an Israeli startup providing a holistic solution for shipping and logistics, and discussed the challenges of exporting jewelry. If you’re interested in watching the webinar (in Hebrew) – look here.
Igor’s Tip of the Month: eCommerce is a Team Game 🤹🏻♀️
“Managing your online presence requires a wide set of skills. This starts with handling the product information, building the online jewelry catalogue, and organizing the product images. Later, you need to manage your online assets: your website, marketplaces, and other channels. Online marketing is also a handful, including email and social marketing, PPC campaigns, and much more. Customer service, orders management, logistics and fulfillment follow suit. It’s quite hard to do it all on yourself. Building a team of diverse skills is therefore advisable. Automating with software wherever possible also helps! 😉”
