How to start an online jewelry business
Creating your own online jewelry store is pretty simple. However, there are a lot of competitors, so you will have to search carefully to find niche products. We have created a roadmap to explain how to find your product range and how to sell jewelry online.
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Starting a new online jewelry business
Online jewelry stores usually sell only jewelry, watches and related accessories. Jewelry includes a wide range of products, such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings or rings. While there are many other jewelry stores, you can still start a jewelry business. The market is big enough.
You could still start your own jewelry business. The jewelry market is big enough.
Almost everyone wears jewelry from time to time, whether it is a nice watch, necklace or various bracelets. People like to alternate their accessories. You might wear a wedding ring, piercing or expensive watch almost every day, but you probably want to alternate earrings, bracelets or cufflinks. In addition, jewelry is available in an awful lot of different tastes, styes and types.
Product range: What jewelry will you sell?
There is a large range of jewelry items that are suited for selling jewelry online, depending on your target audience and newest trends in the market. Keeping up with the latest trends and styles makes it easier to determine which items are most likely to sell. Some possibilities include:
If you know the latest trends and styles, it is easier to know which items will sell.
- Necklaces: There are a lot of directions you can go with necklaces. For example, think of luxury necklaces with all kinds of stones to personal necklaces with initials, birthstones or symbols.
- Bracelets: Even in bracelets, there are many different materials and styles to choose from, including charm bracelets, beaded bracelets or printed ones.
- Earrings: These can range from simple studs to statement earrings and loops.
- Rings: Not every ring is a timeless wedding band. Trends also play an important role with rings.
- Watches: Watches are a popular accessory and there are many different styles to choose from, such as minimalist, sporty and classic.
- Hair ornaments: Hair pins, hair bands and hair clips are not only functional, but they can also complement an outfit.
- Anklets: These can range from beach to bohemian looks to bands with pearls, charms or specific expressions.
- Body jewelry: Think about nose rings or belly button and septum piercings.
- Brooches: brooches are back in style and can add a vintage touch to any outfit.
You could try to sell all these products and start one huge jewelry store. But that also means that you will need to buy a lot of inventory right away. This also makes it harder to distribute your marketing efforts evenly across all product categories. Therefore, most new online stores start with just selling one category, trend or style.
Jewelry in one particular style
There are other ways to specialize your online store, for example by selling jewelry in one particular style. A store that mainly sells jewels will have a very different target group and look than a shop with trendy items made of plastic, leather, wood or stainless steel. Some popular styles include:
Fashion jewelry: This style often includes affordable and fashionable jewelry made from cheaper materials such as zinc alloys, stainless steel, copper, brass or gold-plated metals. These items are popular because of their accessible prices and trendy designs.
Minimalistic jewelry: Simple and elegant jewelry with a timeless design, such as thin necklaces, subtle earrings and delicate rings. These items are often popular because of their versatility and because they are easy to combine with different outfits.
Handmade and personalized items: This includes unique, handmade jewelry with personalized elements such as initials, names or special dates. These items are attractive because of their uniqueness and personalization.
There are many styles to choose from, such as minimalistic, statement or classic jewelry.
Silver and golden jewelry: You could also sell jewelry made from gold or silver. Some of these items are supplemented with precious metals, stones and diamonds. Both solid as well as gold-plated.
Animal-shaped jewelry: Animal-shaped jewelry is a fun and playful trend, with jewelry in the shape of animals such as cats, dogs, elephants and birds.
Statement jewelry: Statement jewelry is eye-catching, large and bold jewelry that can transform an outfit. This could include statement necklaces, earrings or bracelets.
Pearl jewelry: Jewelry made of pearls, such as pearl necklaces, pearl bracelets and pear earrings are timeless and remain popular. Especially with people who are looking for vintage jewelry styles.
Purchasing jewelry or producing it yourself
If you are crafty, you could make jewelry yourself. You could also design them yourself and create your own label and products. This helps in making your online store stand out from competitors.
However, building a large product range for your online store can be challenging, as it requires more time and effort. Managing inventory also becomes more complicated. Dropshipping jewelry offers a way to test demand without the risk of ending up with unsold items.
Jewelry suppliers
Once you know the demand or think you can qualify for discounts, you can start purchasing your jewelry from a wholesaler. Some platforms to find European jewelry suppliers are:
This b2b platform connects retailers with wholesalers with low purchasing thresholds and minimum purchases. Perfect for finding extra items or suppliers. With the dropshipping subscription you have no storage risks or fulfilment hassle: suppliers send items directly to your customers.
- dropshipping and wholesale in one platform
- true European brands
- local storage: fast delivery times
- options for exclusive partnerships
Large platform that offers over 100M+ products from European and United States suppliers, including fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products. You get fast delivery, branded packaging, private label options and unique print-on-demand solutions. Suitable for both dropshipping and wholesale.
- beginner-friendly
- suppliers from Europe and the United States
- branded packaging and private label options
- offers a strong Shopify integration
- strong product research tools
The Faire platform features brands and wholesalers for retailers from North America and Europe. Both large and small online retailers can go here to complement their assortment in, for example, jewelry, clothing or home accessories.
Platform that combines multiple suppliers. Offers dropshipping with no subscription fees and optional white label shipping. Strong in fashion, jewelry, and beauty products. Fast delivery from US and UK warehouses. Shipments from China often take a bit longer.
- direct integration with Shopify and WooCommerce
- private labeling with no minimum order quantity
Making jewelry yourself (or having it made)
Making jewelry yourself is currently very popular, not just among sellers who want to earn some extra income by selling new products. Consumers also often make their own necklaces, bracelets or earrings. In addition to making your own jewelry, you can also start an online store selling materials for making those.
For the youngest target group, some wire, leather or beads are already very nice. But you can also start your own website in beautiful clasps, ear hooks, stones or pendants or other materials for making or repairing more sophisticated jewelry. With a nice jewelry box and gift wrapping included, you can also sell this just fine as a gift for a birthday or other festive occasion.
You can also purchase your complete product range at a jewelry wholesaler.
Software for your online store
If you want to start a jewelry brand online, you will need software to create it. Jewelry is often available in different sizes, materials and styles, so your software should have options for that. You also want to be able to display a set of images. Actually, all popular platforms are suitable for an online jewelry brand. These platforms can also be connected to online marketplaces, where you can easily reach a larger audience.
Some well-known software solutions are:
With no technical knowledge required, Webador's user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder is ideal for launching your own online store. Easy to use steps make it easy to customize your site yourself. Next to stores also perfect for a small business website, portfolio or event pages.
- starter friendly: drag and drop, no coding needed
- hosting and traffic included in plans
- simple interface with help and tutorials
- more than 300.000 European users
- based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- hosted by Google Cloud
Create your own online store yourself with 100+ themes and a complete app store. Shopify also connects well with marketplaces, socials and dropshippers. The software is technically fully SEO-optimized. Has its own cloud infrastructure in Canada, although EU stores are hosted in EU by Google.
- international market leader (millions of transactions per day)
- supports more than 175 countries worldwide
- sell on socials and marketplaces
- advanced features and customization options
- popular app store with extensive extra functionality
- EU-stores hosted in EU by Google Cloud
Cloud based ecommerce software for small and medium retailers. You build and manage an online store with hosting, templates, payments, and basic SEO included. Focus is on simplicity, UK and EU sales, and fast setup without technical skills.
- built in templates and themes
- one subscription, everything included
- fast setup without technical skills
- supports European VAT rules
- UK and EU market focus
- founded in 2002, based in the UK
You have full control over design and checkout. The basics are solid: products, payments, inventory, and orders, but the software is limited for ecommerce. This makes it most suitable for brands that want to sell up to 500 products through their own online store.
- built-in AI: create your website with prompts
- clean code and fast loading times
- SEO-friendly structure
- limited ecommerce functionality
- higher learning curve due to design freedom
- based in the United States (San Francisco)
With over 700,000 users, Wix is one of the most popular solutions for SMEs worldwide. Easily create your own online store yourself, or choose one of more than 500 ecommerce designs from the software itself.
- flexible content first focus
- generates your website with AI
- built in seo tools
- app market with extra features
- headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel
- hosted on multi-cloud services (AWS & Google Cloud)
With the hosted software from Strikingly, you are able to build your own website for free. A drag and drop functionality makes it easy to edit all the available sections. Its ecommerce tool 'Simple Store' allows you to turn your website into an online store and connect it to PayPal or Stripe.
Ecwid allows users to create a free online store within minutes. Instead of free trials, users can keep using the software for free for as long as they like. The software offers a lot of integrations that helps users sell on multiple channels, such as social media.
Sell online with an open source ecommerce platform. It has more than 300,000 users worldwide. The software is free to download and offers templates, modules and add-ons. Most of those do cost money.
Lightspeed eCommerce is a cloud-based solution to build an online store with. The software is extra convenient for omnichannel retailers. It enables them to manage in-store and online inventory, view all customer information and analyze multi-channel sales data, all in one system.
An e-commerce platform from Germany. It offers both open-source and commercial versions. The platform supports extensive customization, headless commerce, and API-based integrations. Shopware is modular, suitable for B2B and B2C webshops, and widely used across Europe.
BigCommerce is an open SaaS platform. It is built for integrations, including a WordPress integration, and allows you to work with the apps, agencies and technologies you prefer. Users get a free trial period of one month when you picking a plan.
Marketing
Jewelry makes a great match with online marketing where imagery has a lot of influence. With beautiful photos you can build a good reach on social media like Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook. Additionally, influencer marketing or affiliate marketing are also very suitable for selling jewelry.
Many accessories are sensitive to trends and seasons.
Many jewelry items are also sensitive to trends and seasons, which makes them perfect as gifts. Days like Valentine’s Day, Father’s or Mother’s Day or the holidays in December can be capitalized on with search engine advertising or email marketing. Emails are also ideal for staying in touch with regular customers.
Photography of jewelry items
An online store in jewelry is similar in technology to stores in other industries. However, photography is a lot more important in this product category. Jewelry is often small and detailed, which means that high-quality, accurate photography is essential.
It is important to invest in professional photography for your online store.
Especially in the more upscale segments, customers want to be able to see every detail of a piece of jewelry before they buy it. Many jewelry online stores invest in professional photography and 360-degree images to give customers a realistic view of the products on your site.
Product information and appearance of your store
In addition to professional product photos, the website itself also needs a professional look. Provide a good design, clear layout, attractive photos, detailed product descriptions and possibly customer reviews.
Product pricing
Because jewelry is often valuable, both financially and emotionally, it is important that customers feel safe and secure when buying it online. This starts with the prices for the jewelry itself. Prices should match the quality of your jewelry and fit the customer’s experience.
Discounts, promotions and positive reviews can drive conversion.
For lower value items that can be bought as impulse buys, you want to make sure that they are affordable. In doing so, discounts, promotions or positive reviews from other customers can quickly drive conversion. Jewelry made of precious metals or stones can be messy or unsafe. Even with homemade products, you want to avoid a cheap image. Higher prices can contribute to a sense of exclusivity and professionalism.
Logistics
Logistics is a challenge for many online retailers, but for jewelry it is not so bad. Often these are small items which requires a smaller storage space. For shipping, letterbox packages are sometimes also an option which again keeps costs manageable.
Many jewelry wholesalers also offer dropshipping. With this option, there is no need to buy the items in advance. The wholesaler sends the item directly to your customer after each order. With jewelry, however, you will sometimes have to deal with returns. Good product photos and descriptions help, but do not solve everything. Jewelry usually has a higher return rate than other products. The percentage depends on the quality of the jewelry, the price range, the online store’s return conditions, and the type of customer.
Frequently asked questions
Some frequently asked questions about starting an online jewelry business are:
How much money do I need to start an online jewelry business?
The cost of starting an online jewelry store varies depending on several factors, including the size of the online store, the amount of jewelry you want to sell, marketing and promotional activities. You will have to deal with costs for building the website, purchasing the jewelry, marketing costs, shipping and packaging costs, returns and customer service costs.
How is an online jewelry store different from other online stores?
Most jewelry items are small and personal. This means that in comparison with other online stores, a smaller space for storage will be needed. You can also send these items in smaller packaging. At the same time, you could use more luxurious gift wrapping for jewelry with precious metals or stones.
The product group has many different styles, tastes, materials and influences. It is difficult to compare luxurious watches that someone wears daily to affordable jewelry that temporarily complements a trendy outfit. This means that online stores in these items also differ greatly. From trendy, fashionable stores with a rapidly changing assortment to luxury jewelry stores.
In accordance, all stores online stores need good, descriptive information and qualitative imagery. The investment in photography, presentation and customer service is often higher with jewelry stores than in other online stores.