We began selling fashion rings about 6 months. At the time, we were unsure how well they would be received, as they were by far our cheapest items. But as they were so cheap (£0.80 - £1.40), most customers tried out a small sample, and found that they sold well.

Yesterday, our latest range of Fashion Rings went live on the website. They were made specially for us, so you won’t find these particular designs anywhere else. The price range is similar to the older lines, and they are just as colourful.

We run regular reports on our monthly sales. Not because we’re interested in how many orders individual customers are placing, but because we like to know what our customers are doing in a broad, general way: what percentage of sales are silver as opposed to costume jewellery, how are Ladies Watches selling this month compared to last month - that sort of thing.

Some time ago we noticed that a percentage of repeat customers always place small orders - around the £45 figure - and that they place these orders frequently, often every week, or more than once a week.

This is a very expensive way to buy your jewellery, the reason being that each small order is charged the standard delivery rate of £9.95. On a minimum sized order, shipping adds 22% to the cost of the goods. If you place 5 orders a month, that’s an extra £49.75, and it’s an expense you don’t need to pay. Orders above £225 shipped to the UK and Ireland are delivered for free. For someone who places regular, small, weekly orders, placing one large order instead of 5 small ones would save you that 22%.

We don’t make any money on postage. We charge the customer what we are charged by DHL, so it makes no difference to us whether you place large or small orders, but it certainly could make a difference to you.

Now, it’s quite possible that for cash flow reasons, placing an order above £225 is just not feasible, but the higher value your order, the lower the proportional costs of shipping, as shipping rates do not rise in line with your order. A £100 order still incurs £9.95 in shipping costs, but that only amounts to a 10% addition to the cost of the goods. For a £200 order, it drops still further to under 5%, and above £225, it disappears completely.

The bottom line here, is that small orders cost you money, and large orders save you money.

We often get asked if we supply packaging to match the jewellery we sell. The short answer is no. All of our jewellery is sold without packaging: boxes, cases, gift pouches, etc.

The level of packaging required will vary from retailer to retailer: high street shops, for example, tend to go to much greater effort and expense when presenting jewellery than a market trader would, even though they might both be selling the same items.

It’s always easier if you can buy everything you need from a single source, but this is rarely the best approach. There’s a price for convenience, and in the current economic uncertainty, getting the best goods for the best price is more important than ever.

For quality packaging, we recommend a UK company called Packaging World. We’ve found their lines to be quite tasteful and competitively priced, and their ability to handle small as well as large order quantities would suit many of our customers. As an added bonus, they do offer free shipping across the UK.

All of our jewellery is displayed in reverse order, with the newest items appearing first, and the oldest items appearing last. This means that a wide range of different styles and prices could appear side by side. For example, when browsing our Necklaces, you might easily be presented with our most expensive items at £7 - £8 on the same page as some of our cheapest items, selling for little more than £1.

This is all well and good, as regular customers who are familiar with our catalogue will always see the freshest, newest lines first, but it doesn’t help when your budget or your end customer is geared towards one end of the price spectrum or the other.

With this in mind, we’ve added some extra sorting options to our catalogue pages that allow you to change the order items appear in. The default is as it is now, which is newest items first. Two further options: Highest Priced and Lowest Priced, will sort the catalogue by the cost of each item.

This means that you can easily look at all of our cheapest or most expensive lines side by side. If you’re shopping within a particular price range, this should make your browsing a whole lot easier. Once you change the sort order to the option that suits you, it will be remembered for your current visit to our website. The next time you visit, the default of newest items first will again apply.

Sourcing new suppliers is not easy. You never know what you’re going to get, or how you’re going to to be treated. There’s really no way you can know for sure what a supplier is like before you buy from them. You can’t ask other retailers, because they’ll be keeping their best suppliers close to their chest. Sadly, you can’t even depend on the company itself to be up front with you about everything - they may gloss over delivery charges, or tell you they have stock they don’t actually have, just to get your business. Shortsighted, but true nonetheless.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a Customer Testimonials Page. We haven’t edited any of the comments, beyond correcting a few spelling errors and removing the odd word that might identify the person or business being quoted. As already mentioned, retailers do not like other retailers knowing where they source their stock. Our hope is that this page will help alleviate some of the fears buyers may have before placing that first order.

If you have any comments you’d like to make about our business or stock that you feel might help your fellow retailers, please contact us and we’ll be happy to post them on our testimonials page.

Most of the sterling silver chains we sell are light weight snake or curb chains. As with all silver jewellery, you’re paying more for the weight of the silver used, than you are for the design of the jewellery. For this reason, heavy chains do not always sell well, as buyers prefer to spend their money on the accompanying pendants.

During a recent stock take, we came across a small selection of weightier silver chains we thought we had sold out of. These chains can be worn independently, or with an accompanying pendant. Quantities are small, and they are all priced and sold individually, rather than as batches.

Regular customers will be aware that we’ve been sold out of our Ladies Watches since June of this year. Though we could have sourced some more over the past few months, the quality and price were simply not right. Which is why we’re very pleased to be able to offer a completely new range of watches today.

Our latest watches come in a variety of styles and price ranges, from £3.72 to over £7.00. We have 60 lines available, and expect to have more in a few weeks. The time for retailers to be stocking up for Christmas is getting closer, which is why we’re introducing these new watches now.

As usual, none of our watches are boxed, which allows us to offer them at very competitive prices, both per item, and on delivery charges. As well as our ladies watches, we have a very small number of Gent’s Expander watches. These designs are old and timeless, and worn by all age groups. We don’t normally stock men’s jewellery, but we thought we’d give these few watches a try, and see how they go.

We supply a lot of Jewellery Party businesses. Some of them are successful, and have been buying from us for years; some are just starting out on their own after having worked as a consultant for one of the big party plan companies; and others are on their last legs, on the brink of closing down their business due to poor sales and lack of interest.

All are buying the same products from us at the same prices. So why do some succeed where others fail?

There are three areas where Jewellery Party organisers go wrong. They are:

1. Over pricing
2. Sourcing only the cheapest of jewellery
3. Not changing stock often enough

Failing in any one of these areas will put a serious dampener on your profits. Failing in more than one will lead to the demise of your business. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

1. Over Pricing

The most common mistake made by new jewellery party organisers is to charge too much for their products. Your price should never be based on what similar items sell for in a Jewellers on the high street, or in a display cabinet at Next or River Island. It should be based on the price you paid for the item, plus any additional expenses that detract from your overall profit.

For example, say you purchase 5 of the above bracelet from us. The cost price per item is £2.31, and when VAT and shipping costs are added, you’ll be looking at just over £3 per bracelet. Charging £15-£18 at your first jewellery party may seem like a good idea, and you may very well sell one to a sister-in-law or a friend from work, but you’ll never sell another to the same person.

Far better to charge a more enticing £7-£8. Yes, your profit per item will be considerably less, but you’ll be selling far more. Which is better: two items earning £12 profit each, or fifteen items earning £5 profit each? And once you start pricing your jewellery well, the same people will return to buy from you next time, and chances are they’ll bring some friends along too.

Over pricing is a fatal and all too common mistake. When your early parties are attended by family and friends who feel obligated to buy something from you, it’s easy to miss.

2. Sourcing Only Cheap Jewellery

Our necklaces range in price from as little as £1.50 to over £7. Every now and then, a new customer comes along and places an order for 30-40 items, all priced around the £1.50 mark. The number of items purchased is just enough to pass our £45 minimum order size, and they only buy one of each item. We know we’ll never hear from this person again.

It’s not that our cheap items don’t sell, they certainly do - our bracelets are amongst our best sellers, and the same customers regularly come back for more. It’s that your customers want to see quality, expensive items mixed in with the cheap and cheerful lines. By all means, buy the cheap items and sell them for a fiver each, but you need to mix up your display with different styles at different prices.

The above necklace sells for £5.35, looks completely different to our cheaper lines, and could easily be sold on for £15+.

3. Not Changing Stock Often Enough

Sterling Silver Jewellery is timeless. Whether it’s a ring, a pendant, or a pair of earrings, last years fashions will look just as good this year. The same cannot be said for Costume Jewellery. We estimate that costume jewellery has an in-fashion life span of about 4-6 months, which is why we bring in new lines so frequently and never restock sold out items. What was popular last year, simply will not sell this year. What sells well in the summer will not sell in the winter.

You need to change and update your stock frequently. Just because a particular range sold well the last time you gave a party in Guildford, does not mean they will sell well this time. If you try to sell the same items to the same people again and again, your party attendances will get smaller and smaller.

Time after time we hear from customers who bought items from us months ago, asking us when we will be getting more of a necklace or bracelet. The answer is, we won’t, and neither should you. As a jewellery party organiser, you should be telling your customers what’s fashionable, not expecting them to tell you. You should be setting the trends, not hawking last years fashions.

There is nothing wrong with the jewellery party industry - it’s still going strong, despite all the doom and gloom we hear about the economy. If your party attendances are dwindling; if your customers are simply not buying, or are only buying the cheapest items; if your hostesses from months ago are not inviting you back; chances are it’s your fault.

Look to your pricing, and look to your stock. Are you over priced? Are you buying only cheap items? Are you bringing in fresh designs and colours?

Other useful links:

How to make that party a success
How to get the most from your Jewellery displays
Sourcing that Jewellery Party Stock