Each year, jewelry designers push creative boundaries and design never-before seen pieces.
While some of these items catch on and fly off the shelves, others remain in obscurity — sometimes past trends even make a resurgence in the market. Meanwhile, certain traditional jewelry items have become permanent fixtures in our culture and sell consistently year after year.
So, how do you strike the right balance between trends and timelessness in jewelry inventory at your store?
Finding the optimal balance for your store requires an understanding of the jewelry industry and of your target audience. In this blog, we’ll discuss the various factors that influence this balance, such as the value of a piece, customer behaviors, sales performance, and more.
Whether it’s the material, a certain gemstone, or styles like anklets or necklaces, trusted brands and the general public each have a part to play in determining the most fashionable jewelry of the day.
For example, here are some current trending items:
And some timeless classics:
As you manage your jewelry store’s inventory, it’s important to distinguish between these two types of products. While it may be tempting to stock only the more reliable sellers, if your store doesn’t sell any of the modern, trending items, you may miss out on an entire market — including younger shoppers.
Related Read: Is It Time To Say ‘I Do” to Manufactured Diamonds? The Rise of the Lab-Grown Diamond Industry
In the age of social media, trends shift more quickly than ever before. This is true for jewelry, clothing, and other industries. These trends become visible to greater numbers of people through the internet, they spread quicker, and they’re more quickly replaced by new trends.
Celebrity endorsements have been a staple of the jewelry industry for years, but these ads are pushed to users on mobile phones more quickly. Celebrity recognition can increase sales and accelerate a trend.
Incorporating trend-driven pieces into your inventory requires precision and restraint. When you see a trend taking off, you may be tempted to place a large order — but if you order too much of a trendy item, you may not see them all sell before the trend begins to fade. Try ordering a small to medium-sized stock of the item to start.
Certain jewelry items have enduring appeal across generations. Many customers prefer these more traditional and versatile pieces over trendy items, especially if they require a financial investment.
For this reason, it’s important to ensure the traditional jewelry items you offer are of high quality and expert craftsmanship. Customers will depend on being able to purchase these traditional items and that they will last for years to come. Prioritizing quality will help you build a positive brand reputation.
Many small jewelry retail stores would be well-advised to keep a greater selection of timeless pieces of jewelry consistently in stock while cycling through smaller orders of new, trend-driven items. However, stores and markets vary, and you should customize your offerings to your audience.
Conducting market research helps you understand your customers’ preferences. Ask them to fill out surveys to understand the level of demand for different kinds of jewelry items. As you gather data and look at past sales numbers, you can determine what products are most likely to sell well in the future.
Consolidation of product offerings can help your margins, but you want to maintain some diversity in your inventory to attract a broad range of customer tastes and budgets.
Like any retail store, jewelry store owners should employ sound inventory management practices, like keeping track of inventory levels and making an extra effort to sell items a store has had for a while. Keeping an eye on the inventory you have helps you strike the right balance in the inventory you purchase. You can offer special deals and discounts on older inventory to keep it moving.
Improve your inventory turnover by promoting seasonal and trend-driven pieces. There’s a greater need for this kind of inventory to sell quickly, so getting the word out about these items will help you get a return on your investment. You may choose to market these items as limited-time collections to create a sense of urgency among your customers.
An essential resource to help you manage your inventory is an all-in-one point of sale (POS) system. Jewel 360’s cloud-based system keeps track of your inventory and sales data, helps you order more supply, and includes many other features to help you manage your business.
Related Read: Tips for Managing Your Jewelry Inventory: A Guide for Retail Success
Remember: Customer behavior patterns can change and your promotional efforts can have a significant effect on how items sell. If timeless pieces are selling much more consistently than trend-based pieces, it may be because your customers don’t know enough about the new pieces. Educating your customers about less common pieces can increase their confidence in making a purchase.
You can provide customers with information about jewelry trends, materials, and how to properly care for their jewelry through social media, email newsletters, pamphlets, or in-store events. Properly showcasing trend-driven pieces in your store displays also creates more awareness for these pieces and provides potential customers with styling inspiration.
Being transparent and informative in your communication with customers allows you to build brand trust and credibility.
Related Read: Enhancing Customer Service: 7 Tips for Jewelry Store Businesses
As you strive to strike a balance between timeless and trend-driven items, pay close attention to your sales data to evaluate how well your strategy is working. While many stores strike a balance between trends and timeless pieces, understanding your audience may lead you to favor one or the other in your store. As you analyze what kind of items are selling, you can use data to make sound decisions about inventory purchases.
Paying close attention to customer feedback can help you to better understand your audience. Ask your customers to leave you reviews, fill out surveys — even ask them in person about their preferences and their experience in your store. This information can help you determine how to best meet your customer needs.
Finding the right balance between trend-driven and timeless pieces at your jewelry store will take time and effort. You need to understand consumer demand for a variety of items, use sound inventory management techniques, properly promote your products, and pay close attention to sales data and customer feedback. To find the optimum balance to maximize your sales and profit, you need to be willing to adapt to meet your customers’ needs.
By implementing these strategies, you’ll be able to see greater success for your jewelry store and build a strong network of loyal customers who return again and again — and you can better serve your customers by implementing the right point of sale system.
Jewel360’s system has been designed specifically for the jewelry industry and has all the features you need to run your business. Schedule a demo today to learn more!