There comes a time in the handmade jewelry business when you decide to either sell retail only or to also delve into the wholesale jewelry market. It can be a very difficult decision because in many cases it requires a complete overhaul of your business strategy.
Wholesale Cat Jewelry Handmade Bracelets
Selling handmade jewelry strictly retail may entail opening your own gift store, catalog sales, craft shows and an e-commerce website. These all require a lot of work and organization.
If you decide on a gift store, you will need to offer other unique gifts as well as your own handmade jewelry so that you can keep up with the expenses. You can have a section of the store where you work on your jewelry or you can run the store out of your home, if zoning will allow, reducing overhead expenses and still making your handcrafted jewelry.
Catalog or email sales can easily be run from home but require time to establish your list of customers. It would probably be worthwhile to add this to other methods such as home parties, trunk shows and craft fairs.
Craft shows will keep you on the road much of the time if you actually want to make a living selling handcrafted jewelry. You will need to make your handmade jewelry making portable so that you can work on stock while at the craft shows. Alternatively you could create your jewelry during the winter months, January to April, when there are few craft shows to build up stock and just make fill-in stock at the shows.
Wholesale Earrings Handmade in Butterfly Jewelry Theme
An e-commerce website again is easily run from home but it will take time to become established online. A handmade jewelry website requires time and patience in order to get good rankings which will get you found. Although the possibilities are extraordinary the reality is more difficult. Having a back-up plan will increase your chances of success.
Wholesale jewelry is a whole different ball game. First you must be able to produce your handmade jewelry quickly and efficiently in quantity. You must discover the techniques that are easy to create the same design over and over again. You will need to hire people to help not only to keep up with production but with all the business aspects. Wholesale Gift Shows are expensive but still the best way to establish new customers. Even though you will sell your handmade jewelry at half of the retail price the potential for growth is huge. You will have hundreds of stores selling your handcrafted jewelry so the possibilities are endless.
Personally speaking, I preferred the freedom that retail sales provide. We traveled to craft shows for many years and it was fun and exciting. As our handmade jewelry business grew we evolved into more of a wholesale jewelry company. There are more demands on your time and less freedom due to deadlines but the results are more than worth the effort. There are great many advantages of starting a wholesale handmade jewelry business.
