Using Technology to Revive or Boost Your Jewelry Store’s Success
Stagnating in a jewelry business happens to some of the most successful brands. This could be due to any number of factors. While some of these would be out of your control (e.g. the pandemic, changing customer preferences, etc.), there is still much you can influence to bring your store back on its feet and help it thrive eventually. Let’s take each aspect of an online jewelry business and see what type of digital tools you can use to give it a boost.
Marketing
1. Multi-channel Listing
As an online jewelry seller, you must have a presence on as many platforms as possible in order to get enough traffic and compete in this crowded industry. However, manually listing thousands of products on marketplaces, social media, and your website takes a considerably large amount of time. Software tools like Valigara allow you to centralize all these listings and advertisements, where you only create them once and push them on all your marketing channels.
2. Email Campaigns
Client relationship management (CRM) is an important sales funnel step, turning cold leads into warm ones and ensuring repeat business. Having an email list and a newsletter is one of the cheapest and most effective marketing tools you can invest in. Post-sale marketing can help increase client lifetime value (CLV) and assist with obtaining social proof.
3. Website and Listings Optimization
Your website is your online store. It’s where you get the opportunity to build a brand image. All other channels should lead your customers there. So you want to put your best foot forward in optimizing it. That includes both content and design. Similarly, marketplace listings should be optimized according to each marketplace’s expectations and standards. Take a look at some of our tips for improving your listings, including some specifically for eBay, Etsy, Amazon, and Walmart.
Operations
1. Product Information Management (PIM)
Just as you don’t want to manually list every single product you sell, you also don’t want to manually update each listing. It’s important to keep up with trends and make changes according to your analytics. But without a software like Valigara to automatically push all updates to all your product listings, this process could drastically reduce your productivity. Here’s what you can do to make sure your jewelry PIM strategies are working in your favor.
2. Payment Processing
Nowadays, clients expect both a smooth checkout process and multiple payment options. This includes various payment gateways (e.g. PayPal, Stripe, Square), methods (e.g. online transfers, credit/debit cards, ACH transfers), and currencies (e.g. regular currencies and cryptocurrency).
3. Data Analysis
From your ad performance to website traffic to sales, your jewelry business data tells you a story. Learning how to read it and interpret it will provide you the insight you need to make better decisions and increase your jewelry’s store success. Data analysis software can help you extract and visualize data, draw conclusions, and make future predictions.
4. Project Management
Your team is one of your biggest assets. Making sure you can clearly coordinate with each staff member, without delays or miscommunications, is essential in maintaining productivity and efficiency. Project management software is not only useful internally, but also for communications with customers, especially when trying to resolve complaints.
Manufacturing
1. Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)
If you are a gem or jewelry manufacturing company, selling mostly B2B, you have another area of business to consider. Ensuring proper equipment performance, engaging in preventative maintenance and machine health monitoring, and finally, complying with safety and jewelry industry regulations can take much effort and time. A CMMS can help you speed up these processes, with less errors and increased accuracy.
2. Machine Learning and Automation
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the word of the day for a few years, particularly in the jewelry industry. CAD, CNC, and 3D printing are just a few of the latest jewelry design innovations that have taken the jewelry industry by storm. Combined with increased automation, AI can help you save on costs (particularly labor), improve product quality, scale your jewelry eCommerce operations, and more. The latest development in AI is ASI,
aka Artificial Swarm Intelligence. This new branch focuses on facilitating, improving, and harnessing the power of group decision-making. One of its biggest benefits is that it no longer threatens to take away jobs from individuals, but instead it works in tandem with human intelligence. This happens through collective and/or simultaneous collaborations, without the need for verbal communications, that are enabled and amplified through technology.
3. Renewable Energy
The time to look at the future and seriously consider sustainability has finally arrived. Customers, especially those from younger generations, are increasingly more concerned with climate and environmental concerns. Reduced waste and renewable energy sources are the directions most jewelry manufacturers are heading, investing in recycling practices while looking for alternative solutions and optimization of waste disposal.
Training and certifications around this topic, such as (Lean) Six Sigma or Total Quality Management (TQM), are extremely popular as well. While these can mean a large initial investment, they bring less expenses in the long run. For example, a solar photovoltaic (PV) system can significantly reduce both carbon emissions and energy consumption. PV systems can also last up to 20 years, requiring little maintenance, and can be recycled in the end.
Logistics
1. Suppliers Management
Coordinating with suppliers, assessing product quality, setting goals and expectations, planning and streamlining shipments, and minimizing delivery risks can all be done automatically, saving both time and effort. Up to 50% of a company’s value is linked to its supplier relationships. Choosing, onboarding, and maintaining a relationship with one’s suppliers can drastically impact the success of a jewelry business.
2. Fulfillment
Much goes on behind the scenes when it comes to Inventory Management and Fulfillment. We’ve detailed the most important jewelry inventory management strategies in a separate article. One more point that has recently become quite important in this area is packaging. We have a few tips on that as well.
3. Shipping
Last but not least, making sure your products get to your customers on time and in a good state is just as crucial as all the other points above. Whether your jewelry business model is dropshipping, B2C, D2C, or B2B, shipping and logistics still need proper coordination, monitoring, and problem solving. For example, customer returns are extremely important for your brand reputation and success. So are other small details such as tracking numbers. Digital tools can help you print shipping labels in bulk, distribute the right information to the right courier, and much more.
So which one of the above arenas could use more attention in your own jewelry business? Take some time to analyze all your internal activities and optimize those that need it most. We’re quite certain you’ll see improved results fairly soon after that.
