One of the most important elements in running a successful wholesale business is knowing who your customers are, and this is even more crucial when most of those customers buy online. The days of large wholesale companies sending sales reps out to bricks and mortar shops is fast fading. While it’s true that many of the more established wholesalers have yet to realise this, online selling, and the new opportunities it has opened up for independent retailers, has changed all this.

We only sell wholesale online, and have no showroom, no industrial sized warehouse, and no team of salesmen driving company cars up and down the country. It is for this reason that we are able to sell at the prices we do.

The great downside of selling in this manner is that we never get to meet our customers face to face. Even speaking to them on the telephone is a rarity, as most communication is carried out by email. As such, it takes a lot more effort to ferret out any real information about them. A yahoo.com email account and a residential shipping address tell us next to nothing beyond their geographic location, and buyers are notoriously cagey about their own businesses.

So who are we selling to in the UK jewellery world?

    1. Small Independent Shops.
    We don’t have any large chains on our books, and have no desire to seek them out. But smaller retail establishments are another matter entirely, and by this I don’t mean regular jewelers. A whole range of shops from fashion boutiques to shoe shops sell small amounts of jewellery to compliment their primary business. The problem is, the amount of jewellery they sell, whether watches, rings, or necklaces, does not compare to the larger High Street jewelers, and as such, they often have difficulty dealing direct with jewellery wholesalers.Buying online gives these retailers the opportunity to source low volumes of stock from many different suppliers, without entering into any long term agreements, and without having to take the time out of their day to visit warehouses in distant cities. Most of our sales to these sorts of clients come during the evening, after the shops have closed and the business day has ended.

    2. Jewellery Party Planners
    When we began selling wholesale, jewellery party planners were amongst our earliest clients, and at the time it was an industry we knew very little about. The vast majority of women who organise jewellery parties work through larger companies such as Virgin Vie in the UK and Lia Sophia in the US. There are however, a small number of more entrepreneurial and ambitious woman who are prepared to take a little more risk, bypassing these companies entirely and sourcing their stock direct.

    The advantages of this approach are that they are not tied to working for a single company, or to buying their stock from only one source. More variety, purchased direct from wholesalers at varying prices, leads to greater profits. On the back of our experiences with these clients, we’ve put together a Jewellery Party page, where we offer some tips on how to make the most from your parties.

    3. Professional Market Traders
    Wholesale companies do not like selling to market traders. I have no idea why this is the case, as our experience has shown these same traders to be very professional and easy to do business with. This bias against market traders benefits no one and has led to many traders seeking alternate sources for their jewellery stock. Their busiest times of year seem to be the summer months, when outdoor music festivals and similar events are hosted across the UK, and of course, the weeks leading up to Christmas.

    The volume of stock sold by traders at these events is often higher than a high street shop boasts at their busiest time of year, which makes the attitude of many wholesalers all the more incomprehensible.

    4. Car Boot Sellers
    Alongside the full time traders, weekend sellers who ply their wares at car boot sales across the country have proven to be an unexpected source of business. Though the amount of stock they buy is significantly lower than their more professional counterparts, there is a consistency in how they order. Many wholesalers impose a large minimum order size that turns these buyers away, but we’ve found that once this order size is dropped to more enticing levels, they begin to place regular orders.

    On the negative side, along with market traders, these buyers are almost fully dependant on weather conditions for the success of their business. The recent flooding across the UK had a major impact on the frequency of their orders.

    5. eBay Sellers
    In terms of setting up a small business, it doesn’t get any easier than eBay. Anyone, anywhere, can set up an eBay business, but not everyone does so successfully. The key to succeeding in the long term lies in sourcing stock at affordable prices. When eBay and PayPal fees are taken into account, this becomes even more important. We’ve often found our own stock appearing in eBay shops just days after it was dispatched, selling at high markups. As with car boot traders, eBay sellers tend to buy low volumes of stock frequently, waiting to see what sells and what doesn’t before purchasing more.

When you know who your customers are, it makes buying new stock that little bit easier. Jewellery Party Planners buy far more fashion necklaces than other buyers, while market traders do not buy large volumes of rings (far too easy to steal, we’ve been told). Being able to target these different types of buyers direct rather than relying on generic ‘catch all’ marketing is a huge advantage.

We’d be interested to hear from any buyers who fall into categories not mentioned above. Do you sell your jewellery in a way we haven’t heard of? Or do you find that our range of stock is lacking in some key area?