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.